European low-cost carrier Norwegian has further strengthened its network at its Gatwick Airport base in London with confirmation that it will introduce two additional routes from the facility to European capital cities this autumn. The fast-expanding business, which also plans long-haul operations from the UK airport, will add flights to Berlin, Germany and Warsaw, Poland as well as increasing the frequency of its existing route to Copenhagen, Denmark from September this year.
Norwegian will launch six times weekly flights from London Gatwick to Berlin Schönefeld and Warsaw Chopin from September 15, 2014 with one-way fares from £29.90 and £34.90, respectively. At the same time it will launch a fifth daily frequency on its link to Copenhagen. The carrier said the network growth was due to the “great demand for high quality flights at a low fare from London Gatwick” after receiving a “positive response” from UK travelers to its activities.
Although Norwegian had been serving Gatwick from various points across its network since October 2007 it only opened a base at London’s second largest airport in May 2013. It has already expanded its network to operate 375 weekly flights and 33 routes to and from the facility and had a ten per cent market share during the first quarter of 2014.
Norwegian will be the sole airline to offer a non-stop connection between London Gatwick and Warsaw Chopin and will bring competition to the London Gatwick – Berlin Schönefeld route, which is currently served by easyJet, the largest operator at the London airport. According to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data, 374,970 passengers flew between London Gatwick and Berlin Schönefeld in 2013, up 15.8 per cent on the previous year.
In our analysis, below, we look in greater detail at Norwegian’s operations at London Gatwick. After serving just Oslo and Stavanger in 2007 with an annual capacity offering of 12,500 seats from the London airport it grew to offer over 1.3 million departing seats in 2013, giving it a 6.4 per cent share of capacity, up from 4.4 per cent the previous year.
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