Norwegian has been given clearance by the Norwegian competition regulator to buy Widerøe.
The approval comes after Norwegian disagreed with the regulator’s initial reading of the transaction and argued that it is not a close competitor with Wideroe.
The competition regulator had initially notified the parties that it might prohibit the acquisition, citing concerns about weakening competition in the air travel market.
Norwegian had hoped to close the $110m 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 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”.
The Norwegian Competition Authority, or Konkurransetilsynet said “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. Amongst other things, the authority has collected and analysed detailed information from the parties and other actors in the market for air travel.”
Widerøe operates a Dublin to Bergen service
