Norwegian Air will transform 10 U.S. routes from year-round
to summer seasonal as the money-losing discount carrier continues to
restructure its network.
"After a thorough review of our long-haul network and
given that some U.S. markets are highly seasonal, it is a natural step to focus
our operations this winter on counter seasonal routes that are more profitable,
such as Asia, and also looking into growing our South America network," said
Matthew Robert Wood, Norwegian's senior vice president of commercial long-haul
and new markets.
The 10 routes will go seasonal beginning with the end of
this summer flying season in October. They are Boston-Paris, Chicago O'Hare-London
Gatwick, Denver-Gatwick, Fort Lauderdale-Copenhagen, Los Angeles-Copenhagen,
Los Angeles-Oslo, Los Angeles-Rome, New York JFK-Copenhagen, JFK-Stockholm and
Orlando-Oslo.
Norwegian's decision to go seasonal on those routes follows
its cessation of winter routes between Los Angeles and Gatwick and Orlando and
Stockholm this spring.
The airline lost $171.5 million in the first quarter.
Despite the cuts, Norwegian continues to operate close to 50
nonstop transatlantic routes. This summer, the carrier is operating 188 weekly
flights between the U.S. and Europe, up from163 last summer. Next winter,
Norwegian is scheduled to operate 113 weekly flights from the U.S. to Europe,
down from 150 last winter and 119 two winters ago.
Also, Norwegian will move two Oakland routes to San
Francisco. The carrier's Bay Area flights to Barcelona will shift to San
Francisco on Oct. 28. Bay area service to Paris shifts to San Francisco on Oct.
30.