A formal complaint has been made to the European Commission by Norwegian against rival SAS, claiming “unlawful differential treatment”.
The low cost carrier alleges that discriminatory conditions and licencing practices prevent it from obtaining access to traffic rights on the same terms as SAS.
Norwegian says it has been prevented from starting routes between Helsinki and Dubai, London and Tel Aviv and Barcelona and Tel Aviv because it doe not hold an EU air operators certificate (AOC).
“The joint Scandinavian AOC, which only SAS benefits from, gives access to traffic rights both within the EU and Norway, an advantage not available to Norwegian as Norway is not a part of the EU,” the airline said.
Norwegian also claims SAS’s majority ownership by the governments of Norway, Sweden and Denmark give it other cost and crewing advantages.