The low-cost, long-haul airline Norse Atlantic is making another attempt to attract potential customers from much bigger and more established rivals by luring budget-conscious passengers with the offer of a free carry-on bag, even on its lowest fares.
The Oslo-based carrier announced on Wednesday that even Economy Light passengers would now get a carry-on bag weighing up to 10kg included in their fare, along with a free under-seat personal item.
Unfortunately, the policy will only apply to customers who have booked their tickets from September 2 directly through the Norse Atlantic website – a tactic designed to ensure that the airline gets its hands on a customer’s money as quickly as possible.
The new policy was announced as part of Norse Atlantic’s latest long-haul fare sale for its scheduled services, although the airline is currently pivoting away from operating its own flights to instead focus on operating flights on behalf of other airlines.
If Norse Atlantic does push through with this strategy shift then it will the demise of yet another low-cost airline that has tried to crack the transatlantic market, although, for now at least, Norse says the third quarter has seen most of its flying on its own route network.
That will change next month, however, when Norse flies at least half of its operating capacity through wetlease and contract agreements with other airlines.
In fact, the airline is even in talks with several airlines to lease out its aircraft for multi-year contracts, which, if successful, would see Norse forced to withdraw from at least part of its own network next year.
Further information isn’t expected to be forthcoming until later this year, although we do already know that Norse intends to return three Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in order to ‘streamline’ its fleet.
