Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS) is known for its cheap traveloptions including cheap deals, cheap fares, cheap airplane tickets, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages, asevidenced by pricing flights between London and the United States as cheaply as$299 round trip.
Operating new BoeingDreamliners, the airline offers cheap flights from New York and Fort Lauderdaleto Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm, to be supplemented later this year by routesto Los Angeles, Oakland and Orlando.
The carrier is planning on launching low-fare service this July from New York,Los Angeles, and Fort Lauderdale to London Gatwick.
The route expansion is beingaccompanied by a bold corporate plan to register the airlines long-haulaircraft in Ireland to establish the company as an Irish airline, usingcontract crews hired through a staffing agency. Presumably this will enable the airline to achieve lower labor coststhan would otherwise be possible.
This airline first launched service to the U.S. in2013. It has recently filed for apermanent license from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) in the name ofNorwegian Air International, which it says will be an Irish airline. IrishAviation Authority approval for this airline is expected in early 2014.
The U.S. Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the AFL-CIOhave filed statements opposing U.S. approval for this airline to operate in theUnited States claiming that Norwegian is seeking to establish an Irish identityjust so that it can evade the social laws of Norway in order to lower the wagesand working conditions of its air crew.
The labor groups want the DOT to block the airline fromflying in America based on public interest grounds, pointing to a U.S. statutorymandate to promote fair wages and working conditions in aviation.
The U.S. and the European Union (EU) previously signed amultilateral open-skies accord that permits any airline of the EU to operatebetween the U.S. and any EU country. This pact extends to the European Common Aviation Area, which includesnon EU countries such as Norway.
This agreement makes it theoretically possible for aNorwegian firm to establish an affiliate in an EU country with a favorablebusiness climate, such as Ireland, and operate between the U.S. and any pointin the EU.
U.S. labor groups fear that a European common airlinemarket that preserves local labor, tax, and licensing regimes of individualcountries, could work to the disadvantage of American airline workers.
Airline employee representatives from Europe and America areencouraging the DOT to refuse to license the new airline to operate flightsinto and out of the U.S. The laborgroups contend that Norwegian is trying to set itself up in Ireland with theexpress intent of evading Norway laws.
They are claiming that the DOT should not allow an airlineto shop around for the labor laws and regulations that best suits its bottomline. The unions do not allege thatNorwegian is breaking any U.S. or EU laws.
Norwegian has responded to such complaints noting that itis in compliance with the U.S. Europe open skies agreement, and that the objectionsof U.S. labor groups are not legitimate reasons for the U.S. to block theairlines license.
If public interest is the major concern, then Norwegiansays it is clearly serving the publics best interest as indicated by havingalready provided over 100,000 passengers with industry leading cheap airplanetickets, as well as a high quality travel experience between the United Statesand Europe.
The airline has recruited 170 cabin crew members in NewYork and Fort Lauderdale and expects to soon open crew bases for them in thesecities. The company is openlyencouraging American pilots to come work for it.
Given that Ireland is an EU member in good standing, andthat Aer Lingus has been flying to the U.S. since 1958, it appears strange that labor groups wouldcontend that an air carrier regulated by Ireland would somehow be unworthy ofserving the U.S. market. In fact itappears that the future of cheap airplane tickets to and from the United Statesto Europe may well benefit from the launch of Norwegians new Irish airline.
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