Norse Atlantic Airways' network woes continue – and not just in winter. It has now cut summer-seasonal London Gatwick to Boston and Washington Dulles. While no surprise given both were at what seemed to be full fare for a while, it is still a major change. In response, it has doubled Gatwick-JFK to twice daily in S23. But due to a lack of slots at good times, this will leave Gatwick at 20:40, arrive in JFK at 23:30, leave at 01:30, and get back at 13:30. A very big ouch. While Gatwick-Los Angeles remains this summer, frequencies have fallen depending on the week. They are now three to six weekly, down from daily. Everyone knows getting slots is one thing and using them is another. Norse has secured Gatwick slots for Las Vegas and Dubai slots for Gatwick. Will be interesting to see what happens. #airlines #aviation #london #uk With thanks to Sean Moulton for the heads up.
James Knutton
7mo
I’m very conflicted, I quite like how they’re identifying problems and trying to correct them, but at the same time, looking from outside in, it’s worrying that it chops and changes so much. I guess this is the issue of joining an overly saturated market
Sean Wismann
7mo
Absolutely no schedule consistency for customers or letting routes and presence mature. I'd certainly think twice before booking.
Patrick Flood
7mo
Dont think they will be around much longer. Low cost long hall does not work very well at all.
Well, well... Perhaps someone was listening when I wrote in my last post on this airline that they should focus at LGW. Double daily LGWJFKvv, even with the second at suboptimal timings, is a lot better than pepper-potting around BOS and IAD. Next item, cancel the random Athens/Berlin stuff, look at LGW-West Coast. Get the right slots, rotate the aircraft properly and you end up with superb utilisation thanks to the different sector lengths. Yields will be lower but cargo can help. I wonder what the future holds: at present Norse is an airline seemingly being run by the network planning department - an indispensable and absolutely critical function in any airline, but people with experience know planners shouldn't be allowed out alone ! (My network planning friends will forgive this characterisation, I know !) Calm, consistent schedule design, early publication and proper distribution is the only way to go with 787s - it's a whole different world to narrow bodies..