Flights from Oakland International Airport to London’s Gatwick Airport (LGW) will jump from three to five times weekly beginning April 18, on Norwegian. The airline has said that it will serve London-Gatwick from Oakland on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, all aboard brand new 349-passenger Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.
OAK is the only Bay Area airport to offer service to London-Gatwick on both Norwegian and British Airways, the latter of which announced on Nov. 1, that it will begin flying from Oakland starting March 28. Flights from both carriers will total up to 9 weekly departures from OAK to LGW.
With all announced routes in operation by next summer, Oakland will have a total of six European destinations, making OAK the 3rd largest gateway to Europe (in terms of destinations) in California, behind LAX and SFO.
Norwegian has been connecting OAK to Europe since 2013, serving Scandinavia with routes to Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden. It began serving London-Gatwick from Oakland in May of this year, and the convenient Bay Area connection to greater London continues to draw interest from consumers and industry stakeholders, alike. Like OAK, London-Gatwick serves a market that also includes a much larger airport, and also like Oakland, the smaller airport is easily connected by transit to the area’s metropolitan center.
From OAK, travelers can reach downtown San Francisco quickly and conveniently by taking Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). London-bound travelers can reach Victoria Station in the heart of London from Gatwick in just about 30 minutes by rail on the Gatwick Express.
In addition to the convenience of the connection between the San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater London Area, the expanded service is a signal toward greater benefits for residents in both countries and for the industry overall. The decision to expand service in Oakland follows recent approval of a foreign carrier permit for Norwegian Air International (NAI) by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), of which the airport was a staunch supporter.
“Norwegian has led with innovation in identifying OAK as its exclusive San Francisco Bay Area gateway for US long haul investments, and Oakland is committed to cultivating Norwegian’s growth to the greatest degree possible,” said Bryant L. Francis, director of aviation for the Port of Oakland at Oakland International Airport. “In doing so, we are seeing the expansion of high-quality air service, expanded inbound and outbound tourism, and more business opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Bjørn Kjos, CEO and founder of the Norwegian Group commented, “Norwegian is fully committed to growing its presence in the U.S. market, and that includes creating more American jobs. Not only do we have more U.S.-based cabin crew than any other foreign airline, we will soon also have more U.S.-based pilots than any other foreign airline. Norwegian is simply creating more American jobs than any other non-American airline, and we will continue to do so, just as we promised we would.”
