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Norwegian Air Shuttle to get Irish licence

Budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle said on Thursday that it was about to obtain an Irish license for its long-haul routes easing the hiring of foreign staff, to the dismay of unions.

Published: 6 February 2014 21:52 CET

Norwegian Air Shuttle to get Irish licence

A Norwegian Airlines Dreamliner landing in Stockholm - Photo: NTB/Scanpix

"Irish authorities have informed us that we fulfil all the requirements," Norwegian spokesman Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen told AFP. "They said they would issue an AOC (Air Operator's Certificate) as soon as we're ready."

Norwegian is one of the few low-cost airlines that have ventured into the long-haul segment, where it is harder to cut costs through a high rotation of aircraft.

Since last summer, the company operates routes from Europe to the US and Bangkok.

Norwegian has requested an Irish license which would, according to the company, broaden its rights in the European Union, Norway not being a member of the bloc.

The Irish certificate would also allow the airline to bypass Norwegian legislation, which restricts foreign staff.

According to Sandaker-Nielsen, Norwegian currently employs 200 Asian cabin crew, with lower salaries than their expensive Norwegian and prospective US colleagues.

With the company being about to hire 300 workers for its bases in New York and Fort Lauderdale, the Irish initiative has met the opposition of pilot and air transport unions in the US.

Several union members were in Oslo this week as part of their lobbying efforts with European and US authorities against what they deem "unfair competition" by Norwegian, which they accuse of social dumping.

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When will Irish travellers be able to return to Spain?

Photo: Josep LAGO / AFP

Spain is one of the top holiday destinations for Irish tourists, being the most popular country for travellers from Ireland for the four years prior to the start of the pandemic in 2020.

In 2019, Spain welcomed almost two million Irish holidaymakers to its shores.

So, when will Irish travellers and second home owners be able to holiday in Spain again?

There is currently an Irish Government Advisory in operation against all non-essential international travel, which means that travel to Spain is not allowed right now, but will this change in time for the summer season?

Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin has suggested that there may be a possibility of holiday travel within Europe starting from late July or August, if the risks associated with Covid-19 are low enough to allow it.

When asked on Morning Ireland RTÉ Radio, whether this will mean that holidaymakers will be able to fly to Spain in late July and August, he replied that the advice was certain that people should avoid all non-essential travel for May and June.

However, he confirmed that the situation would open up more in July, if transmission rates continued to decline.

“We cannot stay disconnected forever. Ireland is a globalised country,” he said.

“We have to assess all the risks as we move forward. Travel resuming towards the latter half of July is a possibility,” he continued.

Tánaiste (Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar echoed these sentiments when on April 29th,he told the Irish Independent: “It is, I think just too soon for that return to international travel”, promising the Government would study the issue next month.

“We may be able to allow international travel among countries where the population is substantially vaccinated, but we’re not there yet,” he said.

However, Spain’s Tourism Minister Fernando Valdés has said that Spain will welcome visitors from June.

He outlined the plans at the World Travel & Tourism Council summit in Mexico last week, saying that Spain would participate in a pilot digital certificate scheme in May and would be “ready to receive visitors in June”.

The EU’s Covid-19 certificates, formerly known as Digital Green Certificates, will allow travel to resume across the bloc’s 27 member states by providing information on whether tourists have been vaccinated already, if they have a negative PCR test or if they’ve recently recovered from Covid-19.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on the EU Covid passports and how will they work in practice?

Initially, Taoiseach Martin highlighted the difficulties in the domestic use of such a document and voiced concerns about how the Covid-19 passport could be discriminatory and limit the freedoms of members of the public who have not yet had a vaccine.

However, on May 1st, it was announced that Ireland is among a group of EU countries that have signed up to a pilot to test the certificate.

A target date of June 1st has been set for the technical launch of the certificates with an actual start date of June 30th.

It is not yet clear, however, how the millions of people who have already been vaccinated will get hold of one.

So, when the EU’s Digital Green Certificates are finally issued and the Irish government agrees that its citizens can travel once more, it’s likely that travel to Spain can resume. For Irish travellers, it’s looking like a Spanish vacation may be on the cards for late summer.

READ ALSO: Spain will allow EU travellers with vaccine passports to sidestep covid tests and quarantines

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