From March to October this year, Norwegian expects to fly approximately 700,000 passengers in and out of Barcelona.
Norwegian celebrated the opening if its new crew base in Barcelona. The new base is important to Norwegian’s international growth and Barcelona will be strategically important for the company’s future long-haul plans.
This is Norwegian’s sixth base in Spain, along with Madrid, Alicante, Malaga, Las Palmas and Tenerife. Norwegian also has bases in all the Nordic countries, in addition to England, the United States and Thailand.
“We are very pleased to have an up-and-running base in Barcelona. There’s been a high demand for non-stop flights to and from Spain’s second largest city and the capital of Catalonia. Barcelona is also strategically important for us as we are considering the airport for future long-haul operations,” said Norwegian’s CEO Bjorn Kjos.
The figures from Barcelona speak for themselves; from March to October this year, Norwegian expects to fly approximately 700,000 passengers in and out of Barcelona. In the same period last year, Norwegian flew 490,000 passengers in and out of the Spanish city. This means a passenger increase of 40 percent.
Creating new jobs locally
“Members of the Barcelona Air Route Development (CDRA) celebrate the base opening of Norwegian in Barcelona and are very pleased that the company views Barcelona-El Prat as an important part of its future strategy, especially in regards to long-haul flights. Norwegian/s base at Barcelona airport means not only creation of new jobs in the local aviation industry, but new jobs in the the entire tourism industry,” said Ricard Font, CDRA President and Secretary of Infrastructure and Mobility of the Catalan Government.
Norwegian has three new Boeing 737-800s based at Barcelona-El Prat Airport and has recruited more than 120 pilots and cabin crew locally. In addition, Norwegian is offering four new routes and has increased the number of frequencies on existing routes as of April 2014. Norwegian currently offers 11 direct routes and 69 weekly flights from Barcelona.
Flight Schedule – new routes
- Barcelona – Sandefjord Torp: Twice a week on Thursday and Sunday from April 3
- Barcelona – Hamburg: Four times a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from April 3
- Barcelona – Berlin: Three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from April 2
- Barcelona – Warsaw: Three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from April 3
Increased number of flights
- Stockholm – Barcelona: 13 weekly flights
- Helsinki – Barcelona: Daily flights
- Barcelona – London: Daily flights from March 31
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
