From April 2017, Widerøe will commence direct flights between Avinor Oslo Airport and Lofoten and inner Helgeland.
These new flights are in addition to the established direct routes to Sandnessjøen and Brønnøysund. A direct route to Stokmarknes in Vesterålen is also being introduced for the mid-summer programme.
In addition to the major expansion of direct routes to many new destinations in Northern Norway, Widerøe is also set to introduce new direct flights to Lofoten. From 3 April, passengers will be able to fly from Lofoten to Tromsø from both Svolvær and Leknes.
“This is very pleasing news. The new services will further improve access to attractive tourist destinations, help create jobs and boost the economy in Northern Norway,” said Jasper Spruit, Vice President of Traffic Development at Avinor.
“We are extremely pleased to finally be able to share this wonderful news.” said Stein Nilsen, CEO of Widerøe.
“We have created a route network that offers direct services between Oslo and Lofoten on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. We will also be able to fly passengers directly between Helgeland and Vesterålen and the capital. There will be departures to Oslo on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays during the summer holidays. This is of course extremely good news for the tourist industry too, and will considerably increase capacity directly in and out of the regions in the north,” he added.
“One of the biggest challenges facing tourism in the north is accessibility,” said Trond Øverås, CEO of NordNorsk Reiseliv.
“The launch of these direct routes is therefore wonderful news for the tourist industry in the north of the country. The new services will enable us to fly tourists directly to tourist destinations in a completely new way. It will also be much easier for tourists to combine several of the fantastic tourism products that Northern Norway has to offer,” he concluded.
Widerøe is the largest regional airline in Scandinavia, with a staff of 3,000 and a turnover of NOK 3.5 billion. The company carries around 2.8 million passengers annually and flies to 46 domestic and international destinations. Widerøe operates more than 450 flights every day and operates to more than twice as many airports in Norway than any other airline. Today its network consists of 60% commercial routes, and 40% PSO routes (Public Services Obligations).