Now with Nowergian you only fly to Europe, here are the Italian routes
We gave you the news a few days ago: Norwegian Air has decided to say goodbye to long-haul. A real [...]
Norwegian Air Shuttle
We had given you the news a few days ago: Norwegian Air decided to say goodbye to the long haul. A real thunderbolt for admirers of the Norwegian low-cost airline. A company that, in recent years, has been flying Italians to the United States at bargain prices.
In this article:
But what will happen now? Where will we fly with Norwegian and what will be the carrier's future? Let's find out together.
Norwegian Air, the future of the company
"Low-cost long-haul is history; it didn't work out" announced Norwegian Air's top management. This seemed to be it, the key to the company's success: covering intercontinental routes at low-cost carrier prices. Now, complicit in the catastrophic impact of the pandemic, the carrier has had to abandon that dream. And, with NA, the millions of travelers always looking for a bargain.
Norwegian presented a ten-year plan to pay off its debts, according to a three-step program:
- Get to summer 2021 by keeping the license, operating the right routes that provide profit and reducing the number of aircraft
- embark on a growth path, which will begin after next summer and end in 2025 (but which, so far, has only been structured to 2022): initially the planes will be 53 and then 68, all B737
- between 2025 and 2030 will shape the mobility of the future
Did you get your flight cancelled, miss your connection, land late?
You could get up to 600€ compensation per person
So where will we fly with Norwegian? Only in Europe, along medium- to short-haul routes.. At least until tourism fully starts up again.
Loyalty program suspended
As collateral damage from this situation, the carrier has decided to pause the loyalty program. In fact, all customers who had points before the crisis-or worse, those who had asked to receive redemptions not in vouchers but in loyalty points-are now "screwed," since they will not be able to redeem anything and it is not known until when.
Where we will fly with Norwegian
When Norwegian launched low-cost intercontinental flights in May 2013, everyone cried "miracle." The formula really seemed to be a winner: similar model to that proposed by Ryanair and easyJet, Cheap prices to fly to the largest cities in the United States, services with extra payment (checked baggage, choice of seat, meals, blanket).
Then came debt for Boeing 787 Dreamliners used for long-haul and Boeing 737 Max (used for medium- and short-haul flights), came accidents (in Indonesia and Europe), and finally the pandemic, which forced the company to be able to use only 6 out of 138 planes.
What's next. It seems that some of the Boeing 787s will be purchased by Alitalia, and to travel to America cheaply, all that remains is to buy the Light Economy seats that more and more airlines are offering. Norwegian, on the other hand, can be used to fly to Europe.
Looking at the next summer, from Rome Fiumicino you can fly to Turkey's Adalia (from €164.99), to the Algarve (from €143.49), Alicante (from €141.89), Athens (from €143.49), Barcelona (from €131.87), Cyprus (from €159.85). And then Corfu, Crete, Gran Canaria, Majorca, Malaga, Malta, Rhodes, Santorini, Tenerife, always with fares between 140 and 200 €. Fares are for one-way. From Milan Malpensa, the figures are around €500 to €580, but the sea destinations are less: Alicante, Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Malaga, Pula, Rhodes, Santorina.
However, the best deals are in Northern Europe: with €150 you can fly to Oslo a/r. Here, then, is Norwegian as an affordable carrier for off-season flights.
