Norse Atlantic Airways, a startup airline in Norway, plans to launch its initial transatlantic flights to three second-tier US airports in Fort Lauderdale in Florida, Ontario in the Los Angeles metro area, and Newburgh in the New York area.
The airline is pursuing formal US authorization to work on its initial network strategy. The long-haul operator Norse Atlantic has submitted the application to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for foreign air carrier permit and exemption permit to fly to 3 US cities from Norway’s Oslo Gardermoen (OSL).
Norse anticipates securing its Air Operator’s Certificate from Norway’s Civil Aviation Authority by November 2021. The transatlantic airline expects to kick off its scheduled service during the summer 2022 season. No specific date has been confirmed for starting the operations.
According to filing in the DOT, Norse will deploy three Boeing 787 aircraft in a two-cabin configuration to connect Norway to cities in the US. The airline anticipates collaborating with local communities, tourism organizations, businesses, and labor as a part of its route network plan to bring the airline’s product to the US market and generate new-high paying employment opportunities for the US citizens.
Aiming to crack the long-distance market, the Low-cost carrier Norse seeks to fill the gap left by Norwegian Air, which offered low-cost transatlantic flights to the US. Norwegian Air was operating transatlantic routes until the mounting debt, and hungry passenger sky resulted from the COVID-19 outbreak ceased its long-haul operations.
Labor backing for transatlantic flights
The airline has made extra efforts to assure the US DOT to act following applicable labor laws regarding inclusive hiring policy. Norwegian Air Shuttle had encountered the union objections during its decade-long drive to provide transatlantic flight services.
The airline entered into a recognition agreement with Global transport workers to nail down compliance with rules that advocates fair competition. In May 2021, the airline had burnished affiliation with labor with the signing of the historic pre-hire agreement for the US-based flight attendant jobs. The carrier is also said to employ its staff according to Norwegian and American labor laws while building a good labor relation and culture of dialogue.
The new budget airline Norse intends to utilize twelve B787-9 Dreamliners and 3 B787-8 Dreamliners for its summer operations in 2022.
The initial transatlantic network plans are similar to predecessor airline Norwegian, except it will serve low-cost airports in three extensive leisure US destinations. The airline has further plans to add transatlantic service from London and Paris. The startup carrier also seeks a UK operator’s license and Air Operator’s certificate as it is plotting services on London-US routes.
Aircraft availability induced by the pandemic.
Many airlines had to ground and retire major sought-after aircraft due to the high-cost burden as they couldn’t fly in the skies due to travel restrictions. The Norway-based low-cost Norse Atlantic Airways used the opportunity to buy the aircraft at attractive and absolutely low points in the market to launch the services soon.
