Norse Atlantic: New Transatlantic Low Cost Airline

So, if at first you don't succeed?

I've posted essentially the same exact comment on every post you've done about Norse/Norwegian. Yes, Norwegian did expand too quickly and aggressively. However, they had MAJOR bad luck going against them; factors that were not their fault. The Dreamliner's engine issues, the MAX being grounded, and then the pandemic. They had a good model and were a fantastic airline, especially considering they are low-cost. I only had good experiences with them, and Stewart is an absolute joy to fly out of so I am thrilled that they are coming back there. For how ridiculously cheap their fares to Europe were, I had no problem sitting in a slightly harder, narrower seat for a relatively short flight. I welcome Norse to come back (and hopefully bring competitor's fares down as well).

If they don’t have short haul connections in Europe (maybe I missed something?) they’re not going to be providing much competition this time around.

At least in the SF market, the “keep the prices down” entrant has become TAP.

I mean...if trans Atlantic low cost was lucrative, wouldn't Ryanair or easyJet try it? They are profitable in Europe, so they seem to know what they're doing.

The livery on the tail is one end of a viking ship, right? i think that's pretty creative.

May their time as a going concern be safe. And short.

This latest attempt will go down the sewer just like the last one. Like others have said, there’s a reason why Ryanair and Easyjet haven’t already gone down this foolhardy road. The industry is littered with the carcasses of carriers who have tried this in the past.

Fools and their money are soon parted…

They may have a fighting chance at FLL. Skeptical of SWF.

But as a Los Angeles resident, I can't understand how they expect to do anything but lose their shirts on a transatlantic flight to Norway, with little feed, in an era where roundtrip nonstops from LAX to London/Paris/Italy/etc are selling for $600 or less, including tax, on multiple carriers.

It's 45min from downtown to Ontario on a perfect day. Double that, with common traffic. Then add another 20min to that from Hollywood or Beverly Hills, and another 30min from any of the big universities, central L.A., the Valley, the beach areas, etc.

(And before anyone brings up the China Airlines flight from Ontario, know that the bulk of the Chinese/Taiwanese/Hong Konger population in greater L.A. lives and works far closer to ONT than LAX; so that's no surprise)

SWF is a bold move if not stupid. While a lot of wealthy new yorkers moved from Manhattan up to the hudson valley, I doubt its enough to fill planes to Europe and SWF is jut not a very attractive airport versus JFK or EWR.

While the costs to fly into SWF is going to be lower than JFK, could they really not find space in T1 when their international venture at JFK failed?

I just don't know how they could really make SWF work if they're trying to capture the NYC market.

SWF is more accessible than you think. I don't think wealthy people will fly this airline. It's the people who relies on public transportation.

If people can still think EWR is and easy ride from NYP, then SWF is an easy ride from Grand Central.
Without a car, SWF is easier than HPN.

But I agree, I'd rather go with higher fee JFK than SWF.

Pretty sure that's not where Ontario is...

I flew Norwegian and Lingus several times out of SWF and all of my flights were full.

This is not about attracting wealthy New Yorkers. Wealthy New Yorkers are not booking Norwegian/Norse.

Westchester, Dutchess, Fairfield, and Putnam counties have HUGE populations to fill these flights. You're also really underestimating the airport itself. Yes, it does not have nice lounges, lots of restaurants, etc, but I'll take no traffic, a 30 second walk from the parking lot, and 5 minutes to my gate and boarding shortly thereafter over waiting for hours on end at JFK/EWR. I don't care which lounge I'm in, that SWF process/tiny airport feel cannot be beat.

I, for one, am thrilled about Stewart. I am from Ireland and live in the Hudson Valley.
I previously lived in Queens and used the old Norwegian route from Stewart, taking a convenient shuttle service from Port Authority in Manhattan. For my family of 4 it was totally worth the travel upstate. And I am not alone.
I know from many FB groups, that a route from Stewart to Dublin would. be welcome

It's Ontario, California.

Your statement says it all. The planes were full yet they still lost their shirt and couldn’t make it work. This latest attempt will be no different unless their fares go up dramatically. Even a traditional high cost carrier like UA or AA requires a break-even load factor of 80-90 percent. Full planes do not equal profit.

I am very excited for international service to resume at SWF. I flew SWF-EDI on Norwegian years ago and found the airport to be incredibly convenient and the lower cost of parking seals the deal for anyone who doesn't like in NYC.

Only way to make these long haul low cost work is with A321lr/xlr. Kind of like the Jetblue approach.
I don’t see how they can survive without feed otherwise.

Also live in LA, and completely agree with you. The idea that there is a market to Oslo from the Inland Empire seems crazy. No one else from LA county area is going to drive that far.

Phoenix had three daily daily flights to LHR before covid. The Ontario area has a huge population around it who hate the drive to LAX. I think they could work if they could get some freight.

We had 3 flights to London from Phoenix but we also have a huge amount of connectivity. This this airline will have 0 connectivity in Stewart yeah it's a connectivity in Stuart maybe a little in Ontario if they're lucky and possibly more in Fort Lauderdale. But they are basically going straight for point to point only. I give them 2 years if they're lucky.

But those flights are American and British airways both which have huge connecting possibility possibilities in Phoenix. This airline will have none of those agreements and benefits especially at Stewart.

While you're right about the load factor not necessarily equalling profit, I disagree with the rest and think that's a huge over simplification of what happened to Norwegian. They had unbelievably bad luck between the 787 engine issues, the MAXX being grounded, and then the pandemic. None of those factors were there fault and killed the airline The company did over expand too quickly, that was their fault, but they expanded so quickly because they must have been doing well and these routes were part of that success.

I would love to be able to fly to Stewart and avoid NYC. I hope we are made aware when they start service next year.

Flying to SWF is really not a way to avoid JFK, it might as well be in a different time zone ! No public transportation or anything of interest near Stewart

I wish they had chosen Orlando MCO, but maybe by then the Brightline will be completed all the way up here. (I have no idea how close the FTL Brightline station is to the FTL airport...)

Many in the NY area prefer to fly from Stewart instead having to get to and from New York City airports. I plan to try this, even as I am not going to Oslo as my final destination, but to Copenhagen, which can be reached by train or overnight boat.

Norwegian ran daily flights to Ireland from Stewart airport. These low cost flights were extremely popular with the Irish Diaspora in the New York area. Could I suggest you look at a route possibly serving Ireland west airport? This part of ireland is a hotspot for tourists and emigrants. Otherwise look at Shannon as no flights to west coast at present.

Norwegian ran daily flights to Ireland from Stewart airport. These low cost flights were extremely popular with the Irish Diaspora in the New York area. Could I suggest you look at a route possibly serving Ireland west airport? This part of ireland is a hotspot for tourists and emigrants. Otherwise look at Shannon as no flights to west coast at present.

The Orlando airport for Norse hasn't been chosen yet.

Brightline does not stop anywhere near Fort Lauderdale Airport and it doesn't look like it'll be stopping at Orlando airport either.

I had previously flown on Norwegian and decided never again. That was long before they went belly up.
It is not so important which airport they fly to if the fares are low, but the lack of ground support as soon as something goes wrong matters.
When I flew through Oslo, they managed to make me lose my connection and the suit case along the way. Took me 3 days and a trip back to the airport to retrieve it! The phone line was never answered.
Whoever considers flying this new airline should take a look at the Facebook Group called “ Norwegian Airlines Experiences from Hell” I predict Norse Atlantic will be no different!

https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Airline-News/Norse-Atlantic-Airways-labor-agreement-flight-attendants has:
"The union said Norse expects to create at least 700 flight attendant jobs in the U.S. "

So maybe they have learnt from the past, and will hire pilots in the USA as well so that the effect of IRROPS eastbound can be substantially reduced.
The point-to-point only approach is presumably based on their experience as Norwegian that the extra complication of connections is not worth it.

Norwegian Airline treated its customers very badly. Prepaid tickets were canceled and the company kept the customer's money. Norwegian claimed that customers would get credit (airline miles) to use on future flights. Then Norwegian changed their rules to only allow a very small number of airline miles to be used on any flight, and then only a trivial amount each month. Norwegian effectively stole their customer's money (and European flight rules allow this). Why does your new airline deserve to be trusted with customer funds, planning or trust? How will your new airline treat customer funds?

I love flying out of Stewart - but,unfortunately, the airport no longer loves its former customers.
Norwegian was a great idea, if you don’t mind a 5 hr flight with no toilet paper ( that’s before the plane even took off!) ….or having the seat in front so close that there is no place for your knees …or you would like to breath fresh air. Our flight to Ireland was the worse flight I have ever experienced. By the time we arrived ( a mere 5 hrs late, I had a headache and sore throat that eventually evolved into a killer cough. I was sick the entire 2 weeks that we were overseas and sick for another two weeks after we got home. There is a reason they went out of business and it sounds like this new airline is just another Norwegian with a slightly different name.

I never had a problem with Norweigan took it 5 times to Ireland to see my mom...I even got stuck in Belfast for 3 days till they got me another flight which I had to take out of dublin they paid the cab fare and even got 700 bucks back due to the 3 day lay over its a law in UK for stuff like that...paid for my hotel and food so I can't complain and yea seats werent that comfortable BUT you get what u pay for flight was cheap enough to deal with it I hope if new company comes they do straight flights into Belfast again!

As a Norwegian that lives in the IE, I for one love the idea of a direct flight home from Ontario as long as the pricing is good and the service is decent.

Was a frequent flyer of Norwegian- Austin Texas to London Gatwick. They provided fresh, clean and modern aircraft- With friendly staff- At rates that were impossible to believe.
$700 round trip? Please come back to Texas!!!

I flew from Berlin Brandenburg Airport to New York JFK Airport and back to Berlin Brandenburg Airport in September 2022 for my vacation. As soon as I landed back to Berlin Brandenburg Airport from my holiday in New York, I noticed that my checked-in luggage did not arrive at the airport.

The airline lost my luggage in a SIMPLE DIRECT FLIGHT between NEW YORK and BERLIN, it was very difficult to get through to them after NOT ANSWERING emails and calls, then after about 2 weeks, they located my luggage. However, then it took them another 2/3 weeks for them to deliver my luggage because their service is horrible and they were not getting in touch with me regarding my address and information. I tried so many times to call and get an answer from them or an email to check about why my located luggage is not being sent to me, however no answer whatsoever.
After contacting some workers on LinkedIn I managed to get some info and got my luggage delivered to me finally! However, when I went to pickup my luggage, I found it partially BROKEN and DAMAGED.

Obviously I asked for a compensation form and filled in the amount which was due for items which I had to buy that were in my luggage through the duration that it was missing for about a month. I bought basic day to day stuff like underwear, pants, socks and shirt and some liquids, which amounted to only around 200euros all together. Also, I listed down the cost which was due to me for my broken luggage.

However, their customer service, afterwards told me that since I got my luggage back, I am due to no money back whatsoever on items that I bought. Absolutely horrible after all the stress and hassle they passed me through with lot's of my stuff missing. That's not all of it, the cherry on top of the cake is that they blamed me for not having a durable enough luggage to withstand transit and that they WILL NOT REFUND ME for my BROKEN LUGGAGE which they broke due to them not doing a simple task of handling my chcked-in luggage properly.

Horrible experience and customer service. I highly do not recommend this airline.