Norwegian: We’ll Base 150 Aircraft at Gatwick If They Open Second Runway

Should a second runway be given the go-ahead, the CEO of Norwegian says that his airline is prepared to expand its base of operations at London Gatwick.

Speaking at London’s Aviation Club, Norwegian CEO Bjørn Kjos said that should approval for a second runway at London’s Gatwick Airport (LGW) be granted, the airline would be willing to base over 150 aircraft at the airport. This figure would include over 50 Boeing 787 Dreamliners as well as more than 100 short-haul aircraft.

“We can contribute to putting 50 Dreamliners into there easy,” Kjos told the audience. “I’ve looked into it. It’s not something I’ve pulled out of a hat.”

Though it sounds like an ambitious target, the CEO of the Oslo-based carrier was quoted in Business Traveller as saying that he believes that these figures “reflect the huge opportunities we are presented with.” He added that, “Gatwick is being ambitious in its plans for a second runway, so it is only right that airlines should show equal ambition.”

According to the Evening Standard, Mr Kjos explained that he supported Gatwick over Heathrow because “the growth in the industry will not be business people, it will be the leisure market.”

Kjos also explained that a second runway would help to create a global low-cost network for the carrier. He added that the expansion “makes commercial sense – Gatwick’s costs are at the right price for us to continue offering lower fares, and their location gives us access to a catchment area of 18 million people.”

The carrier, already the third largest operating out of Gatwick, has announced that it will be adding direct flights from LGW to Boston this spring, enlarging an existing U.S. network that already includes New York, Los Angeles, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

[Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images]