Norwegian Celebrates Five Years of Low-cost Long-haul Service to London Gatwick

Almost 5 million passengers have flown long-haul to and from Gatwick since 2014

Norwegian, the World's Best Low-Cost Long-Haul Airline, is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its long-haul routes from the United States to London Gatwick, a nonstop service that transformed transatlantic travel with unbeatable low fares, featuring new planes.

London is the crown jewel in Norwegian's U.S. network with nearly 1 million passengers carried each year. July 2014 marked the beginning of Norwegian's long-haul expansion from the U.S. to London Gatwick with its first route launch from Los Angeles on July 2, 2014, quickly followed by new routes from New York JFK and Fort Lauderdale the same week.

"We saw an opportunity five years ago to bring low-cost long-haul to London and led the disruption of the transatlantic market. Since then, many carriers have been forced to lower fares to compete with us, which proves we have unlocked a viable market.Consumers today have more choices and better options to travel to Europe with affordable fares combined with exceptional service, on modern aircraft and we have enabled millions of Americans this opportunity since 2014. I thank all the U.S. airports for their partnership and especially the heart of the operation at London Gatwick for building a strong foundation to ensure success into the future," said Bjørn Kjos, CEO at Norwegian.

"The five years since Norwegian launched its first transatlantic route to and from Gatwick, I have seen the airport experience a low-cost long-haul revolution. Spearheaded by Norwegian, the number of low-cost long-haul routes available from Gatwick has quadrupled since 2014, and the number of passengers traveling on these routes has grown by 43 percent in the last year alone. Indeed, one in five of our passengers are now long-haul travelers. We're looking forward to working with Norwegian and other carriers in the future to continue the meteoric growth in global connections," said Stewart Wingate, CEO at Gatwick Airport.

Gatwick Airport has quickly become a strategic long-haul hub in Norwegian's global network that fosters connectivity and direct services for passengers to around 150 global destinations. The airline now operates 11 nonstop London service from U.S. cities including Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City/JFK, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle and Tampa.

Norwegian has grown its London Gatwick base to more than 1,500 pilots and cabin crew. The airline's UK subsidiary, Norwegian UK, is based at Gatwick and its fleet comprises the airline's newest Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft deliveries. These aircraft have an average age of six months and are the most environmentally friendly aircraft serving Gatwick. Norwegian has twice been named the most fuel-efficient airline by the International Council on Clean Transportation.

This year, the airline introduced free and premium high-speed Wi-Fi on its 787 Dreamliners allowing U.S. to London passengers to be the first in the world to experience free Wi-Fi for the full duration of their long-haul flights. Norwegian's newly launched gate-to-gate Wi-Fi service provides customers with connectivity the moment they step on board the Wi-Fi enabled 787 Dreamliners.