Norway Flights from Stewart Airport Not Yet Cleared for Takeoff

Nov. 22, 2021

Nov. 19—A new transatlantic budget airline hopes to put the "international" back in New York Stewart International Airport starting this summer, but U.S. authorities have not yet approved them for takeoff.

Norse Atlantic Airways this year applied to the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to fly between Stewart Airport in Newburgh and Oslo, in addition to service between Oslo and Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale. The carrier also is planning direct service between Oslo and Paris and London.

The airline start-up announced its proposed three U.S. routes on Oct. 1 on Instagram, calling the direct flights "official" and giving a service start date of summer 2022. And one week ago Norse Atlantic announced it would open U.S. headquarters in Fort Lauderdale.

"We strongly believe that there is a need for a new and innovative airline serving the low-cost intercontinental market with modern, more environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient aircraft as the world gradually reopens," said CEO Bjørn Tore Larsen in an August press release. "Our plans are on track and operations will commence when travel restrictions are lifted and demand for transatlantic travel is back."

But the carrier's vision isn't a done deal. When asked to comment on Norse Atlantic's summer target for service out of Stewart Airport, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said, "We currently do not have any announcements or updates." The airline did not respond to direct requests for comment.

Picking up where Norwegian Air left off?

Norse Atlantic, with a leased fleet of 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, hopes to fill a market gap left by Norwegian Air, which offered affordable nonstop flights between Stewart Airport and Ireland before suspending service in March 2019. At that time, the Boeing 737 MAX planes the carrier used on those routes were grounded globally due to two deadly crashes. That airline filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 18, 2020. Bjorn Kjos, the former CEO of Norwegian Air, reportedly owns a stake in the new Norse Atlantic carrier.

This connection between the two carriers, and Norwegian Air's past experience operating here, may have contributed to at least one U.S. lawmaker's concerns over the new low-cost, long-haul vision for Norse Atlantic.

U.S. Rep Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who serves as chair of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, in March 2021 urged the Biden administration to deny a permit for the new Norwegian carrier to enter the domestic market, as reported by Reuters.

DeFazio said the Department of Transportation in 2016 should not have issued a permit to Norwegian Air International, Norwegian Air's Irish subsidiary, which DeFazio, unions and competing airlines claimed was registered in Ireland in order to skirt strict labor laws in Norway.

Larsen has insisted in interviews that Norse Atlantic is distinctly different from Norwegian Air. The new airline in May announced it had entered pre-hire agreements with the U.S. Association of Flight Attendants, which the carrier said will lead to at least 700 U.S. flight attendant jobs, and with the British Pilots Union. In Norse Atlantic's August press release, the carrier said that its workforce — projected to total 1,600 by next summer — will be permanently employed, versus being classified as contractors, and will be based in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Norway.

Norse Atlantic would be the first airline to use Stewart's new international arrivals building, designed originally to accommodate Norwegian Air's flights.

The carrier's announcement of its U.S. service came around the same time that Frontier's nonstop flights to Florida from Stewart began. Frontier Airlines began direct service from Newburgh to Orlando, Miami and Tampa in late October and early November.

Norse Atlantic's ticket sales are planned to launch three months prior to the first flight.

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