NORWEGIAN is seeking for UK and Spanish AOC

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Low-cost carrier Norwegian is seeking a UK air operator’s certificate (AOC) as it continues to expand its route network. It is also reportedly seeking a Spanish AOC.

Achieving a UK AOC would allow Norwegian to tap into that country’s bilateral air service arrangements with other countries, giving it access to destinations that would not otherwise be accessible.

“If you look at the UK, it’s a big market for us,” Norwegian VP-corporate communications Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen said. “We’re now the third-largest carrier at [London] Gatwick.”

If the UK Civil Aviation Authority grants an AOC, Norwegian would have access “to places like India, for example, that are not possible with a Norwegian AOC. Third countries don’t allow you to establish operating rights that don’t go between Norway and their country.”
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The fact that Norway is not a member of the European Union is also a complicating factor in gaining foreign rights, he added.

Norwegian CEO Bjørn Kjos was quoted in The Wall Street Journal last week as saying the carrier is also seeking a Spanish AOC. “Spain is obviously interesting, but we haven’t confirmed that,” Sandaker-Nielsen said. “Perhaps a Spanish AOC is something we would look into, sometime in the future.” Spain is a major destination for the carrier.

Norwegian currently has two active AOCs within Norway for its various subsidiaries. Norwegian Air International holds an Irish AOC for proposed services to the US, which have run into major opposition from US carriers and unions.

The company has been trying to obtain a US foreign air carrier permit since February 2014, but the issue has become mired in the US Department of Transportation (DOT) amid the controversy over its planned services and there has been no recent progress on the issue, Sandaker-Nielsen said.

Source, Air Transport World.