Norwegian

Is Norwegian safe?

Yes. Norwegian has never had a fatal accident or lost an aircraft, and in 2025 it carried 23.1 million passengers on a single-type fleet of Boeing 737s. Its regulators are Norway's and Sweden's civil aviation authorities, working under EASA rules. We score it 89, level with Ryanair and easyJet.

The risks that do show up in its record are ones every airline faces: turbulence, a near miss with military jets, and ground handling mistakes.

Which Norwegian airline flies my flight?

At the end of 2025, Norwegian had two airlines, each with its own certificate:

Airline	Codes	Certificate
Norwegian Air Shuttle AOC AS	DY / NOZ	Norway, Luftfartstilsynet (CAA Norway)
Norwegian Air Sweden AOC AB	D8 / NSZ	Sweden

Both fly the same aircraft with shared training and maintenance. Heavy maintenance is done by Lufthansa Technik in Budapest, and engine overhauls by GE Aerospace and Safran, under contracts the national authorities approve. Older subsidiaries in Ireland and the UK no longer appear among the group's airlines.

The group also owns Widerøe, Norway's regional airline, which flies 47 Dash 8 turboprops and three Embraer E190-E2 jets under its own certificate. Widerøe flights use their own WF code and are not covered by this page's score.

Norway is not an EU member, but it applies EASA rules through the European Economic Area, and both Norway and Sweden hold FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary ratings. Like Ryanair and easyJet, Norwegian is not an IATA member, so there is no confirmed IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit.

What incidents has Norwegian had recently?

Nothing that came close to a crash, but several cases worth knowing about:

• 31 May 2026, over Bavaria. A 737-800 flying from Milan Malpensa to Oslo hit severe turbulence at 36,000 feet. A cabin crew member was seriously injured in a few seconds of shaking. Germany handed the investigation to Norway's NSIA.
• 18 June 2025, near Stockholm. A Norwegian Air Sweden 737-800 descending into Skavsta got a collision-avoidance alert and climbed to avoid a group of JAS 39 Gripen fighters that had just taken off. The sudden climb seriously injured a cabin crew member.
• 29 April 2025, France. A Norwegian Air Sweden 737 MAX 8 from Málaga to Gothenburg lost separation with a Transavia A321neo whose radar contact had failed and which air traffic control had sent into holding circles. The BEA is investigating it with two similar cases, focusing on the failed system and on how controllers handle such aircraft; nothing published so far points to the Norwegian crew.
• 9 January 2025, Copenhagen. As a 737-800 pulled onto its stand, its wing hit a boarding stair left in a no-parking area. The stair tipped over. The aircraft was back in service three days later.

In 2021 a Norwegian Air Sweden 737 was caught among thunderstorms near Nice; investigators found that air traffic controllers could not see the storm cells the crew was trying to avoid.

How good is Norwegian's fleet?

Good, and simple. Norwegian flies only Boeing 737s: at the end of June 2026, 59 737-800s and 36 737 MAX 8s. The fleet averaged 8.5 years at the end of 2025, and the MAX share rises every year, with deliveries on order until 2031. One type means pilots, engineers and spare parts are interchangeable across the airline.

The 737 is not a fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary design, which is why the fleet scores 83 rather than in the 90s.

How to fly Norwegian safely

• Keep your belt fastened at cruise. Norwegian's two most recent serious injuries came from sudden movement, once in turbulence and once in an avoidance climb. Both times a cabin crew member was hurt; a belted passenger rarely is.
• Expect winter delays in the north. De-icing at Oslo, Tromsø or Stockholm takes time. It is a required safety step, not a fault.
• Check the operator on codeshares. Some D8 flights are operated by the Swedish airline; the standards are the same.

How we scored it

The accident record (95) is level with KLM on this factor and one point above Lufthansa. Oversight (86) loses points for the missing IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary. The fleet scores 83, and incidents (85) reflect turbulence and airproxLoss of separationWhen two aircraft come closer to each other than the minimum distance air traffic rules require. A reported near miss in the UK is called an airprox.More in the glossary injuries rather than any failure by the airline. Compare Transavia, whose A321neo was the other aircraft in the 2025 loss of separation over France.