Widerøe spun in midair – E24

According to the plan, Widerøe was to land a plane from Aberdeen at 10:45 in Bergen. The flight was canceled before Health Minister Bent Høie announced that all direct flights from the UK would stop for two days, at a press conference at 10am.

As early as this morning, there were signs that the government might halt flights from Britain, and that was when Widerøe decided to cancel the plane.

– We made that decision this morning based on what Bent Høie said that the airspace is likely to be closed during the morning, communications manager Catharina Solli at Widerøe tells E24.

After the press conference it turned out that it was the right decision to cancel the plane, Solli says.

It was VG who first mentioned the canceled flight.

Turned the plane

The plane was on its way to Scotland when Widerøe decided to secure a possible stopover on flights from Great Britain.

– Based on the decision, we made the decision to return the plane crossing the North Sea, says Solli.

That decision was made so as not to end aircraft shortages if the aircraft could not return to Norway again.

– We do not want to risk that the crew and the plane remain in the UK indefinitely, says the communications director.

SAS has not canceled

Three-quarters of an hour after the press conference, Widerøe has yet to cancel the flight from Aberdeen to Bergen, which will land at 8:55 p.m. Tuesday night.

SAS has also not provisionally canceled any of the flights on Monday or Tuesday.

– We are waiting for the formal channels before making a system change with us, says John Eckhoff, SAS communications manager at E24.

He says it is because the formal message affects when the 48-hour air strike begins and to have an overview of how it affects the planes that are installed on Christmas Eve.

However, Bent Høie said at a press conference Monday morning that the measure can be extended beyond two days.

– We have become relatively used to dealing with the authorities’ changes in restrictions and advice, says Eckhoff.

I can still fly to the UK

Eckhoff notes that you can still get to the UK from Norway with SAS.

– We flew to the UK, but returned with empty planes, says Eckhoff.

Aircraft and crew turn around immediately and therefore will not stay in the UK after arrival.

Customers affected by canceled flights from the UK will be notified automatically by SMS and email as soon as the flights are canceled, Eckhoff says.

They will get back the money for the trip they had planned.

– You always get a refund of the money when the airline cancels, says the communications manager.

The coronavariant

Even before Norway took control of flights from the UK, several European countries had canceled their flights from the country. Among them are Germany, France, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The setup comes after a new variant of the virus was discovered in the UK that is estimated to be 70 percent more contagious than the original corona virus, NTB writes. The virus should not cause a more serious illness.

The virus has also been detected in Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy, among other places, but is currently not relevant for stopping planes from other countries, Høie claims, according to NTB. New measures are being evaluated on an ongoing basis.