Norwegian has confirmed that it will discontinue some of its crew bases in Spain, Italy and the United States, to improve its profitability.
Until the end of 2019, the low-cost carrier will close crew bases in Palma de Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife South, Rome Fiumicino, as well as its Boeing 737 MAX 8 crew bases at the US airports ‘New York’ Stewart and Providence.
Norwegian’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner bases are not affected. Although the Boeing 737 crew base at Rome Fiumicino Airport will be closed, its long-haul base at the airport will remain. However, the European low-cost carrier will no longer base long-haul crews in Amsterdam, Bangkok and Fort Lauderdale.
As a result of the base closures, four of summer routes will be discontinued: Rome-Gothenburg, Rome-Tenerife South, Rome-Reykjavik and Rome-Tel Aviv. Furthermore, some routes from Palma de Mallorca, Rome and Tenerife North will see a reduction in number of weekly departures.
Norwegian says these measures are part of a $234 million cost-reduction programme that was announced by the airline in December last year. It did not give a number of employees affected but stated that it has reached out to labour unions and tries to avoid redundancies.
Nick Wenzel founded International Flight Network in 2016. He is the Social Media Manager and an Editor for IFN.news.
