European low fares airline Norwegian has announced the launch of two new routes from Birmingham this week, making it the fastest growing carrier at the airport in 2015.
The budget airline said that it will add twice weekly, year-round services to Tenerife and weekly services to Gran Canaria. Norwegian started operating from Birmingham in March 2015 and has since then introduced flights to Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga.
The airline’s newly scheduled service from Birmingham to Tenerife was launched on November 2, and will operate on Mondays and Fridays departing at 18:15 and arriving at 22:25 hours. Meanwhile, the new Birmingham to Gran Canaria service is set to launch on Friday, November 6 and will operate on Fridays departing at 18:10 and arriving at 22:30 hours. Seats can be booked at www.norwegian.com/uk.
Thomas Ramdahl, commercial director for Norwegian, said: ‘Norwegian’s combination of low-cost, high-quality flights has proved a hit with West Midlands’ holidaymakers and we are delighted that so many have chosen to fly with us. Tenerife and Gran Canaria are popular destinations for sun seekers and complement our existing routes to Malaga, Barcelona and Madrid. Norwegian is challenging the stereotypes often associated with low-cost airlines by offering free Wi-Fi, new planes and excellent customer service and we are delighted that this has helped Birmingham Airport achieve a record breaking 10 million visitors over the last year.’
William Pearson, Aviation development director, Birmingham Airport, said: ‘We’re not surprised that Norwegian has had such a successful launch from Birmingham as it offers such an excellent and affordable product to popular Spanish routes. We are confident that these new winter sun routes to Tenerife and Las Palmas will also be a hit with our customers and we look forward to continued growth over the colder months.’
All passengers travelling from Birmingham will fly on Boeing 737 aircraft with free Wi-Fi throughout the journey.
Norwegian is presently the sixteenth biggest airline at the airport (by passenger volumes) out of the 50 carriers who operate from Birmingham, the Airport said in its release.