Significance of Norwegian Air’s Recent DOT Victory Is Overstated
Photo Credit: Norwegian Air, which relies on the Boeing 787 for long-haul flights, will continue to offer low fares on transatlantic flights. Norwegian Air
Skift Take
It's nice that the DOT finally got around to approving Norwegian's Irish unit to fly to the United States. But this is not as big of a game-changer as some have suggested. Norwegian was going to grow in the United States and offer low fares on transatlantic flights, regardless of whether this happened.
On Monday, three days after the U.S. government cleared the airline's Irish subsidiary to fly to the United States, Norwegian Air Shuttle announced a slew of new flights between the UK and several U.S. cities.
It might be easy to tie the two matters together, but as with most things the company has done, it's not that simple.
The extra Boeing 787 flights, from New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando, don't have much to do with Friday's Ireland news.
That's because, at least at first, the new London Gatwick flights will not operated by the company's Irish arm. Instead, they'll be flown by the carrier's Norway-based business unit. For several years, this part of the company has been able to fly as much as it wants from anywhere in the European Union (including Ireland) to anywhere in the United States. That's the case because Norway, though not a member of the European Union, signed onto the Open Skies agreement between the United States and the EU.
The
