Tuesday 08 January 2019 2:36 pm | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 2:43 am

Budget airline Norwegian to offer free Wi-Fi on long-haul flights

Norwegian has started the new year on a high by introducing free Wi-Fi on board its long-haul aircraft based at Gatwick airport.

Passengers flying between Europe, the US, South America and Asia will be able to stay connected with either a free or premium Wi-Fi package while on board its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and 737 MAX aircraft.

More than half of Norwegian’s 787-9 Dreamliner fleet is expected to offer in-flight connectivity by 2020, while the roll-out of Wi-Fi on the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will begin later this month.

With the basic package, passengers will be able to browse the web, stay-up-to-date on social media, send and receive emails and texts on their phones, tablets and laptops for the full length of the flight.

The premium option allows users to stream music, films and TV shows on Netflix, YouTube and Hulu at a starting price of $14.95 (£11.74).

Last year the low-cost airline carried 37.4m passengers, the highest ever for a single year. The number is a 13 per cent boost on the previous year.

However, Norwegian continued to experience issues with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that power its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, with chief executive Bjorn Kjos admitting that the problems had an impact on its financial results in the latter half of 2018.

"We have launched a series of cost-reduction measures to boost our financials in 2019 which will have an immediate and continued positive influence throughout the year,” he said yesterday.

Kjos added that Norwegian would enter a slower period of growth in 2019.