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Norwegian decides against launching flights from Heathrow Airport

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Late last year Norwegian put its hat in the ring for the Heathrow slot lottery and was awarded a handful of summer 2020 slots.

These takeoff and landing slots would have enabled it to launch three weekly flights from Heathrow Airport.

Norwegian 787

Getting into Heathrow is, on paper, a key ambition for most carriers.  However, in reality, it would not have made much sense.  There would have been no connection opportunities and the cost involved in setting up a separate Heathrow operation probably isn’t worth it for three weekly flights.

Norwegian seems to agree, because after “careful consideration” they have decided to return the slots to the airport.  Given their attempts to control spending and “move from growth to profitability” this was most likely the right decision.

Comments (295)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Tom C says:

    I’m actually a self-aware bot, so please discard this comment in your count.

  • riku2 says:

    The spam/bin values should not be zero since I have seen comments removed (for various reasons). and then there are some words you cannot use in your post since the post will not appear if you include those words in your post.
    The comments part of a post is mostly useless the day after a post appears anyway since about 70% of the posts on a page will be “OT” and so irrelevant to the post itself.

  • Mike says:

    Rob – Congrats. I wonder two things: how many comments were about AMEX and how many comments were made by Harry. Noting that looking for comments made by Harry is what makes me log on at lunch time at work and then again in the evening. Perhaps you should give him a commission. I love the way Harry just cuts through “fake news” and also he extra bits of knowledge – always v useful.

    • ankomonkey says:

      I reckon 40% Curve, 20% Amex self-referral, 10% Amex Platinum upgrade URL, 20% 3V cards, 10% pet insurance.

    • BJ says:

      Harry has certainly introduced more mutations into the HFP genetic code that everybody else combined 🙂

    • John says:

      His “knowledge” on topics other than Spain, Avios and EC261 compensation is hit and miss.

      • BJ says:

        To be fair though a lot of what many of us post with our best intentions is hit and miss, be it by having the wrong information or understanding in the first place or due to poor recollection of detail. However, in the absence of factually correct definitive answers it usually provokes other responses that often means we get where we need to be in the end. Factually correct answers at the outset are always the most welcome though, and I think it is clear to most readers that some people only comment in purely factual terms, and even then only when they are certain they know the answer. These are almost certainly the most valued but they don’t always come where and when we need them.

      • Lady London says:

        Hum. Looks like you’ve missed out on quite a few interesting profitable opportunities then @John :-). For me they’re a spectator sport but they’ve surely been there.

        • Polly says:

          They were great times. Those cards and the Tesco cabbages etc etc..hilarious, actually. Good old Tesco days too.

    • Charlieface says:

      I can see nobody remembers 3V cards, that’s probably 40%, and 20% just in the week it went bang.

      • BJ says:

        I’m sure I spotted 3V mentioned in these comments someplace today. I had a carrier bag full of them but processing them was so mentally painful I was happy when the end cane 🙂 At that time I was staying in a rural area and there was plenty of cards but I discovered somebody else was hiding them all over the local Tesco.

        • Polly says:

          I do miss those 3v cards and considered them a personal challenge when l would call up to pay gym membership or our alarm company with them…loved it, but am sure they hated me…the Dublin lads who owned that company must have hated the lot of us.

      • ankomonkey says:

        ankomonkey says:
        7 February 2020 at 08:30

        I reckon 40% Curve, 20% Amex self-referral, 10% Amex Platinum upgrade URL, 20% 3V cards, 10% pet insurance.

  • Neil Donoghue says:

    400,000 comments! Can you please filter that between Shoestring & BJ and see what it is left? Ha…A fantastic achievement nonetheless and the comments really are great to read.

    • BJ says:

      I am sure I have been posting longer than Harry under any of his names but I am also sure Harry has both substantially more original comments and replies to other comments than me overall.

      • sloth says:

        haha kind of proving Neil’s point 🙂

        anyway for me the comments are what make this blog so great!

        • BJ says:

          Sometimes I just throw some thoughts and ideas out there for the sake of stimulating broader discussion or different perspectives regardless of whether I believe it myself or not. For example, this week I raised some questions about the value of the IHG premium cc just so that we might think about it more deeply before jumping to the more obvious conclusion and applying quickly.

          • xcalx says:

            “this week I raised some questions about the value of the IHG premium cc”
            Which swayed me towards the free option. Thanks BJ

          • BJ says:

            Glad it helped, you can always add the paid card later anyway if you wish ( and creation approves application).

          • Lady London says:

            @BJ “Sometimes I just throw some comments out there”. ahhhh that explains some of your wilder posts. 🙂

          • BJ says:

            @LadyLondon, you might think that, all I’m saying is that it’s definitely not TOTM!

      • Neil Donoghue says:

        When Rob get’s a spare week or two – This could be a nice little task for him! Ha

        • Russ says:

          Neil, I have a couple of J tickets to HK in two weeks – want them?

          • Rhys says:

            I’ll take them 😉

          • Neil Donoghue says:

            Would love to mate but I will be in Easter Island and then sitting in Bora Bora for a week! Coming back via Sydney & Doha in Q Suites.

            Rhys – They are all yours buddy

          • BJ says:

            @Neil, I’m not sure this is the right forum for you to express your physical desires!

      • Roger* says:

        I believe there are two other Rogers posting (and I believe I was the first).

        Far too much rogering going on. [JOKE – may as well join in.] Would Priti Patel say ‘far too much rogerin’ goin’ on’? [JOKE etc]

    • Polly says:

      And yourself Neil, not shy coming forward you! Enjoy Bora Bora….

      • Neil Donoghue says:

        I have no idea what you mean Polly!….Ha might be time for a new screen name lol

  • Alan says:

    Would be even more interesting if the stats gave you a breakdown of the top commenters over time!

    • BJ says:

      Same people have had different names over time, and some people post under different names at the same time.

      • Alan says:

        Ah well they’d lose out in their bragging rights then 😀

      • Lady London says:

        Why would people do that?

        • BJ says:

          Usually because they are being a PITA. FWIW I have never posted under different names at the same time other than my 2018 April Fools day comment that the IB+ 90k avios were being issued as a single use voucher. However, I have used three different usernames since HFP started.

          • Lady London says:

            I did use a different name when I posted a reasonable comment once 🙂

    • BJ says:

      OT @Alan, did you pick up on any of the comments about an Edinburgh meeting?

      • Alan says:

        No – I messaged back asking what the chat was but never saw anything more. I found the number of comments so high now I had to unsubscribe from the emails and find it difficult to keep track of what’s going on in the comments without them! What’s being considered?

        • BJ says:

          I left you replies subsequently but guessed you missed those too. @Axel is trying to gauge interest and it seems to be healthy. He is suggesting the Wash Bar as they will let him have a function room there for 30 or something like that. Rob suggesting we try to coordinate with him of Rhys visiting Edinburgh to review clubrooms lounge so they can possibly atttend.

          • Alan says:

            Ah, yes – are you on Twitter? Could drop me a message on there (I’m @alanjrobertson)

            Definitely interested in an Edinburgh meet & happy to help out with organisation too…

          • Shoestring says:

            shame I don’t live in Glasgow any more or I’d be joining you

            West End – happy days 🙂

        • Shoestring says:

          and you know the interesting thing? there I was – a home counties boy with [what your average Glasgie thug considers] a posh plummy English accent – but is in fact just average south England mostly BBC accent – earning loads more money than them, drafted in to run their best industry better than they ever could – yet they never beat me up (or gave me the Glasgie kiss) and just kept asking me out to party after party, good times 🙂

          • Alan says:

            Haha glad you had a good time. West End is great, I lived there for about a decade.

  • MattB says:

    We both got the Virgin auto convert bonus in Nov and Dec somehow, fingers crossed for the hattrick.

  • Volker says:

    Congratulations, HfP! I have often found the contributions of other readers helpful, so I spend quite some time reading them as well as the articles themselves. Not sure if a large number of page views from India should be considered suspicious, by the way, given the huge population there and India‘s ties with the UK. Do you get much less hits from India than the other blog you refer to in your article?

    • Rob says:

      We are 80% UK, 10% US and 8% Europe.

      • BJ says:

        Have you thought about recruiting the right staff to launch a USA version of HFP? The feel of the blog is different from all others so it might pay off.

        • Oh! Matron! says:

          Please, please, please…

          Most of them just appear to be websites for credit card referals….

  • James 1 says:

    I’m sure I’ve read in the past that HfP’s value was more in the e-mail that reaches City-based HNW individuals who are too busy with posting comments on the site.
    I could have sworn Rob insinuating that us mere ‘commenters’ were much less value! Who’d have thought it? We are valuable after all!
    🙂

    • TGLoyalty says:

      Think you completely misunderstood what Rob said.

      • Russ says:

        Er no I think James 1 hit it squarely on the head 🙂

        Sorry must dash have city types to bailout as they don’t earn as much like wot I dus.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          No he says his readership is a certain demographic so that’s what he caters for, he would be absolutely bonkers not to.

          He also comments that the people who comment are a fraction of his readership, if he only catered for these few he wouldn’t make a living.

          Also just because the majority of his readers are 1 demographic and the commentators are another doesn’t mean that neither read the articles.

        • BJ says:

          Are they ‘dull middle management’ type too?

          • Lady London says:

            Yup. As in “the backbone of the UK hotel and premium flights industry”.

            Not loud but be proud

          • riku2 says:

            i am not a middle manager but “dull” Sheraton and Marriott do appeal to me and I spent 70 nights in their hotels last year.

          • Stu N says:

            You must have a better travel policy than me, we usually stretch to a Hilton Garden Inn on a good day…

            Also BJ – I’m Edinburgh based so would be interested in a meet up should one happen. Relying on people seeing comments is slightly haphazard, any ideas about some sort of coordination…

          • BJ says:

            @Stu, yes, I know. I think Axel intends using some website to gauge interest and availability on certain dates. Have not seen him post for some days so I guess he is busy with other stuff at the moment. Just trying to make sure that Edinburgh and other interested people who don’t post so often know to look out for some info although I’m sure Rob/Rhys can include it in a Bits post if Axel does get it off the ground.

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