Aiming to boost revenue, Norwegian Air will shift London
flights from Fort Lauderdale to Miami and from Oakland to San Francisco on
March 31.
With the shift, Norwegian will have a presence at 17 U.S.
airports.
In an interview, airline spokesman Anders Lindstrom said
Norwegian is shifting to San Francisco and Miami because they are higher-yielding
markets for business travel and cargo. In addition, flights from London to
Miami and San Francisco show up more broadly on OTAs and metasearch engines,
Lindstrom said.
Norwegian currently flies Fort Lauderdale-London Gatwick
three times per week and Oakland-Gatwick six times per week. The carrier will
continue flying its five other routes between Fort Lauderdale and Europe (Paris,
Oslo, Barcelona, Copenhagen and Stockholm) and its six other routes between
Oakland and Europe (Paris, Oslo, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Rome).
Earlier this year, the airline started using new Boeing
787-900 Dreamliners on the Fort Lauderdale-Gatwick and Oakland-Gatwick routes.
Those aircraft are configured with 56 of Norwegian's roomier and higher-priced
Premium Cabin seats. The older 787-900s had just 35 Premium seats.
Flying the new Dreamliners from Miami and San Francisco will
better position Norwegian to capture London's business travelers, Lindstrom
said.
Also on March 31, Norwegian will launch service between
Boston and Rome, flying four times per week. Thrice-weekly Boston-Madrid
flights launch May 2. According to the website Flight Connections, Norwegian
will compete against Alitalia on the Rome route and Iberia on the Madrid route.
"Boston is such an overpriced market for transatlantic
flights," Lindstrom said. "We will come in and pretty much halve the
average flight on average."
Norwegian currently flies to Paris and London from Boston.