Norwegian overcomes the pandemic's forced landing

BarcelonaNorwegian's history in Barcelona has a date etched in its memory. The outbreak of the pandemic marked a turning point in the trajectory of an airline that had once ranked among the top 10 in terms of passengers in all of Spain and led traffic to the United States from El Prat Airport, with flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami, and Chicago. The Covid crisis completely paralyzed the tourism sector, especially the airline industry, leaving deep scars on this Norwegian low-cost carrier. Now, five years later, it is beginning to recover with new hires to respond to the reopening of destinations where the local market is starting to play a more prominent role.

Pandemic shock

The shutdown caused by Covid forced Norwegian to rethink its business model, after accumulating financial difficulties that led it to request the airline suspended payments abandonment long-haul services were discontinued, and the company shifted its focus to its European network, particularly its connectivity to the Nordic markets. This change of direction resulted in in layoffsIn Spain, just a year after the outbreak of COVID-19, nearly a thousand workers were laid off, and bases such as the one at Barcelona Airport, which had opened in 2014, were closed, in addition to those in the Canary and Balearic Islands.

"The pandemic was a turning point. When the situation was restored, we had to return to where the airline was strong, which was short-haul flights," summarizes Miguel Urresti, one of the company's executives working from the headquarters in Cornellà de Llobregat, responsible for the reactivation. Although it survived the COVID-19 crisis, Norwegian's Catalan office also suffered cutbacks. Along with those in Riga and Oslo, it is one of the airline's corporate headquarters, and from here, services are provided to the entire group in areas such as customer service, human resources, finance, marketing, and sales. Opened in 2015, it currently employs 160 people.

Reopening of the bases

The first milestone in this gradual recovery came with the reopening of the Barcelona base in 2023, allocating one aircraft for the winter season and two for the summer season to connect with Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. "It marks a turning point," Urresti argues. Most of the new hires were made from workers affected by the workforce reduction plan (ERE) implemented due to the pandemic. In addition to Barcelona, ​​the airline has also reopened its bases in Palma and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, for a total of five, along with those in Alicante and Malaga, which remained open despite the pandemic. "Spain is the most important country for Norwegian outside the Nordic countries: it represents one out of every five seats we offer," emphasizes Martín Bulla, Norwegian's manager in Spain, who previously headed the airline in Argentina. However, the airline is still far from pre-pandemic figures. While Norwegian carried nearly nine million passengers in 2019 and was the seventh busiest airline in Spain, by 2024 it had fallen out of the rankings. Although it has been recovering passengers, it currently carries around 4.6 million.

A decline that is also being seen at Barcelona airport. Before Covid, the Norwegian airline carried 1.7 million passengers at El Prat, a figure that has fallen to around 723,000 travelers in 2024.

New routes

As evidence of this expanding presence, the airline is scheduling more flights to Spain. This year, combining the winter and summer seasons, Norwegian will operate 80 routes connecting 11 Spanish airports with destinations in Northern Europe. Ten of these routes will originate from or terminate in Barcelona, ​​with new additions such as a winter connection to Rovaniemi (Finland), a classic Christmas destination known for its traditional visit to Santa Claus, and a summer route to Billund (Denmark), home to the Legoland theme park.

"This represents a shift in trend. Once operations were consolidated after COVID-19, the focus shifted to growth not only in the main markets but also with routes like these, where the primary source of passengers is no longer the Nordic countries but the local market," Bulla emphasizes. "Destinations like Rovaniemi and Billund give us optimism for the company's continued growth here, and we want to do so with these types of routes, where the focus is on the Spanish market. This helps us regain the brand recognition we've lost since the pandemic," adds Urresti. The offering at Barcelona Airport is rounded out by destinations such as Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm (winter), and Bergen, Oslo, Stavanger, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Stockholm, and Helsinki (summer). To meet the demands of this extensive offering, Norwegian plans to increase its workforce at El Prat Airport. Currently, it has a crew of 81 employees, including pilots and cabin crew. The forecast is to grow by 35% this year. Across Spain, the total workforce comprises 1,100 employees, including those working on aircraft, at airports, and in offices.