Following their livery reveal last week, Norse Atlantic yesterday offered us a sneak peek of their first 787, wearing its new colours.
There is some anticipation for this airline among travellers. Norse Atlantic plans to continue the low-cost long-haul flights that Norwegian started, using 787 aircraft. Except Norse is making these their ‘bread and butter’ flights, having no plans to acquire short/medium-haul aircraft at all. And this, according to Norse’s management, means that they’re not repeating Norwegian’s long-haul errors.
Also, the company won’t have to worry about delays in getting its aircraft. Their jets are coming from lessors, not Boeing, who aren’t delivering any Dreamliners at this time. The first 787 in the Norse Atlantic fleet belongs to AerCap. The airline expects to have a total of fifteen aircraft by next summer season. Most of them will come from AerCap, with the rest belonging to BOC.
With Norse Atlantic having a direct connection to Norwegian Air Shuttle, it’s not surprising that so does this first 787. The aircraft is a Boeing 787-9, line number 581. The jet is just over 4 years old, and its previous operator was… you guessed it, Norwegian. Originally, it had a British registration (G-CJUL), until its transfer to Norwegian Long-Haul, in Norway.
The plane then got registration LN-LNO, which it still has now. Norse Atlantic named its first 787 “Raet”, a national park in Norway. All of Norwegian’s aircraft had a person on their tail fin, whose name they carried. LN-LNO was named after Roald Dahl, a British novelist, screenwriter and WWII fighter pilot.
The First Of Many Ex-Norwegian 787 Dreamliners For Norse Atlantic
Interestingly, it’s not just the first Norse Atlantic 787 that will come from Norwegian. ALL of them will. But while some had Norwegian, or British, Swedish or Irish registrations, they will all have Norwegian registrations under Norse Atlantic. The airline is keen to emphasize that they will be exclusively Norwegian.
This is because Norwegian Air Shuttle drew some criticism about its organization. Some felt that they based much of their operations outside the country, for reasons to do with employment regulations. So the first and all other Norse Atlantic 787 aircraft will have Norwegian registrations (LN-xxx). This matter also came up when some raised objections to the new company, in the United States.
Norse has since confirmed that they will have crew bases in the US, “where it makes sense”. The airline was quick to work with US unions, announcing plans to hire 700 cabin crew in the country. We have not heard of any objections to the new airline from official sources since. But first, we need to see Norse Atlantic secure licenses and slots, for its 787 fleet.
The airline still isn’t sure exactly when they will launch operations. Bjørn Tore Larsen, the Norse CEO, has said that they would be ready to get going at the end of this year. But COVID-19 variants still interfering with recovery, Norse is now targeting their launch for late Q1 or early Q2 in 2022. They claim to have adequate funding in place, to wait until that time.
