Norse Atlantic Airways, the new low-cost long-haul airline that is being led by a management team with links to Norwegian, will reveal its first Dreamliner livery, as well as more details about the airline and its operating model on Tuesday afternoon.
So far, we know that the airline has secured 15 Boeing 787 aircraft which all belonged to Norwegian’s now-defunct long-haul subsidiary and intends to launch around December 2021 – although that timeline could easily slip if the current travel restrictions imposed on Europe by the Biden administration aren’t lifted soon.
The driving force behind Norse Atlantic is Bjørn Tore Larsen – the founder of aviation staff outsourcing company OSM Aviation. His company previously supplied staff to Norwegian leading to claims, especially in the United States, that Norwegian was operating a flag of convenience model to undercut U.S. rivals.
Larsen is keen to avoid those kinds of accusations with Norse Atlantic and has already negotiated a preliminary contract for U.S.-based flight attendants with America’s largest aircrew union, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA).
Nonetheless, some U.S. lawmakers and aviation unions aren’t happy with Norse Atlantic’s bid to enter the transatlantic market and have vowed to fight the airline’s application to operate flights to the United States.
Larsen has attempted to allay fears saying Norse Atlantic’s staff won’t be subsidizing the cost of tickets with low wages and shoddy working conditions.
On Tuesday, at 12 pm CET, Larsen will provide an update on his upstart airline with more details expected to be revealed about the carrier’s initial routes, what the airline will offer and what kind of prices Norse Atlantic might charge.
Larsen previously said that he hopes to initially connect Miami, Los Angeles and New York City with London, Paris and Oslo, although that might be subject to change.
Norse Atlantic will provide a live stream of the announcement via its new website at: flynorse.com
