Norwegian (Oslo Gardermoen) CEO Bjørn Kjos has reiterated his carrier's plans to use its incoming fleet of B737 MAX 8s to open up flights from secondary European cities to not only the United States, but also the Caribbean, and possibly China.
“There are a lot of routes that we will serve in the future that are served via a hub-and-spoke system today that we will serve with direct flights,” Kjos told Bloomberg news concerning the MAX's potential. “You could even serve western China, there are lots of big cities you could serve out of Europe.”
The LCC has 100 firm orders with Boeing (BOE, Washington National) for the type with a further 100 options. Deliveries are scheduled to commence in 2017.
Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC) says the United States' continued dalliance in issuing Norwegian Air International (Dublin International) with a foreign operator's permit was tantamount to a breach of an Open Skies agreement signed in 2007.
"The EC considers that there is a breach of the EU-U.S. air transport agreement by the U.S. authorities, regarding the application from Norwegian Air International to fly to the United States," it said. "The U.S. authorities are taking too long to process the application and this delay is not compatible with the EU-U.S. agreement.”
A meeting with member states will be called to discuss possible counter measures to be taken against the US, if any.
The next gathering of the EU-US Joint Committee is scheduled to be held in January, following on from one held late last month.
Norwegian Air International has faced immense resistance from unions and airlines on both sides of the Atlantic all of which accuse it of using the Irish registry as a Flag of Convenience in regards to labour laws.
