Norwegian ready for flights to Bangkok
Norwegian low-cost airline Norwegian says it is ready for flights from Europe to Bangkok. Bangkok will serve as a base for this. There will be a Norwegian branch in Bangkok and the airline will fly with a Thai crew.
Norwegian is the first airline to fly intercontinentally according to the low-cost concept. It is expected that a return ticket to Bangkok will cost well under € 500. Norwegian says it can fly cheaper by using the new, fuel-efficient aircraft (Boeing Dreamliners) and working with a Thai crew.
Flights to Bangkok started
The Norwegian budget airline started long-haul flights between the Thai capital and Oslo last Saturday. Norwegian has already set up a route between Scandinavia and New York. Due to the problems with the Dreamliner, the budget airline temporarily flies with leased Airbus A340 aircraft. Norwegian has ordered a total of eight Boeing Dreamliners for its long-haul routes to New York and Bangkok.
A spokesman for Norwegian, Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen, confirmed that Bangkok will become the main base for flights to and from Europe. “We are convinced that in the coming years there will be large tourist flows from Asia to Europe, which is why we have chosen Bangkok as a base”. It will therefore also be possible to fly cheaply with Norwegian from Bangkok to Europe and New York.
Norwegian has set its sights on office spaces and a hotel in Bangkok. The hotel will be used for both flight crew and Norwegian customers.
Intercontinental flights
Norwegian's ambitious plans threaten incumbent airlines such as SAS and Finnair, with SAS even stopping flights to Bangkok this summer.
“The launch of our intercontinental routes is an important milestone in Norwegian's history. Our goal is that more passengers can afford to fly intercontinental,” said CEO Bjørn Kjos. “The market for intercontinental flights has long been characterized by artificially high fares and limited flexibility. Given the enormous interest in our new long-haul flights, it appears that many people want to fly cheaply and comfortably to New York, Bangkok and Fort Lauderdale.”
Single trip Bangkok € 137 all-in
Norwegian expects delivery of the first 787 Dreamliner to take place at the end of June and the aircraft to be ready to fly in August. The first flight from Oslo to Bangkok started last Saturday. The airline claims that all flights from Oslo are already fully booked for the coming weeks. Not a surprise in itself, because Norwegian offered these tickets for an absolute bottom price. A single trip to Bangkok including taxes cost only € 137. Due to all the interest, even the website became overloaded and therefore inaccessible. The flights from Oslo to Bangkok that started last Saturday will be temporarily operated by two Airbus A340-300 aircraft until the Dreamliners take over.
Norwegian also flies from Schiphol to Oslo, among others. This makes it possible to transfer to a flight to Bangkok. There are rumors that Norwegian will also fly directly from Amsterdam to Bangkok.
As mentioned, the prices for the airline tickets will be far below the prices of the traditional airlines. For the editors of Thailandblog a good reason to follow this airline. We will keep our readers informed of any developments.
It all sounds interesting, but if you take a good look at the site, you should be very lucky if you get below € 500. In addition, for a passenger traveling from the Netherlands, there will be some additional costs, such as a return trip to Amsterdam and Oslo and possibly also an overnight stay in Oslo.
In my case, not beneficial at all
greeting
Frank
All marketing lies! Firstly, they are not the first to do this, AirAsia XL did it before and before that also an airline between Gatwick and Hong Kong (or actually the other way around).
Secondly, they are not really cheap. Currently a flight BKK – AMS € 300 or more. The flight AMS-BKK cannot be booked, but it will certainly not cost 100 euros, certainly the multiple of that. Norwegian does not live up to its promise to be much cheaper. In fact, they are not cheaper at all!
Thirdly, I wonder whether they can structurally offer a lower price than the rest, not to mention whether you want that as a traveler, knowing that you have to pay for every conceivable extra that is free with most airlines.
Look, I welcome anything that gives me the opportunity to go to Thailand. Even submarines or by bus (maybe something for NCA?). But keep it real Norwegian! Empty slogans and promises do not contribute to a good image.
I guess the more competition the better! If they start stunting, other airlines will not be able to stay behind. We benefit from that. I think that in the long term it should be quite possible to book a return ticket for around 500 euros, unless fuel prices start to rise again.
Just visited their site, but the prices for a return Amsterdam Bangkok are just expensive 2x € 375, - is just € 750, - And then you also have to get to Oslo. There are plenty of other options for that price.
I think this is great, will definitely use it, I would like to be kept informed.
Just to set the record straight, Norwegian did not fly from Bangkok for the first time last Saturday.
A Norwegian neighbor of mine flew from Bangkok to Oslo in the early hours of Friday 7 June and already had his first disappointment, namely an hour and a half delay resulting in a missed connection in Oslo to continue traveling to the far north.
In the end it took him about 32 hours to get home, he certainly doesn't fly with Norwegian anymore.
for quick decision makers, only bookable today:
Departure from Antwerp by train to Schiphol.
Return ticket to Bangkok for €446 with our KLM.
check out Ticketspy
If you book Oslo gardemoen to bangkok directly costs about 630
Then Amsterdam Oslo about 130 then the transfer time,
Take a look at norwegian air and go fake books look at the price,
I'll board at Schiphol
Gr. Han
No card no water
OSLO, 18 June 2013: Norwegian Air Shuttle, Europe's third-largest budget airline, apologized Monday for refusing passengers food, water and even blankets on its recently launched long-haul flights to New York and Bangkok.
A 16-year-old spent his Oslo to New York flight freezing since he only had cash and no credit card with him to pay the US$5 fee charged by the carrier for renting a blanket, the daily newspaper Aftenposten wrote.
That followed a report last week of Norwegian crew members taking back a cup of coffee from a Thai woman after it emerged she only had cash and a local credit card with her. The woman was also unable to buy food or water on the 12-hour flight.
“This is totally unacceptable. Norwegian must ensure its passengers are treated well and we apologize deeply,” company spokesman Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen told AFP.
ALTERNATIVE: from Dusseldorf with Etihad Airways from 715 euros incl. airport transfer and 2 nights hotel in Bangkok 🙂