Norwegian consolidates flights to San Francisco

Low-cost trans-Atlantic operator Norwegian is abandoning Oakland International Airport and consolidating its Bay Area flights at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The airline had already moved its London, Barcelona and Paris services to SFO but announced this week it would also transfer summer seasonal flights from Oslo Gardermoen Airport and Rome-Fiumicino International Airport. READ: Festive crowds on US airlines to top 47 million. “For the summer season 2020 and beyond, we will offer all our five Bay Area flights from San Francisco International Airport, which will better position us for our return to profitability,’’ said Norwegian senior vice president commercial Matthew Wood. “We would like to thank our partners and friends at Oakland International Airport for their tremendous support during our operation from May 2014 to just a few months ago.” The San Francisco to Oslo service will start March 30, 2020, and operate twice weekly during the summer season, on Mondays and Fridays. The Rome service will commence April 1, 2020, and operate three times weekly during the peak summer season, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The budget airline is offering one-way, tax-inclusive fares to Rome from as low as $US209.90 in economy class one-way and from $US659.90 in its premium class. While Port of Oakland director of aviation Bryant L. Francis was disappointed at the loss, he said the partnership with Norwegian had helped establish the airport as a big US to Europe gateway. “The phenomena of Norwegian at OAK has improved our visibility in the travel and aviation business worldwide,” he said. Norwegian flies two-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners to San Francisco with economy seats featuring personal in-flight entertainment on demand, USB charging ports and a power adapter. It is also rolling out free gate-to-gate Wi-Fi on trans-Atlantic routes. The carrier offers 40 non-stop routes to Europe from the US, where it is growing its presence with new routes and increased frequencies as well as an upcoming partnership with JetBlue.