Norwegian Air Shuttle announced today they are cancelling “85 percent” of their flights. This comes as coronavirus continues to sweep the globe, with the worldwide total number of cases confirmed at 174,893 at the time of writing. Norwegian has said the virus has resulted in “most of the company’s planes being parked.”

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This has resulted in approximately 7,300 of Norwegian staff being temporarily laid-off.

“The COVID-19 situation is escalating by the hour and due to stagnating demand and enforced travel restrictions by authorities worldwide, Norwegian will gradually cancel most of its flights and temporarily lay off a major share of its workforce,” the airline said in a statement today.

“What our industry is now facing is unprecedented and critical as we are approaching a scenario where most of our airplanes will be temporarily grounded,” explained CEO Jacob Schram of Norwegian.

“Several governments in Europe have already said that they will do everything they can to ensure that their airlines can continue to fly when society returns to normalcy.

“We appreciate that the authorities of Norway have communicated that they will implement all necessary measures to protect aviation in Norway, consequently securing crucial infrastructure and jobs.”

Norwegian has already discontinued thousands of flights.

The airline has said their main priority this week is “to maintain as many scheduled flights as possible to ensure that customers are able to immediately return to their home destinations.”

Norwegian will work closely with the authorities to arrange flights for the benefit of stranded passengers, if necessary.

Customers who are directly affected by route changes and cancellations will be contacted by Norwegian via text message or e-mail.

“We understand that this extraordinary situation is stressful for our customers, but I want to assure everyone that we are working around the clock to ensure that everyone is taken care of in the best way possible at this time,” said Schram.

As of March 21, the company will primarily fly a reduced scheduled domestically in Norway and between the Nordic capitals.

“Some European flights will be operated,” said Norwegian.

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All intercontinental are cancelled except flights between Scandinavia and Thailand, with the last flights taking place at the end of March.

The airline explained that all flights operating will be available for sale on Norwegian.com.

They added that a limited schedule will remain in place until at least April 17 but will be reviewed on a regular basis in line with changes in travel restrictions and demand.

So which flights are still operating?

Detailed reduced schedule – starting March 25

Norway:

Oslo -Bergen/Stavanger/Trondheim: 4 daily departures

Oslo – Ålesund/Bodø/Evenes/Tromsø: 2 daily departures

Oslo -Alta/Kirkenes: 1 daily departure

OSL – Haugesund/Kristiansand/Molde: 1 daily departure

Oslo – Svalbard: 3 weekly departures

Oslo -Stockholm/Copenhagen: 2 daily departures

Oslo – Helsinki: 4 weekly departures

Stavanger – Bergen: 1 daily departure

Bergen – Trondheim: 1 daily departure

Sweden:

Stockholm – Kiruna: 4 weekly departures

Stockholm – Luleå/Umeå: 2 weekly departures

Stockholm – Helsinki: 2 daily departures

Stockholm – Copenhagen: 2 daily departures

Stockholm – Oslo: 2 daily departures

Finland:

Helsinki – Kittilä: 6 weekly departures

Helsinki – Oulu: 1 daily departure

Helsinki – Rovaniemi: 1 daily departure

Helsinki – Oslo: 4 weekly departures

Denmark:

Copenhagen – Oslo: 2 daily departures

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