Ultra low cost carrier Norse Atlantic Airways is launching a pretty cool new transatlantic route, as flagged by @IshrionA.
In this post:
Norse Atlantic adds first California to Greece flight
Greece is of course a super hot summer destination for Americans, and we’ve seen US airlines greatly increase flights between the two countries in recent years. However, up until now, there have been no nonstop flights between the West Coast and Greece. That will be changing.
For the summer of 2025, Norse Atlantic will operate a 4x weekly service between Los Angeles (LAX) and Athens (ATH). The flight will operate between June 3 and September 29, 2025, with an alternating schedule.
On Tuesdays and Fridays, the flight will operate with the following schedule in both directions:
N0512 Los Angeles to Athens departing 2:30PM arriving 1:10PM (+1 day)
N0511 Athens to Los Angeles departing 9:00AM arriving 12:30PM
On Wednesdays and Saturdays, the flight will operate with the following schedule in both directions:
N0512 Los Angeles to Athens departing 8:40PM arriving 7:20PM (+1 day)
N0511 Athens to Los Angeles departing 3:10PM arriving 6:40PM
The 6,928-mile flight is blocked at 12hr40min eastbound and 13hr30min westbound, making it Norse Atlantic’s longest scheduled flight. Norse Atlantic is basing a jet in Athens for this service, given the schedule. This complements Norse Atlantic’s other route to Greece, out of New York (JFK).
Norse Atlantic operates a fleet of Boeing 787-9s, featuring premium economy and economy. Fares are super reasonable, as you’d expect, and start at $236 one-way in economy, and $475 one-way in premium economy.
Why is there no other service of this kind?
Some people might be surprised that there’s not another nonstop flight between the California (or even the entire West Coast) and Greece, given that there’s significant demand. Why does no other airline fly from Los Angeles to Athens? Why doesn’t United fly from San Francisco to Athens?
I think there are several factors at play here:
- California to Athens is about as long as a US to Europe flight can get, so the operating costs are super high, especially on the “big three” US carriers, given their labor contracts
- While premium leisure demand is driving a lot of growth nowadays, Greece is super hot, but not quite as high yield as Italy, for example, which is more popular with older, more affluent travelers
- Los Angeles is an airport where all of the “big three” US carriers really struggle to add long haul service that’s not to a joint venture hub, given how competitive it is with foreign carriers
- For people traveling to Greece beyond Athens (like to Mykonos), a nonstop flight from California to Athens isn’t necessarily more convenient than a flight from California to a European hub (like to London), and then to Mykonos
- United is the only airline that has a real mega-hub in California, so competitively, the airline doesn’t have to fly nonstop, since it’s not like other full service carriers are going to compete; it’s more efficient for airlines to just route passengers through their hubs that are further east
So I’m not surprised to see Norse Atlantic trying to launch this route, and it’s no doubt nice to see an ultra low cost carrier serving a market that otherwise doesn’t have flights. At the same time, will the airline be able to command yields that justify this very long flight? I don’t think we’ll see any sort of a competitive response.
Bottom line
Norse Atlantic is launching a creative transatlantic route, which isn’t operated by any US carrier. For the summer of 2025, the airline will fly nonstop from Los Angeles to Athens, which is the only nonstop flight from the US West Coast to Greece.
I’m sure this flight will prove popular, though it remains to be seen if it makes any money, given that we’re talking about a journey of nearly 7,000 miles.
What do you make of Norse Atlantic launching Los Angeles to Athens flights?
Finally a connection of West coast with Greece which has the premier European regional airline (Aegean Airlines) for connections to islands and neighboring Balkan countries. Hopefully this works out for Norse and either they or other airlines will try an SFO - Athens route next year. Amazing to think that the hour or so longer flight time to Greece vs flying time to Germany, negates the need to stop in Germany to transfer for a...
Finally a connection of West coast with Greece which has the premier European regional airline (Aegean Airlines) for connections to islands and neighboring Balkan countries. Hopefully this works out for Norse and either they or other airlines will try an SFO - Athens route next year. Amazing to think that the hour or so longer flight time to Greece vs flying time to Germany, negates the need to stop in Germany to transfer for a flight to Greece. Now travelers will stop once for a flight to the islands, most of which are reached in about an hour. Turkish Airlines has held a significant share of California travel to Greece, as Istanbul is the closest nonstop connection of the west coast to Greece. Competition for these routes will benefit travelers.
I never expected West Coast service to Athens to happen so soon. But, if anyone were to do it, it would be Norse. Secondary destinations in Europe such as Barcelona and Milan usually get these kinds of long haul service from a low cost carrier, and they test the market out for the more established carriers. I think there is a world where United could make SFO service work in a few years with increased...
I never expected West Coast service to Athens to happen so soon. But, if anyone were to do it, it would be Norse. Secondary destinations in Europe such as Barcelona and Milan usually get these kinds of long haul service from a low cost carrier, and they test the market out for the more established carriers. I think there is a world where United could make SFO service work in a few years with increased demand and a codeshare agreement with Aegean, allowing them to turn ATH into a mini-star alliance hub. But I believe it is far off. Los Angeles demand to Athens is much higher than bay-area demand and no other carrier has the presence in LAX to justify this route. I hope the economics work out for Norse and maybe even encourage competition from the West Coast to Athens.
I've flown Norse Atlantic multiple times from Orlando to London Gatwick. I always get the bare bones ticket and bring my own food and drink. The planes are nice as is the basic seating. They are picky on the free personal item and carry ons. It better not exceed their measurements or you pay on the spot which costs more. They will check everyone because they have no app for online check-in. Just do your...
I've flown Norse Atlantic multiple times from Orlando to London Gatwick. I always get the bare bones ticket and bring my own food and drink. The planes are nice as is the basic seating. They are picky on the free personal item and carry ons. It better not exceed their measurements or you pay on the spot which costs more. They will check everyone because they have no app for online check-in. Just do your homework and don't expect to get over on them. I've already booked for London this summer with them. I hope they stay in business for the future because they are a great low cost carrier.
Price is too low. $1200 for premium economy I’ll donate to them just to make sure they stay afloat. Norse is a blessing and anyone who’s taken their premium economy product knows what I’m talking about!
Fares are based on what the market will bear. Norse does not want 2/3rds empty planes. Competing on price is their model.
Back in the day, when Norwegian was still operating long-haul flights between Europe and the US, I and a fellow premium-cabin passenger made the same comment. We would have gladly paid twice the fare if it meant the airline would stay afloat. Alas, it did not.
This airline is ran by "non-airline industry" people and it shows. Sure, this may look like an opportunity, but its not currently served for a reason, the economics just don't work. Oh well, I am sure their 95% load factors on a 13 hour flight with $300 ANF will work out for them. Can't wait to see their Q4 results....
It's articles like this where I am just so impressed with your knowledge of the industry. When I first saw the headline, I thought for sure there was competition on this route. The bullet points you lay out as to why there's no west coast service to ATH make total sense. Impressive stuff.
Interestingly Marathon itself is only around the corner from the airport!
What exactly is a "sleep ready" seat as listed in their "premium" cabin?
Basically a US domestic first class seat, but everything is slightly worse.
Have you every flown Norse Premium E39? It is actually the largest Premium Economy seat in the game, currently. Quite a value for the money, with nice service as well. Don't just make a comment because its the easy thing to do.
I guess things have changed since Norwegian flew long haul!
I flew with them once and remember it as good enough for the price, but nothing I’d really book again. But, maybe Norse is different even though it’s the same guys with the same planes and same seats essentially
I thought they were leasing all their aircraft to Indigo for long haul operations.Seems strange they are expanding their own schedules.Strange airline altogether.
They're also in the news nearly every other week about how they're going bankrupt lol
The plan is to lease out 6 of their 12 aircraft to Indigo with 2 delivered in February and 4 in September. But yeah I am surprised they are expanding scheduled service as they’ve expressed intent to wind it down. I have to fly Paris to LAX this summer and I chose to pay a little more for French Bee over Norse because Norse is notorious for schedule cuts (let alone the airline’s going concern)
Maybe it's part of the service program that came with the planes ( Athens close to India in EU ) . When these planes flew for Norwegian, Service technicians were onboard the planes before the passengers disembarked especially in West Coast airports.