Norwegian to relaunch limited UK flights on July 1

Low-cost airline will resume a limited number of short-haul flights from the UK on July 1.

First services to operate will be from Gatwick and Edinburgh to Oslo and Copenhagen.

London to Oslo will operate seven times a week, the airline will offer six flights a week from London to Copenhagen and two flights a week from Edinburgh to Oslo and Copenhagen.

CEO Jacob Schram said: "Feedback from our customers has shown that they are keen to get back in the air and resume their travels with Norwegian beyond the current domestic services that we have been operating.

"Norwegian is returning to European skies with the reintroduction of more aircraft to serve our key destinations which will ensure that we remain in line with competing carriers.

"As competition in the industry begins to recover over the summer period Norwegian will be in a position to continue to offer our customers great value and service while contributing to the gradual yet important return to normality for both the tourism sector and society as a whole.

"Safety remains our top priority and we have introduced a number of specific measures to further reduce the already low risk of infection on board."

Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate said: "For our part, the airport is ready to go and we have implemented a range of measures to protect the wellbeing and safety of both passengers and staff in recent weeks."

Since April Norwegian has only operated eight aircraft on domestic routes in Norway. Now another 12 aircraft will re-join the fleet and be put into operation across Scandinavia to serve its popular core destinations.

From July Norwegian will operate 76 routes across Europe from the airline’s Scandinavian hubs compared to the 13 domestic Norway only flights served today. Other destinations include Spain, Greece and key European cities.

Further destinations and frequency increases will be announced in due course subject to passenger demand and government travel restrictions.

New protective safety measures introduced to reduce the risk of coronavirus include:

* Travellers six years and older must use a facemask
* Passengers will be asked to keep their distance during boarding and disembarkation
* Hand luggage should be placed under the seat in front to minimise queuing in the cabin. Hand luggage that is too big to be placed under the seat in front needs to be checked in beforehand.
* Passengers will be seated with as much distance between them as possible. The mid row seats will be the last to be occupied. Passengers and families travelling together will be seated together.
* There is no catering on board to minimise the contact between our customers and crew.
* Aircraft are being disinfected.