LONDON – On the 13th of July 2022, two Norwegian airlines, Norwegian and Widerøe inked a letter of intent which will mean a closer working relationship between the two locally bred airlines.
Such a partnership will benefit both parties and also the passengers flying between Norway and these two airlines.
Within the partnership, the two airlines will cooperate on domains such as ticket sales which will allow passengers to fly seamlessly between the two airlines and utilize the extensive route network of both Norwegian and Wideroe under a new interline agreement.
This is set to boost the demand for Norwegian domestic flights and also connect Norway closer to the continent of Europe.
The goal of the agreement will allow both airlines to reach out to the wider passenger audience or base, which will generate demand as a whole.
Inevitably this will also increase operational efficiency for both Norwegian and Wideroe, and will harmonise travel from Norway to other European destinations.
Wideroe is a regional airline based in Oslo and other regional or secondary cities like Bergen and Tromso. While Norwegian is a low-cost carrier operator largely out of Oslo and Bergen to numerous European destinations.
With these two carriers having these synergies, this means that the large European destinations will be more connected to smaller Norwegian cities. Norway will even be closer to other European cities than ever before.
Norwegian’s CEO, Geir Karlsen said: ‘I am very pleased with the agreement we have entered into with Widerøe today. Our goal for this collaboration is to benefit both companies’ passengers and our employees.”
“In many ways, this is a historic agreement bringing two Norwegian airlines together. A lot of detail is still being worked on but it’s clear from the past months’ discussions with Widerøe that there are many areas we both have a common interest to collaborate on.
Widerøe’s CEO, Stein Nilsen said: ‘This is a day of joy for both Widerøe and our passengers who depend heavily on our flights to work and live in Norway.”
“This agreement will allow customers of Norwegian and Widerøe to combine their flights with both airlines at home and abroad.”
“The combination of Widerøe’s network along the coast and in northern Norway and Norway’s large European route network will create many new travel opportunities for our common customers.”
“This new collaboration has been requested by our passengers for many years, so it is brilliant to share this news now.”
“We still have a way to go before the agreement is final, but we work well together and have a common goal that this should be implemented as quickly as possible.
The partnership between Wideroe and Norwegian will be a boon for the Norwegian aviation industry. With SAS performing poorer than ever this is a golden opportunity for the two airlines to flourish.
This is also a smart move as Wideroe will not need to put up to pressure on flying internationally, but having a joint partnership with Norwegian will allow Wideroe to focus on its main goal of flying within Norway.
