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Route news: Norwegian adds three new UK routes, Kenya Airways adds to Nairobi

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Route news in brief:

Norwegian launches three new routes from the UK

Norwegian, now a dedicated short haul operator following its post-covid restructuring, is adding three new routes to the UK next year.

The airline currently operates 21 routes from the UK to 15 destinations in five countries. The new additions are:

  • London Gatwick – Ålesund (Norway): two weekly departures from 11th April
  • London Gatwick – Riga: two to three weekly departures from 30th March, competing directly with airBaltic at Gatwick
  • Newcastle – Copenhagen: two to three weekly departures from 2nd May

The Copenhagen flight will be the first Norwegian service to operate from Newcastle.

These routes will operate until the end of October, and tickets are bookable now on the Norwegian website. The airline is not part of any airline alliance but has its own loyalty programme.

Norwegian adds 3 UK routes

Kenya Airways adds a 2nd Nairobi service

Kenya Airways, a SkyTeam member alongside Virgin Atlantic, will launch flights from London Gatwick in July.

Kenya Airways had been running two daily services from London Heathrow but one of these was dropped for Summer 2024. It was probably using borrowed slots for the second flight and was unable to continue using them or unwilling to pay the current price.

The Gatwick service is currently scheduled for three flights per week, departing around noon (varies) on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. The daily Heathrow flight operates overnight, departing at 6.25pm.

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Comments (14)

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

  • TimT says:
    10 Dec10 December 08:17

    Great to see the NCL option, hopefully the operating days allow for a nice weekend break to (and from) a great city

  • SGB says:
    10 Dec10 December 10:18

    Does anyone have experience with Kenyan Airways? They have some cheap fares to Mauritius in business…

    • Filipino_chino says:
      10 Dec10 December 11:29

      Not flown in J, but i have done this route in October/November this year (half term) and i am doing this next week too (Christmas break)… The long flight to NBO is good, but depending on the flight from NBO to MRU, it’s a rubbish connection flight. If you get the flight that arrives in the afternoon, it’s fine, but if you get the flight that lands about 3:30am, it’s rubbish.

      All the aircraft seems a little tired, but the service and price is good, even better if you fly from CDG and back to LHR. Note that NBO is a shocking airport and it’s best described as a cattle market at boarding time… Also watch out for their customer service… My route was FCO – CDG – NBO – MRU (due to the price, it was cheaper to take the FCO to CDG) and they changed my flight from CDG to NBO, but not my flight from FCO, meaning i would have departed FCO after my flight left CDG! Got it sorted, but was a pain.

    • Deek says:
      10 Dec10 December 12:25

      Business on the 787 is 2-2-2 and not much to shout about, but it’s comfortable and service is friendly. They have also started leasing an SAA A330-300 which has a much nicer 1-2-1 layout, I’m taking that in January between NBO and LHR.

      As mentioned NBO can be a bit of a market at times, and the lounges aren’t fantastic, but if you wander away from the main gates there are some much quieter areas in the terminal with recline seats.

    • Tom C says:
      10 Dec10 December 16:30

      I’m in Nairobi several times a year and the airport upgrades/rebuild and new lounges have completely transformed it. I flew through it twice in October and it’s a significantly more pleasant experience.

      The BA flight always means I need to stay overnight, and whilst the Kenya Airways arrival time is far more convenient, I hate the 2-2-2 layout so much I’d rather fly BA.

  • ADS says:
    10 Dec10 December 13:08

    KY website is impressively bad!

    1. doesn’t allow you to enter LON for flights from both LHR and LGW
    2. editing a search only brings up a handful of airports
    3. fares not loaded

    that said, KY can be useful for routing to places like TNR

  • Kenny says:
    10 Dec10 December 16:22

    “The Copenhagen flight will be the first Norwegian service to operate from Newcastle.”

    My mind really struggles to comprehend this sentence 😂

  • Devon Diamond says:
    10 Dec10 December 20:26

    From March 2025 KLM are launching an afternoon flight to and from Amsterdam to Exeter, assume the timings will mean that connections are available for flights to Asia / South Africa etc. Exeter already has a morning Aer Lingus flight to Dublin that connects to their transatlantic flights so this announcement neatly covers all points east I think

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

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