Norwegian Long Haul is a division of Norwegian Air Shuttle that operates long-haul flights between Europe, Asia, and the United States on an all-Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. Norwegian Long Haul is registered in Dublin, Ireland, and is managed by Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA from its head office at Fornebu, Norway. Its capacity is used to operate some routes of parent company Norwegian Air Shuttle (IATA code DY) to Asia and North America.
Video Norwegian Long Haul
History
Formed in January 2012 by Norwegian Air Shuttle to start long-haul operations, the company commenced transatlantic flights on 30 May 2013. The first scheduled flights were from Oslo and Stockholm to New York JFK and Bangkok, originally with wet-leased A340-300 aircraft while the airline awaited delivery of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. In March 2013 Norwegian Air Shuttle confirmed a new long haul route from Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm to Fort Lauderdale, beginning on 29 November 2013. In September 2013, Norwegian announced flights from Stockholm to Oakland and Los Angeles beginning in May 2014, from Copenhagen to Los Angeles and New York, and from Oslo to Oakland, Los Angeles and Orlando.
Flights from London Gatwick to New York, Los Angeles, and Fort Lauderdale were announced in October 2013, with service on these routes to commence in July 2014. In April 2015, the airline announced the beginning of flights to San Juan from Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and London beginning in November 2015. Also announced were flights to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands from Copenhagen beginning on 6 November 2015. Permission for thrice-weekly flights between Cork and Boston had been sought in 2015. In July 2016, the airline launched flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale. In September 2016, the airline announced flights from Barcelona to Los Angeles, Oakland and Newark in June 2017, and Fort Lauderdale in August 2017.
In April 2017, the airline announced flights from London to Seattle, Denver, and Singapore to begin in September 2017. In May 2017, the airline announced flights from Rome to Newark and Los Angeles to begin in November 2017, and to Oakland in February 2018. In June 2017, the airline announced flights from London to Buenos Aires, also to begin in February 2018. In July 2017, the airline announced flights from London to Chicago and Austin to begin in March 2018, as well as flights from Paris to Newark in February 2018, Denver in April 2018, Oakland in April 2018, and Boston in May 2018.
Norwegian needs cash to finance its aggressive growth as starting many new routes needing fleet expansion : it has to sold its shares in Bank Norwegian loyalty cardholder and to sell and leaseback aircraft.
Maps Norwegian Long Haul
Destinations
Norwegian Long Haul has 22 routes to seven countries on 4 continents from hubs throughout Europe. Many of these routes are to the United States where Norwegian flies to 14 destinations and the airline plans to expand in North America with delivery of the Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Some other areas for growth is South America and Asia, airline CEO Bjørn Kjos says.
Norwegian has a connection deal with fellow low-cost carriers EasyJet and WestJet. The program called Worldwide by easyJet was established in September 2017 and allows passengers to connect from easyJet flights to Norwegian flights in London, Paris and Barcelona to U.S. destinations and then to WestJet flights.
Fleet
As of April 2018, Norwegian Long Haul operates an all-Dreamliner fleet:
Norwegian Air Shuttle CEO Bjørn Kjos was in meetings with Polish politicians in April 2013 about the possible acquisition of LOT Polish Airlines, triggering speculation as to Norwegian Air Shuttle's interest in obtaining more Boeing 787 Dreamliners. During an interview with The Wall Street Journal in July 2014, Bjørn Kjos hinted at buying 20 more 787-9 Dreamliners, with deliveries from 2018, though the airline had refused to confirm this order plan. In October 2015 the airline confirmed that it had ordered 19 more 787-9 Dreamliners.
The airline's Dreamliners were initially registered in Ireland and the Civil Aviation Authority of Norway had given Norwegian Air Shuttle a temporary exemption to operate foreign-registered aircraft. All of the 787-8s have since been re-registered in Norway, while the 787-9s are registered between Norway and the UK.
Awards
Norwegian Air Shuttle has been awarded several years in a row as best low-cost airline in Europe. In 2015 their long-haul airline Norwegian Long Haul was awarded the best low-cost long-haul airline in the world by Skytrax World Airline Awards:
- 2015 Norwegian named the most environmentally friendly transatlantic airline by International Council on Clean Transportation
- 2015 World's Best Low-Cost Long Haul Airline by Skytrax World Airline Awards
- 2016 World's Best Low-Cost Long Haul Airline by Skytrax World Airline Awards
- 2017 World's Best Low-Cost Long Haul Airline by Skytrax World Airline Awards
Criticism
Flight delays
From the airline's start-up in May 2013, 73 of 97 New York and Bangkok arrivals to Oslo were delayed through September 2013 and two of the aircraft were later grounded due to technical issues. Norwegian Long Haul was extensively criticized in the media for its delays and lack of care for their suffering passengers. The airline's replies to the criticism has varied from deep apologies to neglect and blaming of the aircraft manufacturer and maintenance sub-contractors. Several different sources claim Norwegian has used too tight fleet schedules with its Boeing Dreamliners, having used only 3 aircraft for 3 different continents, but the airline disagrees. One of the airline's own technical employees and head of Aircraft Engineers International, Norway, was later threatened by the airline with job termination for publicly answering to the cause of the numerous delays with the airline's Dreamliners as a calculated risk by Norwegian Long Haul.
Norwegian Long Haul wet-leased two Airbus A340-300s from Hi Fly in 2013, but still reached its peak of delays at the end of the year, with a 24-hour delay on its New York - Oslo route. In early January 2014, the airline denied using their Dreamliners beyond their operational capabilities and noted that they had set punctuality as their goal for 2014.
Against recommendations of the largest aircraft attendant's union in Norway, the Parat union, Norwegian inquired the Norwegian government in 2012 with threats to flag out abroad and demands for rights to hire Asian (non-EU) flight and cabin crew without Norwegian work and residence permits. CEO Bjørn Kjos claimed Norwegian [country] flight crews were too expensive for international routes and the airline later stated it would be able to secure jobs in Norway with such rights, although the union itself was not given insight to the specific inquiry made by the airline. The largest umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, threatened to boycott the airline if Norwegian's enquired rights was granted by the Norwegian government.
The permits were not given to the airline and Norwegian obtained Irish registrations for its intercontinental operations as a different, separated airline enabling them to hire Thai cabin attendants through an employment agency (Adecco) in Thailand. This was perceived by the Parat union, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, the Minister of Labour and the Labour Party as social dumping, deliberately undermining Norwegian work rights. With the intercontinental airliners now registered in Ireland, rejected by the airline as a flag out as previously threatened, the airline focused its response to the political and labor union related criticism by comparing the salaries of the crew members to the total salary average in the country of the hired attendants. In October 2013 the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions revealed it would not extend its business agreement with Norwegian.
References
External links
- Official Norwegian Europe site
- Official US site
Source of article : Wikipedia
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