The government of Norway has proposed a guarantee of up to ?233 million for Norwegian, 10 per cent of which the carrier has already secured from two banks.

On 19 March, the Norwegian government said it wanted to provide up to 90 per cent of a NOK6 billion (?467 million) guarantee for the country¡¯s airline industry, half of which it wants to direct at Norwegian. It wants financial institutions to provide the remaining 10 per cent of funding.

Norwegian said it has now fulfilled the criteria for the 10 per cent needed from banks, which it said will give it the ¡°necessary headroom to pursue further guarantees from the Norwegian government¡±. It is hoping to go through the process to obtain that money as soon as possible.

The news comes after the airline said it would be grounding some of its long-haul fleet due to travel restrictions between Europe and the US. It now says it has reduced its operations ¡°to a minimum¡± and will primarily only maintain domestic flights in Norway and Sweden and between the Nordic capitals.

Norwegian has temporarily laid off 90 per cent of its workforce to cut costs and said it is looking at other ways to save money.