Norwegian has revealed its plans for 2018. The low-cost airline will launch new long-haul routes – including its first service to South America, introducing a new enhanced Premium cabin and inflight Wi-Fi to new long-haul aircraft. Norwegian will also add more flights to its most popular USA destinations.
Norwegian flew 5.8 million passengers from the UK & Ireland and launched more than 15 routes in 2017. Some of its successes include commencing transatlantic flights from Scotland, Belfast and Ireland to smaller US east coast cities and its low-cost route between London and Singapore.
Here are five developments to expect from the airline in 2018:
- Norwegian’s first route to South America – On 14 February, Norwegian will launch its first route to South America with a new direct service from London Gatwick to Buenos Aires. The airline will operate the route four times per week with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
- New enhanced Premium cabin to fly on the 787 Dreamliner – Norwegian will introduce an expanded Premium cabin which will have 60% more seats for passengers wanting an enhanced experience. The new 56 seat cabin configuration will offer passengers more legroom and 11” Panasonic monitors providing hours of inflight entertainment. The new cabin will be fitted on Norwegian’s final 20 787 Dreamliner orders set for delivery from February 2018 onwards.
- Chicago and Austin to become newest US destinations – Norwegian will add Chicago and Austin to its list of long-haul destinations from Gatwick this spring. As from 25 March 2018, the airline will fly twice per week to Chicago. On 27 March 2018, Norwegian will commence a new three weekly service to Austin, Texas, known for its cultural scene and for providing the backdrop to the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival.
- Introducing Wi-Fi on more state-of-the-art aircraft joining Norwegian’s fleet – Norwegian will add 11 Boeing 787 Dreamliners to its fleet in 2018 which are exclusively used on long-haul routes from Gatwick. 10 of these new aircraft will feature the enhanced Premium cabin. Meanwhile 12 new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will land in Norwegian’s fleet this year to service the carrier’s transatlantic flights from Edinburgh, Belfast and Ireland to the US east coast. Later in 2018, Norwegian will begin to rollout inflight Wi-Fi on long-haul routes.
- Daily Boston flights and planned increases for Oakland and LA – Next spring, Norwegian will increase the number of flights on some of its most popular routes from Gatwick. Boston increases from five weekly flights to a daily service. Plans are underway to increase Oakland-San Francisco to a daily service and more flights are planned to Los Angeles, with twice-daily departures on select days of the week.
Thomas Ramdahl, Chief Commercial Officer at Norwegian said: “This year will see us fly to new heights as the UK will continue to be centre stage for our international growth. We want to fly people further for the best possible value which is why we’re investing for the future in low-cost long-haul travel. We’re upgrading the long-haul passenger experience by introducing a bigger Premium cabin, inflight Wi-Fi and more brand-new aircraft to service our expanding network. It has never been a better time to fly Norwegian and we’re excited to launch affordable flights from London to Argentina where we have active plans to take-off this year.”
2 January 2018
Photo: copyright (c) Norwegian
