Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, trading as Norwegian, is Norway's largest airline and the third largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind easyJet and Ryanair.
Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS) was founded on 22 January 1993 to take over the regional airline services produced by Busy Bee for Braathens in Western Norway.
On 7 January 2002, NAS took over the route from Stavanger to Newcastle, flying two round trips per day. This was the first route on which the airline did not wet lease the aircraft to Braathens, but operated the route in its own right. After Braathens was bought by Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) in November 2001, all contracts that NAS had with Braathens for the routes on the Norwegian west coast were cancelled by SAS, as it wanted its subsidiary SAS Commuter to take over the routes. NAS had an 18-month cancellation period in its contract with Braathens; however, this was not respected by SAS and the contracts were terminated without notice.
Following the purchase of Braathens by SAS and the subsequent termination of its contracts, NAS announced in April 2002 that it would start domestic scheduled services as a low-cost carrier on the busiest routes. From 1 September 2002, the airline re-branded as Norwegian.
Norwegian's flights are operated by itself as well as by fully-owned subsidiaries, including Ireland-based Norwegian Air International, UK-based Norwegian Air UK, Sweden-based Norwegian Air Sweden, and Norway-based Norwegian Long Haul. Each airline holds a unique air operator's certificate (AOC) but shares branding and commercial functions with the rest of the Group. Until December 2019, Norwegian also owned and operated Argentina-based Norwegian Air Argentina, which operated domestic flights within the country.
See Tail portraits of Norwegian.
Livery
Boeing 737-8JP, registration LN-NHB, built 2014, serial number 41134 Cointrin (GVA), Geneva, Switzerland, 24 July 2016
Johan Frederik "Frits" Thaulow livery
Boeing 737-8JP, registration LN-NGL, built 2013, serial number 39023 Cointrin (GVA), Geneva, Switzerland, 21 July 2016
Juan Sebastián Elcano livery
Boeing 737-8JP, registration LN-NIG, built 2014, serial number 43878 Cointrin (GVA), Geneva, Switzerland, 3 July 2016
Christopher Columbus livery
Boeing 737-8JP, registration LN-NIH, built 2014, serial number 43879 Cointrin (GVA), Geneva, Switzerland, 7 July 2016
