There is turbulence in the airline industry and it is in the form of astoundingly low rates from the Scandinavian carrier Norwegian Airlines. In just $99, you can fly across the Atlantic.
Norwegian Airlines that has traditionally connected Scandinavia with many destinations across Europe is connecting United States too, with direct flights from its home base Oslo, Paris, London and Copenhagen. The low-cost airline is witnessing massive positive transformation in the US air-scape after the U.S. Department of Transportation gave its nod to use the Irish subsidiary for transatlantic flights.
In the first quarter of 2017, Norwegian Airlines announced 12 new routes from US cities which included Seattle, Denver and Boston at prices that are less than 50 percent of those charged by traditional airlines. By the end of 2017, Norwegian Airlines plans to fly 100 flights weekly out of 13 hubs across US. The CEO of Norwegian Airlines Bjorn Kjos is optimistic about the turn of events, “ Three or four airlines controlled the flights across Europe for years. Now we have disrupted the monopoly with low airfare costs.”
It is an irony that Norwegian Airlines was once an unknown regional airline, and today it is changing the rules of air-travel for the benefit of passengers. Transatlantic fares are just the beginning, the airplane company in April 2017, announced direct flights between London and Singapore for just $199 (one way). It goes without saying that the company has plans to encircle the globe in the near future.
.Norwegian Airlines is not the only airplane career to offer low-cost transatlantic flights. Ther is WOW Airlines from Iceland which offers $99 airfare to Europe, with a stop-over at Reykjavik from 10 cities in North America.
There is Lufthansa Airlines’ ‘Eurowings’ that offers low-cost flights to Munich from cities like Seattle, Florida, Las Vegas and Orlando.
Like many low-cost airlines, even Norwegian Airlnies charges for checked baggage, drinks, snacks and blankets. But it is the best in terms of service, offering an array of in-flight entertainment options, good food, high-speed wifis and quiet cabins. The plan also pressure levels to curb jet lag and every seat has a USB port and power outlet.
Norwegian Airlines boasts of a young fleet. Like mentioned before, Norwegian Airlines was just another not-so known regional planner before Kjos made the bold move of buying 42 Boeing 737-800s for the value of an estimated $3 billion. The planes also known to have a substantially reduced fuel consumption and spacious cabin capacity.
In 2011, Kjos did an encore and purchased the Boeing Dreamliner planes, which can seat up to 290 passengers and are even more fuel efficient. These plans are used for long distance flights between hubs like Bangkok, New York and Oslo.
In 2011, Kjos repeated the move, placing an order for the then new Boeing Dreamliner, which has even better fuel efficiency and can seat up to 290 people. He dedicated these planes to long-distance flights between major hubs such as Oslo, New York, and Bangkok.
While most airlines carriers have to abide by their existing affiliations and networks, and take their direct planes through partner airlines and hub cities, Norwegian Airlines has taken a different approach. It simply looks for tactical price reductions and goes where it anticipates demand. Using smaller, non-descript airports means inexpensive rent and lesser landing fees, savings that Norwegian can utilize to attract travelers who are not able to cough up exceedingly high airfares.
Kjos founded the Norwegian Airlines in 1993 and came back as the CEO in 2002, when it was trying its best to compete with the Scandinavian giant SAS. He understood that rapid scaling is important to bring down the costs, and make his company take-off in a big manner.
Low-cost airline strategy by Norwegian Airlines may have faced a long-wait from U.S. Department of Transportation which took 3 years to approve the transatlantic plan, thanks to opposition from legacy airlines, domestic airlines, vested interest groups and labor unions. But now that Norwegian Airline has shown the way, the other dominant players are jumping in. While International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways has come up with a low-cost airline known as Level that operates from Spain, Delta Airlines is all set to come up with its version of low cost airline.
Kjos is now on the move for a partnership deal with one major budget airline player in Europe that would allow passengers to book effortlessly across carriers. The two major budget airlines in Europe, RyanAir and EasyJet are definitely in the radar, as a part of those travelers using Norwegian Airlines flights could boost his vision of connecting the world with low-cost flights.
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