Norwegian (Oslo Gardermoen) says it is looking to secure ACMI capacity as one of several options to help fill the gap left by the grounding of its B737-8 fleet.
The Nordic low-cost carrier has nine MAX 8s (out of a fleet of 58 narrowbody jets) on the ground alongside nine at its Norwegian Air International subsidiary (out of a total of 67 narrowbody jets), and three at Norwegian Air Sweden (all three account for its entire fleet).
In a statement, Norwegian said that aside from the wet-leasing in of additional aircraft, it has also begun deploying some of its B787-9 widebody jets on select high-volume routes such as Dublin International to Newburgh/Stewart which operates onboard a daily B787-9. Given the added capacity, the service combines the Dublin (and Shannon) to Stewart and Providence flights with buses available to haul passengers from Stewart to Providence.
From March 31 to around April 10, Norwegian will also start using an ETOPS-certified B737-800 to operate its 4x weekly Dublin to Hamilton, ON route. The same aircraft will be used to run a 3x weekly Dublin-Providence service as well. Passengers on the Cork-Providence return route will also be transferred to a B737-800-operated Dublin-Providence return service.
Given the added demand for narrowbody capacity, Norwegian said it has also decided to delay the planned sale of six of its 110 B737-800s.
