Norwegian has furloughed a further tranche of employees and announced new reductions in capacity.

The decision follows a move by the government of Norway to deny the low-cost carrier further financial support yesterday.

Norwegian argues its operations are unsustainable in light of travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic which actively discourage passengers from travelling.

The consequences of the government-imposed travel restrictions are critical and Norwegian needs to keep its running costs to a minimum, while the company continues to work on solutions to survive.

“Following the disappointing announcement from the government, we have no choice but to furlough an additional 1,600 colleagues and park 15 of the 21 aircraft we have operated the past months.

“Recently government-imposed travel restrictions have effectively stifled any hope of a stable and progressive recovery, Norwegian has been hit from all sides by factors outside of our control,” said Norwegian chief executive, Jacob Schram.

“This is a sad day for everyone at Norwegian and I sincerely apologise to all our colleagues that are now affected, but there is no other alternative.”

He added: “Prior to Covid-19, Norwegian employed more than 10,000 people, but the coming months there will be only 600 colleagues employed.

“Our goal is to keep six aircraft on domestic routes in Norway, and I expect that Norwegian will also receive route support from the ministry of transportation, as previously announced.”

Norwegian will continue to operate a small number of routes, from Oslo to Alta, Bergen, Bodø, Evenes, Haugesund, Kirkenes, Molde, Stavanger, Tromsø, Trondheim and Ålesund.

Flights will also operate on the Tromsø-Longyearbyen route.