Norwegian closes Ireland - new AOC in Norway
The Irish airline Norwegian International is about to close. Management informed the workforce by circular that layoffs would be announced shortly. The Norwegian Group had to file for bankruptcy in various countries as a result of the corona pandemic. In the future, the carrier wants to concentrate on traffic within Scandinavia and tourist European routes. According to a report by the Irish Independent, flight operations are to be reduced from five to two. The AOCs in Ireland, Sweden, UK and Argentina are affected by the closure. Sweden is a special case, because the existing flight operations are being sent into bankruptcy while at the same time a new AOC is being started. Apparently there will be no layoffs as a result of this measure. According to CH-Aviation.com, Norwegian is generally reorganizing its AOCs, as it has also received another AOC in Norway under the name Norwegian Air Shuttle AOC. In the future, flights will be operated under the new AOCs, namely Norwegian Air Shuttle AOC and Norwegian Air Sweden AOC. All others are scheduled to be closed or dissolved. Meanwhile, the aircraft have also been moved to the two new flight operations on a large scale. However, a spokesperson for Norwegian Air Shuttle sees the situation completely differently and explains, among other things: "NAI is a strategically and commercially important part of the Norwegian group due to specific intra-European routes and ticket sales that are inextricably linked to NAI. We are right-sizing every aspect of Norwegian in all regions, including our support offices in Norway. This is in line with our now smaller operation and focus on our Nordic core business."