Low-cost long-haul airline Norse Atlantic Airways has completed its first commercial flight, from Oslo, Norway (OSL) to JFK, New York (JFK), hoping to bring more competition to the transatlantic market.
Flight NO01 departed at 21:42 local time (1942 UTC) on June 14, 2022 according to tracking website FlightRadar24, later than its planned take off time of 19:50, and landed at 22:44 EDT (0244 UTC on June 15) in New York. The flight was operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, registration LN-FNB.
“Norse Atlantic Airways has now entered a new chapter, we are delivering on our promise to offer affordable value and a quality travelling experience to all,” Chief Executive Bjorn Tore Larsen commented in a statement.
Norse Atlantic is founded by some of the team behind low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle. The latter restructured after getting heavily into debt and is now focusing solely on short-haul flights within Europe with a pared-down fleet.
However, Norse Atlantic’s launch has not gone smoothly with its operations being delayed due to the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The low-cost long-haul carrier plans to operate a fleet of 15 Boeing Dreamliners. Along with flights departing OSL, it also plans to offer cut-price transatlantic tickets from Berlin, Germany (BER).
Larsen commented further on the first flight: “This marks a proud moment for us all at Norse as we now look ahead to ramping up our network for the benefit of customers, businesses and local economies”.