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Norwegian cuts short-haul capacity by 25%

Norwegian has reduced capacity on its short-haul flying programme by 25% for 2018.

Capacity on routes from Gatwick to Ibiza, Dubrovnik and Fuerteventura have been reduced by 50%, while routes to Larnaca, Lanzarote and Chania have been cut by 30%. Norwegian’s Edinburgh to Malaga service has also been cut by 30%.

Gatwick to Tenerife has seen a 10% reduction in capacity.

Other services to Split, Barcelona, Palma, Kefalonia, Catania, Corfu, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Madrid, Faro and Las Palmas remain the same as last year.

But Norwegian’s UK sales team said overall capacity across both its short-haul and long-haul flying programmes had increased by 30% compared with 2017.

The airline launched its Gatwick to Buenos Aires route last week and also announced major expansion of its long-haul routes out of the UK.

New services to South America, the US East Coast and Midwest and Asia are in the pipeline.

This week the carrier reported a net loss of almost 300 million NOK (£27.4 million).

This compared to a profit of more than 1.1 billion NOK (£100 million) in 2016.

The fairline blamed “significant costs” related to increased fuel prices, wet lease of aircraft and passenger care.

More: Rising costs plunge budget carrier Norwegian into the red

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