Norwegian regional airline Widerøe to launch four new international summer routes

Weak October, tough winter ahead and a fresh investment in summer routes

Widerøe’s Flyveselskap transported 303,000 passengers in October. This is an increase of 2% from the same month in 2021. The number of passengers is still lower than planned and this has an impact on the level of occupancy. High fuel prices, a low krone exchange rate, higher inflation and increased interest costs mean that Widerøe still expects a tough market through the winter.

The fuel price and the weak krone pose major cost challenges and are demanding for the industry. Widerøe has secured 60% of its fuel consumption over the next 12 months. The airline has reduced production during the most demanding winter months to meet an expected reduced demand during the winter.

In the same way as a number of other companies, Widerøe’s Flyveselskap experiences major challenges with deliveries of spare parts. This results in poor regularity on individual days and increases downtime for aircraft that are due for inspection or repair. The company works closely with our parts suppliers to shorten the delivery time and ensure stable delivery in the future.

“October was somewhat weaker than planned. The market is characterized by a lack of predictability, even if the booking pattern is beginning to approach a normal situation. This winter is going to be demanding, and we have taken the measures necessary to meet this,” says CEO of Widerøe Stein Nilsen. “We expect an improvement towards the summer and the summer program will reflect this,” concludes Nilsen.

However, the desire to travel is far from gone and Widerøe’s Flyveselskap is planning for another strong summer. The company is therefore increasing capacity on a number of routes from spring. In addition, Widerøe is starting four new direct international routes from Bergen. In this way, the investment in Bergen is strengthened and provides more travel opportunities for everyone who uses Bergen as a hub.

The new international routes are:

• Bergen to Liverpool – start on 31 March, flights on Mondays and Fridays
• Bergen to Hamburg – start on 30 March, flights on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
  *From May – also flights on Tuesdays
• Bergen to Dublin – start on 27 April, flights on Thursday and Sunday.
• Bergen to Munich – start on 28 April, flights on Monday and Friday

The already established route to Billund will be increased from twice a week to daily from the end of March. All routes will have good connections to Widerøe’s other route network.

“We are incredibly pleased to get these routes on the map and here there should be something for everyone,” says commercial director of Widerøe Christian Skaug. “The Liverpool route has been long awaited, and we can now please all Liverpool fans that it is finally back in place. Supporters are important in good times and bad, and now it is more important than ever that Norwegian supporters stand in Liverpool to cheer the team forward,” concludes Skaug.

All routes are available for booking.