It hasn’t flown a single mile, hasn’t had a passenger on board, has no traffic rights, and no financial track record. Yet, there is much talk about Norway’s newest start-up long-haul low-cost airline Norse Atlantic Airways AS since it has been established on February 1. If only that was for the bravery of launching a new long-haul airline in the midst of a pandemic at a time when the outlook for this segment is far from rosy. We have a look at Norse’s plans and ambitions.
First some context: Norse Atlantic is jumping into the void that’s left by Norwegian. On January 14, Norwegian announced that its restructuring plan will concentrate on a domestic and European network and ditches the low-cost long-haul network which won its reputation in the past eight years. Within two weeks, founder Bjorn Tore Larsen responded by setting up a modest management team to create Norse Atlantic on February 1.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
