Affordable European travel is about to take a major hit as Norwegian Air Shuttle ends its long-haul service.

The company announced on Thursday their plans to “focus on its core Nordics business, operating a European short-haul network with narrow-body aircraft. Under these circumstances, a long-haul operation is not viable for Norwegian and these operations will therefore not continue.”

The move comes amid ongoing fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged the travel industry. In November, the low-cost carrier filed for bankruptcy protection in Ireland and their entire Boeing 787-9 long haul fleet has been grounded since March 2020, as Covid-19 triggered travel restrictions worldwide.

“Our short haul network has always been the backbone of Norwegian and will form the basis of a future resilient business model,” said Jacob Schram, CEO of Norwegian, in a statement on the company’s site. 

The fleet in the United States will be reduced from 140 aircrafts to about 50. Norwegian Air added that customers with bookings that will be affected by these changes will be contacted directly and refunded.

Bye bye cheap Euro flights. We’ll miss you.

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