Norwegian Air to resume first foreign route after lockdown

Norwegian Air plane

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian Air (NWC.OL) will resume flights between Copenhagen and the Danish city of Aalborg from July 1, making it the carrier’s first route outside Norway following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Norwegian has for several years been the market leader on this route,” the airline said as it announced it would fly three daily round trips between Denmark’s largest and fourth largest cities.

The budget airline is currently operating just seven aircraft on domestic routes in Norway and has furloughed or terminated the employment of some 7,300 staff, or about 90% of its staff following the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The airline completed a financial restructuring last month, handing control of the firm to its creditors, and said at the time it could potentially wait until 2021 before resuming flights beyond Norway’s borders.

Rivals such as SAS (SAS.ST), Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) and Ryanair (RYA.I) have however begun to ramp up their schedules as Europe began to ease travel restrictions.