Back in November 2013, Norwegian Air Shuttle began their Boeing 787 service from Scandinavia to Fort Lauderdale, which was reported on NYCAviation.com. Now some three months later into the service, we turned back to Norwegian Air Shuttle and in particular Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen, Communications Manager, to find out how the service is progressing and what the future holds for Norwegian in South Florida.
NYCAviation: How has the Norwegian Air Shuttle service been received since its introduction?
Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen: The routes have been very well received. It’s obvious that there has been a demand for low-fare quality flights between Florida and Scandinavia.
(Author’s note: Norwegian flies between Fort Lauderdale and Oslo, Norway, Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark).
NYCA: What are the load factors you are experiencing on the routes?
LS-N: As with most of our long-haul routes, load factors are running very close to 90%.
NYCA: How well is the Boeing 787 Dreamliner performing on the routes?
LS-N: There have been a few technical issues with the aircraft that resulted in some long delays, but on the whole, we are satisfied with the reliability of the Dreamliner.
(Author’s note: Since the initial order of the 10 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners forthe Norwegian fleet, an order was placed on February 13, 2014 for an additional 4 Boeing 787-9 aircraft which by 2018, will bring their fleet total of the type to 14. Three were delivered in 2013, four will enter service in 2014, one in 2015, two in 2016, two in 2017 and two in 2018).
NYCA: How is the recruitment of local cabin crew going?
LS-N: Extremely well. Norwegian began recruiting locally based crews in October 2013. More than 5,500 applications were received for 300 cabin crew positions on Norwegians USA, Europe and Asia routes. As of January 31, 2014, 170 positions had been offered to local cabin crew at the new crew bases in New York and Fort Lauderdale. Norwegian HR Director Gunnar Martinsen was recently quoted as saying in regards to the cabin crew hiring “Our new colleagues, many of whom have previous experience from airlines such as British Airways and United ‘love Norwegian’s strategy and concept’ and look forward to flying the Dreamliner.”. Martinsen added, “Our new crew members also say that Norwegian’s conditions are highly competitive and that our training program keeps a very high quality level compared to their previous experiences.”
NYCA: In October 2013, Norwegian announced that it was going to start service beginning in July 2014 between Fort Lauderdale and London’s Gatwick Airport (LGW). Is this still on track to start then?
LS-N: Absolutely yes.
In other news from Norwegian Air Shuttle, it was announced on February 12, 2014 that the long-distance subsidiary had received an operating license from Ireland, which will allow the budget carrier to request approval for low-cost flights across the Atlantic. The flights currently operated to the United States are operated with Boeing 787 Dreamliners registered in Ireland. The airline has submitted an application to the US Department of Transport for a foreign permit for Norwegian Air International and if granted, the airline will be able to add Los Angeles, Orlando and other US destinations to its schedule.
(All photos courtesy of Norwegian Air Shuttle)
Mark Lawrence, Producer, is a South Florida-based aviation fanatic that has been around the industry since he was a small boy. As well as being an avid photographer, he also runs his own blog that can be found at http://amateuravphoto.