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A new budget flight from London to New York, with fares available from £149 one way, is launching from Gatwick later this year.
Norwegian is running direct, low-cost routes on a new Dreamliner plane between Gatwick, New York, Los Angeles or Fort Lauderdale. As with other budget flights, seat reservations, checked-in baggage and food will cost extra.
The carrier suggests the flights will help spark competition between airlines - Ryanair and easyJet have both previously talked about going transatlantic - and perhaps even start a price war, but the launch has not been without hitch.
Norwegian encountered fierce opposition in America over the proposition, with several US airlines, unions and the Airline Pilots Organization (ALPA) teaming up to run a media campaign over the last few months, demanding that Norwegian’s subsidiary, Norwegian Air International (NAI), be denied a permit for transatlantic routes.
The campaign, aspects of which Norwegian has called “slanderous”, suggests that NAI established its base in Dublin to circumvent the employment laws of Norway and the US and therefore reduce overall costs on the new routes.
Norwegian asserts that the main reason for situating its long-haul company in Dublin was so that it would have access to future traffic rights to and from the EU, as Norway is not a member of the EU. “Ireland was not chosen because the country has specific rules and regulations that allow the use of American or Asian crew, like some politicians and unions have claimed,” Norwegian said in a statement.
As of today, the permit has still yet to be approved by the US Department of Transportation and so the inaugural flight and those over the following days will be run instead by Norwegian Air Shuttle, the parent company.
