David Dyson is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Norwegian will launch flights to the US from Edinburgh and Manchester next year, offering one-way fares as low as £135, and double its Gatwick long-haul services with flights to South America and Asia.
The carrier will base two of six new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Edinburgh to fly to the US East Coast, and also fly from Manchester, Cork and Shannon to new US bases at Stewart International (New York) and either Portsmouth (New Hampshire) or Providence (Rhode Island) serving Boston.
Norwegian will also double to more than eight the number of Boeing 787s it operates from Gatwick and launch services to South America – most likely Chile and Argentina – and Asia. The Asian routes will launch in September and South American flights commence for winter 2017-18.
The airline announced 12 new flights from Gatwick this week, making its current daily service to New York double daily from August 2017 and its five-times-a-week service to Los Angeles daily from April. It is also offering additional departures to Oakland-San Francisco, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.
The new daily New York flight is timed to appeal to business travellers, departing Gatwick at 06:20 to arrive in New York at 09:00. Chief commercial officer Thomas Ramdahl said: “We’ll be first out of London to arrive in New York each day.”
Norwegian won US permission to fly as an Irish operator last week following a three-year delay, giving it added flexibility. The carrier is the launch customer of the 737 MAX which has a cabin similar to the 787 Dreamliner and a longer range than conventional narrow-body aircraft.