Norwegian Air Aims to Fly to U.S. from Germany from 2018

Budget carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle aims to start offering long-haul flights from Germany to the United States as it steps up competition on transatlantic routes, Chief Commercial Officer Thomas Ramdahl told a German magazine.

"We are working on flying to the United States from Duesseldorf from 2018, and are looking at up to a dozen destinations," WirtschaftsWoche weekly quoted Mr Ramdahl as saying.

That will add to pressure on Lufthansa's Eurowings, which offers flights from Cologne-Bonn airport, which is just 60 km from Duesseldorf airport, to U.S. cities Seattle, Las Vegas and Miami.

U.S. authorities recently granted a licence to the carrier's Irish-based low-cost subsidiary Norwegian Air International, paving the way for direct flights from Cork and Shannon to Boston.

Norwegian Air has been given permission to fly up to four times a week between Cork and Boston from next summer and there are hopes it could also have a direct connection to New York.

The decision paves the way for a major shake-up of transatlantic air travel, introducing the first Irish low-cost routes between Europe and the United States.
The Irish Times

Photo:Ton Jochems