DU NLH Frequent-flyer program Norwegian Reward Headquarters Fornebu Fleet size 12 | NLH NORSTAR Destinations 11 Founded 1 January 2012 Parent organization Norwegian Air Shuttle | |
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Operating bases Alliance Airlines for Europe (A4E) | ||
Norwegian long haul boeing 787 8 dreamliner los angeles to london gatwick ln lnb
Norwegian Air Shuttle operates "long-haul" flights to Asia and the United States through a fully owned subsidiary Norwegian Long Haul AS which operates an all-Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. Norwegian Long Haul is registered in Norway, and is managed by Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA from its head office at Fornebu. Norwegian Long Haul does not operate any routes itself, but instead its capacity is used to operate the routes of parent company Norwegian Air Shuttle (IATA code DY) to Asia and North America.
Contents
History
Formed in January 2012 by Norwegian Air Shuttle to start long-haul operations, the company commenced transatlantic flights on 30 May 2013. The first scheduled flights were from Oslo and Stockholm to New York City and Bangkok, originally with wet-leased A340-300 aircraft while the airline awaited delivery of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. In March 2013 Norwegian Air Shuttle confirmed a new long haul route from Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm to Fort Lauderdale, beginning on 29 November 2013. Norwegian has also (in September 2013) announced flights from Stockholm to Oakland and Los Angeles beginning May 2014, and also Copenhagen-Los Angeles, Copenhagen-New York, Oslo-Oakland, Oslo-Los Angeles, and Oslo-Orlando. Flights from London Gatwick to New York, Los Angeles, and Fort Lauderdale were announced in October 2013, with service on these routes to commence in July 2014. The airline announced in April 2015, the beginning of flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico from Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and London Gatwick beginning in November 2015. Also announced were flights to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands from Copenhagen beginning on November 6, 2015. Permission for thrice-weekly flights between Cork and Boston has been sought in 2015.
In July 2016, the airline launched flights from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to New York City (John F. Kennedy International Airport), Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale.
In September 2016 the airline announced flights from Barcelona to Los Angeles, Oakland and Newark in June 2017, and Fort Lauderdale in August 2017.
Fleet
As of March 2017 the Norwegian Long Haul fleet consists of the following aircraft:
Norwegian Air Shuttle CEO Bjørn Kjos was in meetings with Polish politicians in April 2013 about the possible acquisition of LOT Polish Airlines, triggering speculation as to Norwegian Air Shuttle's interest in obtaining more Boeing 787 Dreamliners. During an interview with The Wall Street Journal in July 2014, Bjørn Kjos hinted at buying 20 more 787-9 Dreamliners, with deliveries from 2018, though the airline had refused to confirm this order plan. In October 2015 the airline confirmed that it had ordered 19 more 787-9 Dreamliners.
The airline's Dreamliners were initially registered in Ireland and the Civil Aviation Authority of Norway had given Norwegian Air Shuttle a temporary exemption to operate foreign-registered aircraft. All of the 787-8 Dreamliners have since been re-registered in Norway, while the 787-9s are registered between Ireland, the UK, and Norway.
Awards
Norwegian Air Shuttle has been awarded several years in a row as best low-cost airline in Europe. In 2015 their long-haul airline Norwegian Long Haul was awarded the best low-cost long-haul airline in the world by Skytrax World Airline Awards:
Flight delays
From the airline's start-up in May 2013, 73 of 97 New York and Bangkok arrivals to Oslo were delayed through September 2013 and two of the aircraft were later grounded because of technical issues. Norwegian Long Haul was extensively criticized in the media for its delays and lack of care for their suffering passengers. The airline's replies to the criticism has differed from deep apologies to neglect and blaming of the aircraft manufacturer and maintenance sub-contractors. Several different sources claim Norwegian has used too tight fleet schedules with its Boeing Dreamliners, having used only 3 aircraft for 3 different continents, but the airline disagrees. One of the airline's own technical employees and head of Aircraft Engineers International, Norway, was later threatened by the airline with job termination for publicly answering to the cause of the numerous delays with the airline's Dreamliners as a calculated risk by Norwegian Long Haul.
Norwegian Long Haul wet-leased two Airbus A340-300 from Hi Fly in 2013, but still reached its peak of delays at the end of the year, with a 24-hour delay on its New York - Oslo route. In early January 2014, the airline denied using their Dreamliners beyond their operational capabilities and noted that they had set punctuality as their goal for 2014. By 2nd and 3rd of May 2014, Norwegian Long Haul passengers experienced flight delays between 13 and 15 hours.
Labour related
Against recommendations of the largest aircraft attendant's union in Norway, the Parat union, Norwegian inquired the Norwegian government in 2012 with threats to flag out abroad and demands for rights to hire Asian (non-EU) flight and cabin crew without Norwegian work and residence permits. CEO Bjørn Kjos claimed Norwegian [country] flight crews were too expensive for international routes and the airline later stated it would be able to secure jobs in Norway with such rights, although the union itself was not given insight to the specific inquiry made by the airline. The largest umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, threatened to boycott the airline if Norwegian's enquired rights was granted by the Norwegian government.
The permits were not given to the airline and Norwegian obtained Irish registrations for its intercontinental operations as a different, separated airline enabling them to hire Thai cabin attendants through an employment agency (Adecco) in Thailand. This was perceived by the Parat union, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, the Minister of Labour and the Labour Party as social dumping, deliberately undermining Norwegian work rights. With the intercontinental airliners now registered in Ireland, rejected by the airline as a flag out as previously threatened, the airline focused its response to the political and labor union related criticism by comparing the salaries of the crew members to the total salary average in the country of the hired attendants. In October 2013 the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions revealed it would not extend its business agreement with Norwegian.