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ONLY BUSINESS (TV 2): This summer, the authorities opened up to more international travel. Norwegians could travel to Europe without having to go to crown quarantine when they returned home. This was good news for the airlines, who were finally able to establish some international routes after several months with most planes on the ground. The hope in the aviation industry was that more planes could be filled during the fall, with a slow normalization of people’s travel habits. But during the summer, the number of infections increased and in August the government tightened travel restrictions again. Norwegian noticed this immediately on ticket orders.
Powerful brake
– People are just getting more hesitant. We will see this in the reserves in the future. People stop booking trips far in advance, says Jacob Schram on TV 2’s Bare Business.
Norwegian has still laid off most of its employees, both in Norway and internationally. According to the Norwegian manager, the Norwegian dismissal rules provide great flexibility, so that the airline can quickly establish new departures and routes if demand is high.
– A weekend in Rome or a week in New York. When will we return to the travel habits that many had before the crown?
– It is the question of a thousand crowns for all of us: When does it happen? Jacob Schram responds and continues:
– We are ready as soon as there is demand and the competitors start more. Some will travel even if there are yellow countries and red countries, and will be quarantined when they return home. Not that everyone stops traveling, but it is a powerful brake compared to where we would have been without the restrictions.
Travel List
Schram believes that the contagion situation makes many people eager to travel to big cities and land on other continents. He still thinks it can change in a few months.
– I think that when we overcome wave 2, after winter, the desire to travel explodes again. I think next year we will have a significantly better summer than we have now. Then we will also see more long-distance routes again, says Schram.
Norwegian’s investment in long-haul routes to the US and Asia will continue, despite the crisis and the airline’s restructuring.
– We have a lot of faith in long distance. But we saw that we had grown too fast, so we have to reduce this, make ourselves smaller. We will continue to demonstrate that low-cost long distance is a business model that is here to stay, says Schram in Bare Business.
He also denies that the corona pandemic is causing ticket prices to skyrocket as people start flying more again:
– We will be the company we have always been. We should be able to offer affordable tickets to most people.
New crisis plan
Now Norwegian’s management is in the process of devising a new crisis plan for the fall and winter. In May, the airline’s lenders agreed to convert the loans into shares, and Norwegian gained access to emergency loans from the state of NOK 3 billion. With an aviation industry still in crisis from the crown, the company will soon need to raise money again.
– We have a dialogue with both the state and our owners. Now we are working on a plan and we are open to many solutions, says Schram.
– Tidal wave and storm
Jacob Schram himself took over as Norwegian’s CEO this winter, then tasked with profiting from a heavily indebted airline. Before long, it had to deal with another crisis, as the coronavirus caused most of the planes to be grounded overnight. He says it has been a very special half year:
– When I started in February, before the crown crisis, but with the challenges we had, it was like standing on the beach and watching the water disappear. Then you know there will be a tidal wave. That tidal wave came before the crown. And if then, at the same time it happens, you get a hurricane with a force of 5 in addition to this, then you have a good description of how you have felt this half year, says Jacob Schram.
