Norway’s competition regulator has approved Norwegian’s acquisition of regional airline Wideroe.
The Norwegian Competition Authority, or Konkurransetilsynet, on 21 December said it had approved the transaction after it “concluded that there are not sufficient grounds for prohibiting the acquisition”.
“The market for air travel is important for Norwegian consumers, and the Competition Authority has therefore thoroughly assessed the acquisition,” it says. “Amongst other things, the authority has collected and analysed detailed information from the parties and other actors in the market for air travel.”
The approval comes after the budget carrier earlier this month complained that the Norwegian antitrust regulator had shifted its criteria in its assessment of the proposed acquisition. It said it “strongly disagrees” with the regulator’s initial reading of the transaction.
At the time, Norwegian argued that is not a “close” competitor with the country’s domestic carrier Wideroe, and that of more than 400 combined routes, only two overlap “in reality”.
“These routes, which are currently served by three separate airlines, represent below 1% of Norwegian’s annual ticket sales,” it added.
On 17 November, the competition regulator had notified the two parties that it might prohibit the acquisition.
“The Competition Authority was concerned that the acquisition would significantly weaken competition in the market for air travel,” it says now.
“Following the responses from the parties, the Competition Authority has completed further analyses and concluded that there are not sufficient grounds for prohibiting the acquisition,” it adds.
Norwegian had outlined plans to acquire Wideroe for NKr1.13 billion ($110 million) in July, and had hoped to close the transaction by the end of this year. The move came after the two Norwegian carriers signed a letter of intent in 2022 to ”closely co-operate in a number of areas in the future”.
Norwegian operates a European short-haul network with 46 Boeing 737-family aircraft, according to Cirium fleets data. Wideroe serves a largely domestic Norwegian network with a fleet of 48 De Havilland Canada Dash 8 turboprops and Embraer E190-E2 jets.
