Yesterday, lainformacion.com informed that the Norwegian Madrid Base was opened during a launch ceremony.
Thus, the third European low cost airline starts their Adolfo Suárez Madrid base to operate seven direct routes. Norwegian has already got a base in Alicante, Barcelona, Málaga, Gran Canaria and Tenerife. They have now based two B737-800s in Madrid to cover their daily flights to London and Copenhagen – One frequency is being added to the Copenhagen flight. Also, they will fly to Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, Hamburg, Warsaw and Malta.
Ms Ana Isabel Mariño – the Madrid councillor of employment, tourism and culture – attended this ceremony, together with the commercial director for Norwegian, Thomas Ramdahl. She said that Norwegian is to increase from eight – in summer 2013 – to over 64 – in summer 2014 – weekly flights to/from Madrid. This means a growth of 700%.
Also, she explained the regional government was an active participant for the Norwegian’s Madrid base to be settled. In her view, Madrid airport should continue to welcome low cost airlines like this “with which destinations we will get 700,000 new passengers per year towards Madrid from the Scandinavian market”. She said that the Scandinavian people is more and more interested in our cultural, shopping or gastronomic offer.
Pedro Corral – delegate for tourism of Madrid City – thanked Norwegian for “their great confidence relied on Madrid as a destination”. Meanwhile, Thomas Ramdahl said that the fact that the Madrid base is their first one in inland Spain confirms the “strategic importance” that Madrid has for the airline.
You may remember we shared in this blog, one year ago, that Norwegian would help Aena fight the easyJet and Ryanair duopoly. We also shared in October that the Aena’s plan to regain traffic includes Norwegian.
Photo: Norwegian B737 LN-KKW at Madrid / Aero Icarus
