Norwegian has taken another step in its UK expansion by opening its new UK headquarters by London Gatwick Airport which is at the heart of the airline’s UK operation.
Norwegian’s new office is the airline’s first permanent workspace outside of Norway and home to Norwegian staff based in the UK. Key staff in flight operations, training, technical, safety and compliance, communications, marketing and sales in the UK are now based at the headquarters.
Norwegian is continuing to provide flights to the UK by launching seven new routes from Gatwick, Edinburgh and Manchester this year alone. The airline has quickly grown to become third largest airline at Gatwick Airport and has flown around four million UK leisure and business passengers’ direct to more than 40 destinations in the past year.
Asgeir Nyseth, CEO at Norwegian UK said:
“This is an exciting new milestone in Norwegian’s pursuit of substantial growth across the UK. Our new UK headquarters symbolises our commitment to this hugely important strategic market, and it allows us to grow steadily in an engaging work environment. That said, we intend to continue capturing the hearts of UK consumers through unmatched service, brand new aircraft and direct routes to the most exciting destinations – all at affordable fares.”
Norwegian was granted a UK Operating Licence and has applied for a Foreign Carrier permit with the U.S. Department of Transportation, which would allow the airline to combine services to the U.S. with long-haul flights to global destinations including Asia, Africa and South America.
Norwegian pioneered the return of low-cost flights to the US in July 2014 and will launch its eighth US route from Gatwick with new direct flights to Las Vegas from 31 October. Airline recently celebrated the 2nd anniversary of these flights after carrying more than 650,000 UK passengers and putting on more than 800,000 seats on sale this year, which is playing a key role in Norwegian’s continued passenger growth.
Norwegian has plans to locate more than 50 new Dreamliner aircraft at an expanded Gatwick, in addition to locating 100 short-haul aircraft if the airport is granted a second runway.