Developments Take Off at Norwegian Air

Recently, I spoke with Anders Lindström, director of communications, USA, Norwegian Air, to get the scoop on growth and changes regarding Norwegian Air’s just-announced JetBlue partnership, plus new routes, including Austin and Paris.

Debra Bokur: There’s lots of excitement right now at Norwegian Air, from more flights and new routes, to the launch of a credit card for U.S. residents and a new partnership with JetBlue. I’m already excited, because Norwegian is my favorite way to get from Denver to Europe — but what has you most excited?

Anders Lindström: Actually it’s our new CEO, Jacob Schram, who starts in January. He’s got a great customer-centric background I think will elevate the Norwegian brand even further. With the U.S. now being the largest market in terms of revenue — and, as you mention, a lot of exciting new things — this is the most important growth market and I feel he’ll be focused on growing this market even further.

Bokur: What will be the immediate benefits of the JetBlue partnership to U.S. air travelers? Does this mean travelers departing from U.S. airports with JetBlue routes (but currently without a Norwegian gate) will be able to book one ticket with a connecting flight from start to finish?

Lindström: This will open up affordable trans-Atlantic travel for so many Americans not living on either coast. With the launch, we will focus on connecting our networks at three major airports: Boston (BOS), New York John F. Kennedy International and Fort Lauderdale (FLL). The partnership will connect more than 60 U.S. and almost 40 Caribbean and Latin American destinations to Norwegian’s network, which means more than 20 non-stop routes out of those three airports alone.

For the traveler, it means one ticket, luggage checked in all the way, and a seamless experience all the way. More details will come in early 2020, with the partnership expected to be in place by the first half of 2020.

Bokur: Norwegian’s latest quarterly financial report shows improved profitability, higher unit revenue and lower unit cost, with the United States being the airline’s largest market from a revenue perspective. Do you expect this trend to continue, and will there be significant expansion within the U.S. market?

Lindström: The US will definitely continue being the largest market, as we will be growing more here. Our financials will continue to improve overall as well, due in part to a massive cost-cutting program we have in place this year and in part because of changes we made to adjust schedules — increasing where there’s great demand, like the U.S. to London, Paris, Barcelona and Rome routes; and cutting routes not financially viable, such as the U.S. to Copenhagen and Stockholm, two destinations we can easily connect customers to via Oslo, London, Paris, Amsterdam or Barcelona instead.

However, we do have two major issues still, the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX, of which we had 18 at the time of grounding, and the on-going issues with the Rolls-Royce engines, both have had major financial impact on us.

Bokur: Is there anything else on the horizon Norwegian customers can look forward to

Lindström: More U.S. destinations, more U.S. routes and more frequencies on existing routes — all to be announced in due time.