Nosedive for budget US flights after airline halts second route

0 Norwegian launched three routes from Edinburgh to the north-eastern United States last June Norwegian Air’s attempt to bring budget US flights to Scotland has hit another major setback with a second of its three routes from Edinburgh being halted.

The airline, which offered return fares from £203, will drop Providence, Rhode Island in October after axing Bradley in Connecticut last month.

Its remaining transatlantic route from Edinburgh, to Stewart, 60 miles north of New York City, was also reduced from daily to four flights a week from March.

The Providence flights were cut from five to three a week.

Norwegian, which competes with three other airlines flying between the capital and New York, initially blamed lack of demand for the latest cutback.

It later attributed the move to the Scottish Government shelving a planned halving of air passenger duty (APD) which the previous route axe was blamed on.

However, Norwegian is also suspending Providence flights from Cork and Shannon in Ireland, where APD is not charged. It said the drop in demand was no lower on the Edinburgh route than the Irish ones.

Scottishministershadhoped to cut APD by 50 per cent this month, reducing the charge per passenger on flights to the US from £75 to around £37.50.

However, they postponed the move because of the need to win EU approval for continued APD exemption for Inverness.

Aviation analyst John Strickland said: “APD will have contributed to the decision, but a number of new, smaller, secondary markets have yet to prove themselves.

“Traffic is likely to be more price sensitive on some of these routes, but pronounced seasonality is also a challenge, regardless of price levels “

Norwegian initially said: “Following a comprehensive review of our services, we have decided to suspend flights from Edinburgh, Cork and Shannon to Providence during the quieter winter period due to lower demand.”

However, it said later: “Flights from Scotland continue to bear the full brunt of the UK’S APD which has demonstrably been dampening demand, particularly in the quieter winter months.

“We still see potential at Edinburgh. We will continue to assess our transatlantic route performance as we confirm the route schedule for summer 2019.”

A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: “We shouldn’t be surprised at the lower demand on these services when Scotland’s aviation taxation is amongst the highest in the world.”