Norwegian Air, the World’s Best Low-Cost Long-Haul Airline, maintained its leadership position as the largest foreign airline in New York City for 2019, after surpassing Air Canada in February 2019, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s (PANYNJ) year-end traffic statistics. For full-year 2019, Norwegian carried 2,057,284 customers in New York City.
The airline has continuously grown its presence in NYC, where it currently offers eight nonstop routes from John F. Kennedy Airport to Europe: Amsterdam; Athens; Barcelona; London; Madrid; Oslo; Paris; and Rome. According to PANYNJ, after leading JFK’s international passenger traffic for two years in a row, Norwegian was the third-ranked contributor to growth with a net increase of 349,224 travelers and a 28.5 percent jump.
“During a challenging and complex year, becoming the largest foreign airline in New York City is remarkable and a testament that our low-cost business model continues to appeal to modern travelers in the United States. With our focus on John F. Kennedy Airport, where we will soon be unveiling biometric boarding for greater efficiency and convenience, our presence will be further enhanced and improved in the forthcoming months. We will strive to solidify our lead in the New York region as we continue to offer our award-winning service to our customers,” said Matthew Wood, Senior Vice President of Commercial Long Haul and New Markets at Norwegian Air.
In eleven consecutive months in 2019, Norwegian continued to considerably increase its passenger numbers in-spite of route closures at Stewart International Airport due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft; and route transfers from Newark Liberty Airport to John F. Kennedy Airport; as well as other issues facing the industry. Norwegian Air exceeded Air Canada in February and maintained its ranking as the eighth overall largest airline after U.S. carriers United, Delta, JetBlue Airways, American, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Alaska Airlines, respectively. Air Canada is ranked ninth and British Airways as the tenth largest airline in terms of passengers carried.
With more than 40 nonstop routes to Europe, Norwegian offers more routes from the U.S. than any other European airline. Norwegian is also the largest airline to Europe in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Florida.
In 2019, Norwegian Air undertook aggressive measures to abate carbon emissions with programs including CHOOOSE, which offers customers the opportunity to offset their carbon footprint during the booking process to implementing new updated technology such as AVTECH to optimize flight paths to enhance fuel-efficiency. At year’s end, the airline saved 1.7 million metric tons of CO2 from the environment with its collective sustainability efforts and as a result of operating a young fleet.
