Airfares, Flights | It's happening Monday: price hikes for flights in Norway

A new arrangement for air routes will come later, called . On 24 routes in Norway, maximum fares have been halved.

– This is good news for the wallet. Flying is especially expensive in northern Norway, and the government's target has been reduced by up to 50 percent. We'll see how that turns out, but it's good that there will be lower prices for flying, especially in northern Norway, and it's about time, Hans Jørgen Elnes, flight analyst at Vinair, tells Netavision.

Big cuts

Ticket prices are halved in many places.

This is shown, for example, on the route from Bodø to Lofoten's “capital” Svolvær.

On Good Friday, the price of a Bodø-Svolvær flight ticket departing on March 31 is NOK 1,129, while it drops to NOK 702 the following day. Going forward, almost all ticket prices on this route are between NOK 600 and 700.

You can also clearly see this on the route from Oslo to Ørsta/Volda, where prices on Easter Eve are almost three times higher than on Easter Monday.

Andenes-Tromsø is one of the many routes that are now cheap. A flight ticket costs NOK 1,049 on March 31, NOK 726 the next day and is reduced to NOK 599 on April 2.

The big price cut has already given a big boost to demand for airline tickets. Widerøe Airlines, which has 21 of the 24 relevant routes, announced in March that it would increase bookings by 40 percent from April 1.

– We are experiencing a strong market on all routes, especially during the big departure periods such as Easter holidays, May days and summer holidays, Widerøe CEO Stein Nilsen said earlier this month.

These routes are included in the program:

tax dollars

The move comes after the government increased payments to operators of FOT routes from NOK 940 million to NOK 2.35 billion. This means that airlines flying the routes can and should significantly lower prices funded by tax dollars.

– For everyone who relies on flying on the tender network, this is good news, and we are happy for all the measures that make flying cheaper – in North, West Norway and in Trøndelag, Lina Lindegaard Carlsen, communications consultant for Widerøe, writes AS.

However, Carlson is clear that some departures are now almost as popular as they are already seeing challenges. This applies particularly to departures at attractive times on weekends and holidays, for example departure days such as Easter Sunday.

– The result is that business and patient travel will face challenges in finding tickets for these departures closer to departure, he says.

– It remains to be seen how this will actually change after April 1st, but if those who need it find it hard to come forward, we believe other pricing models will work better for those who rely entirely on air for public transport. , she adds.

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Climate perspective

Aviation analyst Elnæs sees this challenge as well.

– With the new prices, flying will be more attractive, it may be harder for locals to get a seat, and people will want to fly more. You may need to plan more for vacations and time off, she says.

He expects Widerøe will now fill the planes more. In February this year, every third seat on a Widerøe flight was empty, well below the industry average.

– If you think from a climate perspective, it doesn't have to be so bad. These planes fly anyway, so the more they fly, the less emissions per passenger. In addition, he says, short-haul aircraft operators such as Widerøe account for a very small fraction of total aviation emissions.