Norwegian Air is dead (?), long live Norse Atlantic Airways
Norwegian Air is among the airlines that have been most affected by the crisis in the industry. Day after day [...]
Norwegian Air Shuttle
OSL
La Norwegian Air is among the airlines most affected by the crisis in the industry. Day after day, news about the company piles up, and none bodes well for customers, workers and aircraft manufacturers. Should the company be able to see the light again at the end of the tunnel it is in, it will have to go through a major restructuring.
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In 2019, the founder and CEO Bjorn Kjos had taken a step back, anticipating by a few months the beginning of the industry's global decline. Looking for new projects, the entrepreneur seems to have found one, now ready to debut. A launch that could be aided precisely by the decline experienced by Norwegian Air. The newly Norse Atlantic Airways seems, in fact, destined to fill the void left by the former Kjos creature, which continues to show extreme confidence in the possibility of revolutionizing the market with low-cost long-haul travel, to which Covid-19 has put a spanner in the works. Norwegian seemed one step away from taking the next step in its own growth before seeing an entire global system collapse.
A groundbreaking path, until several years ago, that featured the Norwegian company, which, however, failed to reap what was sown. That is the goal of Bjorn Kjos, who will try to accelerate the pace to take advantage of the favorable moment for a newcomer.
Discovering Norse Atlantic Airways
A new start-up company is set to make its debut in the wide world of airlines. It is Norse Atlantic Airways, which will find itself making its launch in what many hope will be the year of the tourism industry's rebirth. Is it really the right time to launch a new project? Probably so, especially if there is an "old fox" like Bjorn Kjos holding the new carrier's 15%.. Added to this is another great advantage: a power vacuum in a particular area, that of the long-haul low-cost flights.
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The base will be in Oslo and the goal is to be able to start its flights by the end of 2021. It is hard to imagine a market entry during next summer. The company will probably work in the months ahead for a Christmas showtime, taking advantage of a newfound classic Christmas after the unusual and blocked one in 2020. Kjos is not the only one involved in the project and previously included in Norwegian's management ranks. Space is also made for Bjorn Kise, who in 1993 had been part of the founding of the company, of which he was president from 2010 to 2019.
Norse Atlantic's plan
If all goes according to plan, Norse Atlantic Airways will launch its flights between Europe and the United States in December 2021. To do so, it will take advantage of the Boeing 787, leased. The goal would be to succeed in obtaining 12 ex-Norwegian aircraft. To date nine would be agreed upon. All that will be done in the first phase is to try to stabilize on some of the most popular routes, transatlantic and otherwise.
This means looking in the direction of New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris. Next, the market will have to be watched carefully, studying the booking curve. If all goes well, it is easy to foresee the addition of additional 787s to the fleet. This could allow for future expansion to Asia.
As mentioned, Bjorn Kjos holds 15% of the company's shares, although his name is finding its way all over the web in connection with Norse Atlantic. The CEO and majority shareholder, on the other hand, is. Bjorn Tore Larsen, who said about the project, "International tourism has been hit hard. The market for intercontinental flights has almost disappeared. The vaccination program, however, will open a new era. Norse Atlantic will then be there to offer convenient flights to travelers."
