On Tuesday, Bjørn Kjos, the chief executive of Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA – a budget European carrier – said that, as early as 2017, he hopes to sell one-way tickets from certain cities in the U.S.to Europe starting at just . For example, instead of flying out of larger worldwide airports such as JFK, Norwegian Air would fly out of smaller airports, such as New York’s Westchester County Airport.
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The potential move is part of an overarching plan from the airline to cut away at other airlines, such as Lufthansa, that typically dominate trans-Atlantic service.
Average prices on such routes are likely to be closer to $300 (£196) for a round trip, Business Insider reported. The price is higher because of the fees charged by busier airports.
Kjos said that his airline has ordered 100 new planes from Boeing, five of which will be received by 2017 when he hopes the cheap flights will commence. Last week it unveiled plans to start direct flights between Boston and Cork, Ireland, in May. US airlines and labor unions have lobbied against the permit, saying Norwegian is using Ireland as a “flag of convenience” to skirt Norwegian and USA labor laws.
Regulators will have to agree to set up customs stations at U.S. regional airports to handle worldwide traffic, although Mr Kjos said he was confident this could be arranged. These planes were equipped to traverse the Atlantic but were smaller than most jets now doing so, making them a better size for global flights to cities such as Birmingham in Britain, Kjos said. Wow Air offered one-way tickets from Boston to Paris for $99 back in March. According to The Wall Street Journal, Lufthansa’s Eurowings will begin offering cheap long-haul flights from Europe to Dubai, Bangkok and the Dominican Republic from November onwards.
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Nevertheless, Kjos is skeptical about Eurowings intention: “I don’t believe in their being able to operate low cost with a Boeing 767, in part because the wide-body planes save less fuel and have smaller range than planes such as Boeing Dreamliners in Norwegian’s fleet”.
