Norwegian Long Haul

Norwegian Long Haul AS was[3] a division of Norwegian Air Shuttle that operated long-haul flights between Europe, Asia, and the United States with an all-Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. Norwegian Long Haul was registered in Dublin, Ireland, and was managed by parent company Norwegian Air Shuttle from its head office at Fornebu, Norway. Its capacity was used to operate some of the Norwegian Group's long-haul flights, using Norwegian Air Shuttle's associated airline codes.[4] The airline's first flight took place 30 May 2013, which operated from Oslo Gardermoen to New York JFK.[2] Parent company Norwegian Air Shuttle announced on 14 January 2021 that it would terminate all long-haul flights, ending Norwegian Long Haul's operations.[3]

Norwegian Long Haul AS
IATA ICAO Callsign
DU NLH NORSTAR
Founded1 January 2012[1]
Commenced operations30 May 2013[2]
Ceased operations14 January 2021[3]
Operating bases
Frequent-flyer programNorwegian Reward
Fleet size19
Destinations14
Parent companyNorwegian Air Shuttle
HeadquartersFornebu (Bærum), Norway
Key peopleBjørn Kjos
Websitenorwegian.com

History

Formed in January 2012 by Norwegian Air Shuttle to start long-haul operations, the company commenced transatlantic flights on 30 May 2013.[2] The first scheduled flights were from Oslo and Stockholm to New York JFK 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.[5] In September 2013, Norwegian announced flights from Stockholm to Oakland and Los Angeles beginning in May 2014, from Copenhagen to Los Angeles and New York, and from Oslo to Oakland, Los Angeles and 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.[6] In April 2015, the airline announced the beginning of flights to San Juan from Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and London beginning in November 2015. Also announced were flights to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands from Copenhagen beginning on 6 November 2015. Permission for thrice-weekly flights between Cork and Boston had been sought in 2015.[7] In July 2016, the airline launched flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale.[8] In September 2016, the airline announced flights from Barcelona to Los Angeles, Oakland and Newark in June 2017, and Fort Lauderdale in August 2017.[9]

In April 2017, the airline announced flights from London to Seattle, Denver, and Singapore to begin in September 2017.[10][11] In May 2017, the airline announced flights from Rome to Newark and Los Angeles to begin in November 2017, and to Oakland in February 2018.[12] In June 2017, the airline announced flights from London to Buenos Aires, also to begin in February 2018.[13] In July 2017, the airline announced flights from London to Chicago and Austin to begin in March 2018,[14] as well as flights from Paris to Newark in February 2018, Denver in April 2018, Oakland in April 2018, and Boston in May 2018.[15] In December 2017, the airline announced the starting of flights from Amsterdam to New York in May 2018, from Milan Malpensa to Los Angeles in June 2018, and from Madrid to New York and Los Angeles in July 2018,[16] however due to issues with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines equipped on the airline's Dreamliners and the resultant removal of aircraft from service to undergo maintenance, the services between Milan and Los Angeles were announced to be postponed to 2019, but ultimately never launched in 2019.[17]

Since 2018, Norwegian participated in a connection deal with easyJet and WestJet through the program Worldwide by easyJet. The program, established by easyJet in September 2017, allows passengers to book connections between easyJet, Norwegian, and WestJet flights through London's Gatwick Airport via the airport's "GatwickConnects" service, and between easyJet and Norwegian flights at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Barcelona airports.[18]

On 25 March 2018, Norwegian Air Shuttle transferred Norwegian Long Haul's services from London Gatwick to the United States to instead be operated by Norwegian Air UK, which had already taken over the Norwegian group's flights from London to Singapore and Buenos Aires, and proceeded to take over the announced services to Chicago and Austin.[19] In July 2018, the airline announced new winter seasonal services to Krabi in Thailand from Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen to begin from October 2018.[20] On 28 November 2018, the airline announced new seasonal routes from Boston to Rome and Madrid to begin in March and May 2019 respectively.[21]

On 15 February 2019, the airline announced Athens as a new destination with a seasonal route between New York JFK and Athens International Airport to begin in July 2019, as well as a new seasonal route between Barcelona and Chicago to begin in June 2019.[22] In July 2019, the airline announced it would relocate its year-round Barcelona and Paris services from Oakland International Airport to San Francisco International Airport in October 2019, while its seasonal services from Oakland International would remain.[23] In October 2019, the airline announced it would discontinue service at Newark Liberty International Airport by moving its Barcelona and Rome services from the airport to instead operate from New York JFK by the end of the month, utilizing slots freed from changing its services to Stockholm and Copenhagen from New York to seasonal.[24] Also in October 2019, the airline announced a new summer seasonal route between Paris and Austin to begin in May 2020,[25] and in November 2019, the airline announced additional summer seasonal routes between Rome and Denver in March 2020, between Paris and Chicago in May 2020, and between Rome and Chicago in June 2020.[26][27]

In November 2019, following a re-evaluation of the airline group's route network, the airline announced it would discontinue its long-haul flights from Copenhagen and Stockholm after late-March 2020.[28] The airline also announced in December 2019 that it would end operations at Oakland International Airport, consolidating its operations at San Francisco International Airport in April 2020.[29]

In March 2020, Norwegian Long Haul's fleet of Boeing 787s as well as those of its sister companies Norwegian Air Sweden and Norwegian Air UK were stored and operations suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on aviation. On 27 April 2020, parent company Norwegian Air Shuttle announced the postponement of the airline's long-haul flights to March 2021, which included the operations of Norwegian Long Haul and the parent company's integrated subsidiaries.[30] On 29 June 2020, orders for five Boeing 787-9s that were yet to be delivered to Norwegian were cancelled.[31] In October 2020, operations for the airline were scheduled to resume from its Paris Charles de Gaulle base in March 2021 to Los Angeles and New York JFK, and to Austin, Boston, Denver, and Orlando in May 2021, in anticipation of the pandemic's impacts subsiding.[32]

In January 2021 however, Norwegian announced it would terminate all long-haul operations in order to refocus on its short-haul European route network.[3]

Destinations
Main article: List of Norwegian Air Shuttle destinations

As of January 2021, Norwegian Long Haul operated or planned to operate service to the following destinations on behalf of parent company Norwegian Air Shuttle, and separately from its sister companies, though most were previously suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic:[33]

Country or Territory City Airport Notes Refs
DenmarkCopenhagenCopenhagen AirportBase
Terminated		[28]
FranceParisCharles de Gaulle AirportBase
Orly AirportTerminated
GreeceAthensAthens International AirportSeasonal[22]
ItalyRomeLeonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino AirportBase
NetherlandsAmsterdamAmsterdam Airport Schiphol
NorwayBergenBergen Airport, FleslandTerminated
OsloOslo Airport, Gardermoen
Puerto RicoSan JuanLuis Muñoz Marín International AirportTerminated
SpainBarcelonaJosep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat AirportBase
MadridAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport
SwedenStockholmStockholm Arlanda AirportTerminated[28]
ThailandBangkokSuvarnabhumi AirportBase
Terminated
KrabiKrabi International AirportTerminated
United KingdomLondonGatwick AirportBase
Terminated1		[19]
United StatesAustinAustin–Bergstrom International AirportSeasonal
Was to begin 22 May 2021		[32]
BostonLogan International AirportSeasonal
ChicagoO'Hare International AirportSeasonal[22]
DenverDenver International AirportTerminated
Fort LauderdaleFort Lauderdale–Hollywood International AirportBase
Las VegasMcCarran International AirportTerminated[19]
Los AngelesLos Angeles International AirportBase
New York CityJohn F. Kennedy International AirportBase
NewarkNewark Liberty International AirportTerminated
OaklandOakland International AirportTerminated[29]
OrlandoOrlando International Airport
San FranciscoSan Francisco International Airport[34]
SeattleSeattle–Tacoma International AirportTerminated1[19]
United States Virgin IslandsSaint CroixHenry E. Rohlsen AirportTerminated

Notes:

Fleet
Norwegian Long Haul Boeing 787-8

Norwegian Long Haul's fleet consisted of the following aircraft as of January 2021, following its initial storage in March 2020:[35][36]

Norwegian Long Haul fleet
Aircraft In
service		 Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Boeing 787-8
8
—
 32 260 292
Boeing 787-9
11
—
 35 309 344
Total 19 —

Fleet development

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 aircraft.[37]

During an interview with The Wall Street Journal in July 2014, Bjørn Kjos hinted at buying 20 more 787-9s, with deliveries from 2018, though the airline had refused to confirm this order plan.[38] In October 2015 the airline confirmed that it had ordered 19 more 787-9 Dreamliners.[39][40] 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.[41] All of the 787-8s have since been re-registered in Norway, while the 787-9s are registered between Norway, Sweden, and the UK.

In August 2018, Norwegian operated a single Airbus A380-800 leased from Hi-Fly, following engine problems with their Dreamliner fleet.[42]

By June 2020, Norwegian had five remaining Boeing 787-9 aircraft on order, the orders of which were cancelled alongside the airline's remaining Boeing 737 MAX orders.[31] In October 2020, leases for two of the airline's 787-9s were transferred to Neos.[43]

Criticism during startup

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[44] and two of the aircraft were later grounded due to technical issues.[45][46] Norwegian Long Haul was extensively criticized in the media for its delays and lack of care for their stranded passengers.[47][48][49] The airline's replies to the criticism varied from deep apologies[50] to neglect and blaming of the aircraft manufacturer and maintenance sub-contractors.[51][52] Several different sources claimed Norwegian used too tight fleet schedules with its small and new fleet of Boeing Dreamliners,[53][54] having used only three aircraft for three different continents,[55] but the airline disagreed.[53][54][55] 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.[56][57][58]

Norwegian Long Haul wet-leased two Airbus A340-300s from Hi Fly in 2013,[59] but still reached its peak of delays at the end of the year, with a 24-hour delay on its New York – Oslo route.[60] Early January 2014, Norwegian denied using their new Dreamliners beyond their operational capabilities and noted that they had set punctuality as their goal for 2014.[61] However, by May 2014 Norwegian Long Haul passengers had experienced several flight delays lasting between 13 and 30 hours.[62][63]

Further information: Norwegian Air Shuttle § Labour related criticism

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.[64] CEO Bjørn Kjos claimed Norwegian [country] flight crews were too expensive for international routes[64] and the airline later stated it would be able to secure jobs in Norway with such rights,[65] although the union itself was not given insight to the specific inquiry made by the airline.[65] 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.[66]

The permits were not given to the airline[67] and Norwegian obtained Irish registrations for its intercontinental operations as a different, separated airline enabling them to hire Thai cabin attendants[68] 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.[66][69][68][70] With the intercontinental airliners now registered in Ireland, rejected by the airline as a flag out as previously threatened,[68] 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.[71][69] In October 2013 the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions revealed it would not extend its business agreement with Norwegian.[69]

Incidents and accidents
  • On 10 August 2019, Norwegian Long Haul Flight 7115 from Rome Fiumicino to Los Angeles International Airport operated by a Boeing 787-8 registered LN-LND had an engine failure after departure during the initial climb. Falling engine debris hit at least 25 vehicles, 12 houses, and one person on the ground. The aircraft returned to Fiumicino airport for a safe landing after 23 minutes. None of the 298 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were injured.[72]

References
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  3. Philip, Siddharth Vikram (14 January 2021). "Norwegian Air Gives Up Long-Haul Flying in Plan to Exit Insolvency". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  4. Annual Report 2012 Corporate Structure
  5. Christensen, AF Ole Kirchert (14 March 2013). "Til Florida for 3.000 kroner (opd.)" (in Danish). Check-in.dk. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
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