Speaking at Routes Europe in Norway last week, Widerøe's CEO, Stein Nilsen, couldn't have been clearer. The focus of the regional operator, by far Norway's oldest airline, will remain firmly on the domestic market, which has rebounded far more than international.

Norway's public service operator

Widerøe is best known for its intra-Norway services, often in challenging conditions. They are its lifeblood, and this focus won't ever change, influenced by Norway's spread-out population, low population density, and slow or nonexistent overland transport.

Indeed, Nilsen said that he doesn't consider Widerøe an airline per se. Instead, it is a public service operator akin to a bus service. That's not hard to see. Its domestic network, which mainly uses 39-seat, Dash-8-100s, averages just 139 miles (224km). They include exciting multi-stops, including flight WF977.

WF977 is a six-stop service far north of the Article Circle. It routes from Kirkenes (KKN) to Tromsø (TOS) via Vadsø (VDS), Vardø (VAW), Båtsfjord (BJF), Berlevåg (BVG), and Hammerfest (HFT), the latter known as the world's most northerly town. If that routing isn't cool enough, it leaves Kirkenes at 21:20 and arrives in Tromsø four hours later at 01:20 the following day. Being that far north, it'd be daylight during the summer.

Widerøe history
Photo: Widerøe.

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Nilsen is happy with domestic

"The domestic market is heating up," Nilsen said. This summer, it has 16% more domestic flights than in the pre-pandemic summer of 2019, and post-Easter demand is "fantastic." Norway helped growth by eliminating COVID restrictions, with the country as a whole, across all airlines, above pre-pandemic levels.

Widerøe is Norway's most significant domestic operator this summer, if measured in flights, with nearly twice as many services as number-two, SAS. Of course, Widerøe's low-capacity aircraft means it ranks third by seats for sale, behind SAS and Norwegian.

As Nilsen commented:

I'm surprisingly happy. There has been rapid, rapid growth, domestically anyway. I've been surprised by the strength of demand.

Wideroes-domestic-network-1
Widerøe's domestic network this summer. Image: OAG.

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But international lags, generally speaking

Just 4% of Widerøe's total flights this summer are international, mainly using its jet-like Dash-8-Q400s, but also its Embraer 190 E2s, Dash-8-100s, -200s, and -300s – its whole fleet. Its -200s were used on a very small number of flights between Oslo and Gothenburg in early May.

Its international network comprises 13 routes, with Bergen to Aberdeen having more flights than any other. It has, or will, introduce four new routes this peak season: Bergen to Nice, Florence, and Palma, and Oslo Torp to Nice.

Read more: Norwegian Plans Up To 100 B737s By 2024"International traffic is 20-30% down," Nilsen commented. While outbound leisure markets are doing well, "we've lost a lot of international tourists to Norway." And as you'd expect, business-orientated markets are lagging.

Still, international will be a growing part of Widerøe's future. "We're trying to increase this presence, especially from southern Norway, such as Bergen, Stavanger, and Kristiansand." Nilsen's hopeful that international traffic picks up after the summer yet cautioned that there's enormous uncertainty this autumn and winter.

Have you flown Widerøe? If so, let us know your experiences in the comments.