Around 1,100 UK crew will be made redundant, along with a similar number in France, Italy, Spain and the US.
A spokesperson for Norwegian said that future demand remains highly uncertain. Under these circumstances, a long-haul operation is not viable for Norwegian and these operations will not continue.
Its fleet of long-haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets has been grounded since March 2020 and will not fly again for the airline. The passengers whose future bookings have now been canceled “will be contacted directly and will be refunded”, the airline said.
Jacob Schram, the airline’s chief executive, said that this is with a heavy heart that we must accept that this will impact dedicated colleagues from across the company.
Norwegian plans to operate 50 Boeing 737 aircraft in 2021, increasing to 70 in 2022.
Mr. Schram said that they do not expect customer demand in the long-haul sector to recover in the near future, and our focus will be on developing our short-haul network as we emerge from the reorganisation process.
Brian Strutton, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa), said that this news will be personally devastating for all Gatwick-based crew.
The airline has struggled in the face of the ongoing Covid crisis, despite the combined efforts of all the company’s recognised trade unions, who have worked tirelessly to remain flexible and accommodating.
This is further evidence that the jobs death spiral I’ve been highlighting for months sadly continues. Make no mistake – aviation remains in serious crisis.”
Since the carrier rejected a £1bn offer from British Airways’ parent company, IAG, it has floundered financially and has been extremely hard hit by the effective shutdown of travel as a result of COVID-19.
Tags: Norwegian airlines, UK
