Budget airline brings back sub-£400 flights to America

FLIGHTS to America for less than £400 are to return as a Norwegian low-cost airline undercuts the likes of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

Norse Atlantic has launched a series of routes that makes it the biggest operator to the US from London’s Gatwick airport.

The company is backed by, among others, Bjørn Kjos, founder of Norwegian Air.

Norwegian launched with plans to undercut its rivals both within Europe and flights to the US. The airline culled long-haul services to focus on a small number of short-haul routes after collapsing into bankruptcy during the pandemic.

Norse, the brainchild of Bjørn Tore Larsen, a former marine industry executive, acquired Norwegian’s 15 leases for Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets in 2021.

The cabin will be similar to that offered on Norwegian, but Mr Larsen is believed to have secured the leases at a discount. Scepticism remains as to whether Norse will be able to avoid the pitfalls of Norwegian, however. Norse will focus on a low cost-base rather than expansion. It already runs services to New York, Miami and Orlando. But yesterday it announced services to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC and Boston.

Virgin Atlantic has abandoned Gatwick as a base and British Airways is concentrating on running most of its long-haul services from Heathrow.

Return economy fares to Boston will start at £370, undercutting more established rivals, Norse claimed.

The range of sub-£400 fares is deliberately designed to slightly undercut those offered by legacy carriers such as British Airways and American Airlines.

Flights with BA to New York in September start at £406, for example.

Premium economy fares are likely to start at around £750 return, with Norse claiming that customers will enjoy a more luxurious experience compared with BA, Virgin Atlantic, or other US airlines. There will be no business class cabin.

Mr Larsen said: “The Norse team are disruptors. We look forward to making our unbeatable product available to even more customers this summer, as we build the industry’s first successful low cost long haul airline.”