The Norwegian Pilots’ Association believes it may be worthwhile to see if a minimum price for airline tickets can be set in the country. The notion comes as a reaction to the low-cost airline Wizz Air’s setup of new domestic routes in Norway.
In Austria, a minimum price of EUR 40 has been set for a plane ticket, as super-cheap tickets undermine both climate policy and livable wage standards, according to Fri Fagbevegelse.
The union leader in the Norwegian Pilots’ Association, Yngve Carlsen, told the newspaper that such a price minimum might also be worth investigating in Norway.
“This is definitely an interesting way to go. In general, there is free competition, and the companies themselves set the prices.
“But when some companies lower the price to about what a cup of coffee costs at Gardermoen, something is not as it should be,” Carlsen said.
New domestic routes
Last week it became clear that the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air is opening domestic routes from Oslo to Bergen, Trondheim, and Tromsø.
Thus, it became obvious that Wizz Air wants to compete with SAS and Norwegian.
The low-cost carrier charges as low as NOK 199 per ticket on the mentioned routes, and will start with the flights from November 5.
The Labor Party’s transport policy spokesman Sverre Myrli has sent a written inquiry to Minister of Transport Knut Arild Hareide, asking whether a minimum price for flights in Norway should be set.
“The starting point, according to the basic market regulation for air transport in the EU / EEA, is that the airlines are free to determine the price of their tickets,” Hareide wrote in his response to Myrli.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
What a great idea , it’s about time they gave the customer some price cuts we need some more routes too maybe into Scotland and England for instance, why should other airlines have the monopoly over them well done wizz air