Article from BTNews 19 DECEMBER 2016
Norwegian eyes Scots base
Two new operational pilot and cabin-crew bases in Europe, including one in Edinburgh, and two in the US are being planned by Norwegian to support its long-haul transatlantic network. It follows approval by US authorities of a foreign-carrier permit for the carrier’s Norwegian Air International business (BTN 5 December).
Norwegian announced in October it would open its first US pilot base at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida but the airline will now bring in a second and third next year at as-yet unannounced locations.
On the European side, according to industry reports, a new 737MAX base is expected to be established at Edinburgh Airport, which may also see the introduction of 787 Dreamliner operations,
Elsewhere, Riga International Airport in Latvia is likely to become home to a 737-800 operation which will also support the strong origin and destination (O&D) flows already in place in and out of the US market.
Both bases are due to open officially late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter of next year.
Norwegian will become the European launch customer of the new Boeing 737-MAX in mid-2017 and plans to use it on transatlantic flights between Europe and the north-east US and open up routes and destinations currently not served from the US.
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