Norwegian enters into a billion dollar contract with the Norwegian Armed Forces

News

Won: Norwegian won an aviation contract with the defense sector. Illustrative photo taken in 2022.

Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen, NTB

Norwegian has secured a four-year agreement for defense sector flights in Norway and the Nordic region. The total agreement value is approximately NOK 1 billion.

– The agreement covers about 250,000 trips annually for employees of the armed forces, the Ministry of Defense and defense equipment, the Norwegian writes in press release Wednesday morning.

Norwegian will now reintroduce direct routes between Oslo and Barbados, Norwegian wrote in the press release. Thus there will be 17 weekly departures from Oslo to Bardufoss, in addition to the fact that the Norwegian will have two weekly flights from Oslo to Lakselve. The airline will also offer a direct route from Oslo to Kirkenes all year round.

The agreement will enter into force from 2024 and will last for four years.

In 2019, SAS obtained the agreement after Norwegian had obtained it since 2008.

– We are pleased to be able to increase our offering in Northern Norway. Among other things, it will give our customers in Northern Norway greater flexibility with more departures and routes, and opportunities for seamless connections to Europe. Northern Norway is an important market for us and the offer will be much better from next year onwards, says Magnus Morsund, Commercial Director at Norwegian.

In the tender, the Norwegian Armed Forces placed special emphasis on environmental requirements, the Norwegian writes in a press release. And Norwegian won, among other things, the agreement for its work towards the use of fossil-free aviation fuel, which, in addition to the renewal of the fleet, is what will contribute to achieving more sustainable aviation.

During the term of the agreement, Norwegian shall replace conventional fuel with fossil-free jet fuel for a significant proportion of consumption related to defense sector flights.

“Total for four years, the Norwegian will replace up to four million liters of fossil fuels and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 10,000 tons.” Norwegian writes in a press release.