A group of 30 Norwegian executives led by Erik Braathens a former director of Braathens SAFE, a company that operated in Norway for 57 years before being absorbed by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in 2004, has announced they are launching a new domestic carrier in Norway.
Which will be ready to take to the skies at the first quarter of 2021. The name of the new carrier is ‘Flyr’ and it will focus on delivering “the simplest flight, in the most suitable way possible,” says the airline’s website.
According to the airlines website: Norway is an elongated country with fjords and mountains, which means that we will need to fly in the years ahead, but probably a little less than we have done before. Therefore, we build an airline from scratch, based on many years of experience, with a size, organization and business model that is adapted to this future.”
In light of the financial difficulties low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle is facing during this pandemic — and probably banking on its demise — Flyr is planning to offer an alternative to multi-national flag carrier SAS and regional carrier Wideroe, as well as future competitor Wizz Air, with the airline putting special attention to the environment.
“We must all fly less in the years to come to take care of the environment. Precisely for this reason, we are building a company that does not depend on getting more and more people to fly more and more in order to achieve profitability,” says the company on its website, pointing out that all employees will be directly hired by the company in compliance with Norwegian labor laws and paying Norwegian market salaries. Norwegian Air Shuttle has faced serious scrutiny throughout the years both in Norway and in the E.U. for registering their fleet and hiring crews outside of Scandinavia, particularly in Ireland and the United Kingdom where labor regulations are less stringent than in their home country.
Flyr is focusing on simplifying the flight experience by allowing passengers to manage their entire experience through a phone app, from booking to baggage delivery.
“The name Flyr [the verb “to fly” in Norwegian] reflects the simplicity of the company and the product we are in the process of building. The choice of name may challenge traditional rules and expectations, and in the same way we want to be a challenger in aviation,” the company says on its website.
There has been no confirmation as to the type of aircraft that Flyr will operate or which routes will be served, but the airline had previously indicated that in the initial phase a small fleet of Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 aircraft would constitute the operational backbone of the carrier, Flightglobal reports. It has also been confirmed that the company will have its headquarters and main base at Norway’s capital Oslo Gardermoen Airport.