Travel, Aviation | It’s happening on Monday: Price rises for flights in Norway

A new arrangement for flight routes will then come into place, the so-called . On 24 flight routes in Norway, the maximum price is halved.

– This is good news for the wallet. It has been quite expensive to fly, especially in northern Norway, and the government’s target was a reduction of up to 50 per cent. We’ll see how it turns out, but the fact that there will be lower prices for flying in Northern Norway in particular is good and it’s about time, says flight analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs in Winair to Nettavisen.

Big cuts

In many cases, the ticket price is halved.

It is shown, for example, on the route from Bodø to Lofoten’s “capital” Svolvær.

On Good Friday, a Bodø-Svolvær flight ticket departing on March 31 costs NOK 1,129, while it drops to NOK 702 the following day. Going forward, almost all ticket prices on the route are between NOK 600 and 700.

You can also see it clearly on the route Oslo to Ørsta/Volda, where the price on Easter Eve is almost three times higher than the price on Easter Monday.

Andenes-Tromsø is also one of many routes that are now cheaper. A flight ticket on 31 March costs NOK 1,049, while the next day the price is NOK 726 and on 2 April it is down to NOK 599.

The big price cuts have already given an enormous boost in demand for plane tickets. The airline Widerøe, which has 21 of the 24 relevant routes, announced in March a 40 per cent increase in bookings from 1 April.

– We are experiencing a strong market on all routes, especially during large departure periods such as the Easter holidays, the May days and the summer holidays, stated Widerøe CEO Stein Nilsen, earlier this month.

Tax dollars

The measure comes after the government increases payments to the operators of the FOT routes from NOK 940 million to NOK 2.35 billion a year. This means that the airlines that fly the routes can and must cut prices significantly, financed by tax dollars.

– For everyone who depends on flying on the tender network, this is good news, and we cheer for all measures that make it cheaper to fly – both in the North, in Western Norway and Trøndelag, writes Lina Lindegaard Carlsen, communications advisor at Widerøe AS.

However, Carlsen is clear that they already see challenges with the fact that some departures are now almost too popular. This applies in particular to departures that leave at attractive times on weekends and around holidays, for example departure days such as Easter Monday.

– The consequence is that business and patient travel may face challenges in finding tickets for these departures close to departure, she says.

– It remains to be seen how it will actually turn out after 1 April, but if it becomes difficult to get people in need to come forward, we believe that other price models will work better for those who are completely dependent on air as public transport, she adds .

Climate perspective

Aviation analyst Elnæs also sees this challenge.

– With the new prices, it will be so attractive to fly that it may be difficult for the local population to get a seat and people will probably want to fly more. It may be that you have to plan more with regard to holidays and free time, he says.

He expects that Widerøe will now fill up the planes to a greater extent. In February this year, every third seat was vacant on a Widerøe aircraft, well below the industry average.

– If you think from a climate perspective, it doesn’t have to be so bad. These planes fly anyway, so the more that fly, the lower the emissions per passenger. In addition, the short-haul aircraft operators, such as Widerøe, account for a very small part of the total aircraft emissions, he says.