Norwegian will reopen its base in Barcelona this Monday, after being forced to close in 2020. The airline will have two Boeing 737 aircraft and their respective crews at El Prat Airport, thus creating 65 direct jobs, including pilots and cabin crew.
Norwegian will connect the Catalan capital with eight destinations in four Nordic countries: Oslo, Bergen, and Stavanger (Norway); Copenhagen and Aalborg (Denmark); Stockholm and Gothenburg (Sweden); and Helsinki (Finland). Norwegian's operations will run between May 1 and October 31, and every summer season in the coming years, reports ACN.
Until 2020, Norwegian had its long-haul base in Southern Europe at El Prat Airport, with six aircraft connecting Barcelona with the United States. However, the company faced severe financial difficulties and agreed with unions on an ERE (redundancy plan) for almost a thousand workers across the country.
This past summer, Norwegian announced that it would recover its base in Barcelona, where it also has one of its three administrative headquarters, with 130 employees.
In total, this summer Norwegian will operate 49 routes, including the eight from Barcelona, from nine airports in the country: Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Madrid, Malaga, Palma, and Tenerife South. Of these, only Barcelona, Alicante, and Malaga are operational bases, where aircraft and crews overnight.