Startup Norse Atlantic Airways has announced its intention to operate several transatlantic routes from Fort Lauderdale (FLL), along with the creation of a new headquarters and the opening of more than 100 jobs.
The new low-cost airline plans to fly from FLL to Oslo, London, and Paris, and establish its headquarters at Florida’s third-largest airport.
See also: Norway and UK: Norse Atlantic Airways applies for Air Operator Certificates (AOC)
Norse Atlantic Airways shareholders are former Norwegian executives, in the early days of the former long-haul affiliate, Fort Lauderdale (FLL) was one of its first international bases in the United States. In 2019 figures obtained by OAG showed that Norwegian Long Haul offered 417,221 seats, the ninth-largest international base of the old company.
Norwegian offered services from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to several destinations in the Caribbean, mainly to the French West Indies to Guadeloupe (PTP) and Martinique (FDF), in addition to several long haul destinations to Barcelona (BCN), Paris (CDG), Oslo (OSL), Stockholm (ARN), Copenhagen (CPH) and London Gatwick (LGW), the latter was its busiest destination and the airline operated up to 10 flights per week on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
One of the airline’s first routes will be the Fort Lauderdale (FLL) – Oslo route, followed by London and Paris in 2022. The airline has an order for 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners (all formerly owned by Norwegian Long Haul), all of which are expected to be delivered next year. The airline is headquartered in Arendal, Norway.
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) is the second busiest Florida airport for international traffic, data obtained by Aviacionline through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) moved 8,524,251 passengers and London Gatwick (LGW) was the top long haul destination in 2018 where 179,438 passengers were moved between Norwegian UK and British Airways.
With the current demand for sun and beach destinations in South Florida, the new startup can take advantage of the void left by the former Norwegian Long Haul.
