Norwegian Is Adding Flights From London To Austin & Chicago

Published: July 5, 2017

A few weeks ago I wrote about how it seems Norwegian is announcing new long-haul routes every few weeks. That was no exaggeration. Singapore, Buenos Aires, Seattle, and Denver will all be launching from Norwegian’s London Gatwick base in the coming year.

Now the airline has announced two destinations that will result in 13 long-haul routes from London Gatwick. In March 2018, Norwegian will start flying their Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to Chicago and Austin. Incredibly enough, just three years after launching their hub in London, Norwegian will now be the second largest long-haul carrier at Gatwick.

The flights will operate on the following schedule, per AirlineRoute:

London to Chicago as of March 25, 2018:

DY7151 London to Chicago departing 10:00AM arriving 12:35PM [Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun]
DY7152 Chicago to London departing 3:15PM arriving 05:00AM (+1 day) [Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun]

London to Austin as of March 27, 2018:

DY7181 London to Austin departing 10:00AM arriving 2:05PM [Tues, Thur, Sat]
DY7182 Austin to London departing 4:20PM arriving 7:25AM (+1 day) [Tues, Thur, Sat]

Fares are low to start out as usual, with one-way flights from just £179. Keep in mind that Norwegian charges extra for everything from check-in luggage to meals, though they’re a lot more generous than WOW Air. For example, all their 787s feature seatback entertainment.

This is great news for Chicago, given how little love the city has received from low-cost carriers relative to other US destinations. Regarding Austin, it’s quite surprising they’d invest in flights there when British Airways just launched their London to Austin relatively recently. You’d think Houston or Dallas would be logical first choices in Texas. Then again, Austin is supposed to be beautiful so I assume they expect a lot of tourism demand.

Are you excited to see more new routes from Norwegian? If you live around Austin or Chicago, will you give Norwegian a try?

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Ziggy Member

July 6, 2017, 5:59 pm

Very recently Buenos Aires and now Austin out of London. What do both have in common? BA monopolies until now. I would guess that Norwegian has taken a look at BA and scented blood....so they're going after them. Given that Norwegian offers a generous handbaggage allowance (by low cost flyer standards) this is really good news for U.K./European flyers.

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Mark New Member

July 6, 2017, 12:52 pm

I live in Austin and am originally British so this can only be good news. Whilst these fares look great, if you're taking bags (more than likely) it seems to be around $380 one way. For anyone with Avios, BA has great cash+points fares AUS-LHR (7,000+$250) - more preferable, imo.

Callum Guest

July 6, 2017, 2:16 am

@SAS - The Norwegian brand is doing well across Europe now. I know in the UK it's normal to just plainly mention flying Norwegian to anywhere on the continent - back when they first started people would always add in the caveat "but we're not going to Norway" etc. It seems a bit odd to keep a Norwegian brand for a mostly non-Norwegian airline, but I don't think there's any major reason to change it. Particularly as Norway has a pretty good reputation as a country.

Suzie Alcatrez Guest

July 6, 2017, 12:37 am

BA and AA split the revenue on transatlantic flights, so BA doesn't get to keep all that Austin-London money.

Bhindar Guest

July 5, 2017, 11:52 pm

@ Louie I Purchased a one way MAD-FRA-AUS Business Class on Condor (DE) last February (travel on 04 April 2017) for $900 +/-. MAD-FRA leg was LH Economy but was a considerable dollar savings when compared to any other carrier and FRA-AUS meant I was home. DE is only Business Class on DE metal. If Norwegian is allowed to operate flights to US, I may have to give their "business class" a try, even though ALPA is actively opposing Norwegian's entry into the US market. Not having to go through LHR, DFW, IAH, ORD or JFK is in itself a good reason to give it a go. Throw in a major dollar savings and it's tempting . . . but not in Economy! I'm too old for that sh*t.

Norwegian Is Adding Flights From London To Austin & Chicago

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