Norwegian Air Shuttle will establish a unit in Argentina with 10 Boeing 737 narrow-body jets by the end of this year, said the chief executive Bjorn Kjos said.
The carrier, famed for its aircraft livery that features a range of portraits of well-known figures on the tailplanes, has applied for an air-operating certificate from authorities in the South American country and is now seeking rights to serve domestic routes there, Mr Kjos said. The network would link up with planned flights to Buenos Aires from cities such as London, Paris, Barcelona, Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm using Boeing 787 wide-bodies.
“We have delivered the papers and we have also applied for the routes,” Mr Kjos said. “We’re looking to serve a lot of cities domestically, but it depends on the concessions.”
Norwegian Air formed an operating company at the beginning of the year to found a network in Argentina after earlier extending its discount model from European short-haul flights into North Atlantic operations. It has also been considering options for a second base in Asia with services from London and Paris to complement its Bangkok hub.
The airline plans to expand capacity to the United States next winter by allocating some of its short-haul operating slots at London’s Gatwick airport to inter-continental operations, and will also start flights to smaller airports in North America using 737 Max aircraft this summer.
* Bloomberg
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