Norwegian announces plans for low-cost direct flights from Cork to Boston, New York and Barcelona

    

Cork to Boston services planned for May 2016 and Cork to New York planned for 2017
Norwegian, Europe’s third largest low-cost airline, has today announced plans to launch new direct low-cost transatlantic services from Cork to Boston and New York – the new routes will be the only transatlantic flights to operate from Cork Airport. A new Cork to Barcelona route will also be launched.
The new routes will be operated under Norwegian’s Irish subsidiary Norwegian Air International Ltd (NAI) and form part of the airline’s plans for continued expansion in the UK and Ireland.
Norwegian already offers the UK’s only low-cost long-haul flights from Gatwick to New York, LA, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Boston with prices from just £149. With a series of new generation Boeing 737 aircraft on order, Norwegian is now planning additional long-haul services from Cork Airport. The new short and long-haul routes announced today include:

• A Cork to Boston service planned for May 2016 with 4-5 flights per week
• A Cork to New York service planned for 2017
• A Cork to Barcelona service planned from May 2016 with 4-5 flights per week

Plans for the new routes were today confirmed in a letter from Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos to Ireland’s Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe.
Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos said: “Norwegian is leading the way in offering affordable transatlantic travel and with the new generation aircraft we have on order, we now have exciting plans to offer low-cost flights from Cork to Boston in 2016 and Cork to New York in 2017.
“We are delighted to offer a long-awaited service from the U.S. to Cork and the southern parts of Ireland which will create huge business, leisure and tourism opportunities. Our new Cork to Barcelona route is also an exciting addition to our growing network.
"This is only the beginning of our plans for new routes in Ireland but our expansion relies on the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) finally approving Norwegian Air International’s application for a foreign carrier permit. Only DoT approval for NAI will unlock the door for these exciting new routes, creating more competition, more choice and better fares for business and leisure passengers on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Cork Airport Managing Director Niall MacCarthy said: “We’re delighted that Norwegian will operate Cork Airport’s first transatlantic service. Cork Airport has a robust hinterland with a well-developed industrial base and a fantastic tourism product. We’re sure there will be strong demand for these new transatlantic services from both business and leisure passengers. We look forward to working closely with Norwegian and our local partners to promote these new services and to grow passenger traffic at Cork.”
The new long-haul routes from Cork to Boston and New York will be serviced by B737-800 aircraft and the new B737MAX for which Norwegian Air International will be Boeings European launch customer.

Norwegian Air keeps growing

Norwegian is voted Europe’s Leading Low-Cost Airline 2015 by the World Travel Awards

Norwegian was yesterday (Saturday, 5th September) named Europe’s Leading Low-Cost Airline 2015 by the renowned World Travel Awards, one of the travel industry's most prestigious awards.

This is the seventh prestigious title awarded to Norwegian over the last 12 months, and follows the recent Skytrax Awards for ‘Europe’s Best Low Cost Airline’, and ‘World’s Best Low Cost, Long Haul Airline’.

The World Travel Awards are leaders in the travel sector, with over 650,000 individual votes cast by travel professionals and consumers.

Bjorn Kjos, Norwegian’s CEO, said: "This accolade is an important endorsement not only to Norwegian as an airline, but to the work of thousands of dedicated employees across our organization.

"Their commitment to passenger welfare is unmatched and together with new aircraft, low fares and free Wi-Fi represents what sets Norwegian apart from our competitors. We would like to thank the thousands of customers that have cast their vote for Norwegian."

Norwegian faced competition in the category from renowned international companies such as Aer Lingus, Air Berlin, easyJet, Monarch, Ryanair and Vueling.

Graham Cooke, World Travel Awards President, said: "It is a great honour to present the trophy for Europe’s Leading Low-Cost Airline to Norwegian for the first time.

"Europe is a global leader in low-cost air travel, with some incredibly strong brands making it one of the most competitive markets anywhere on earth. To triumph here is a great credit to the work Norwegian is doing and World Travel Awards wishes them every success in their future endeavors."

Seven awards over the last year

The Europe’s Leading Low-Cost Airline 2015 award is the seventh honour awarded to Norwegian over the last twelve months: three Apex Passenger Choice awards (Best in Region: Europe, Best in Inflight Connectivity & Communications, and Best Single Achievement in Passenger Experience) two Sky Trax World Airline awards (World's best low cost, long haul airline and Europe’s Best Low-Cost Airline –this one for the third year in a row), one AirlineRatings.com award (Best European low-cost airline), and today’s trophy.

Alfons Claver, Norwegian’s Institutional Relations Manager in Spain, accepted the award yesterday at the Grand Tour of World Travel Awards Gala ceremony at the Forte Village resort of Sardinia (Italy).

About World Travel Awards

World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today, the World Travel Awards brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. In 2015, World Travel Awards will celebrate its historic 22nd anniversary year.

The annual programme is renowned as the most prestigious and comprehensive in the travel and tourism industry. In 2014, over 650,000 individual votes were cast by travel professionals and high-end tourism consumers.

Each year World Travel Awards covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective successes within each key geographical region.

The Grand Tour of World Travel Awards Gala Ceremonies are regarded as milestone events in the industry calendar, attended by the industry’s key decision makers, chief figure heads and the leading trade and consumer media.

Norwegian Air to send emergency supplies to the refugees in Greece

Norwegian pilot ships aid to refugees

Thanks to the immense engagement from pilot Wenche Drevland, Norwegian will fly emergency aid to refugees in Greece. “We are so grateful that Norwegian decided to help,” says Drevland.

Wenche Drevland is a pilot at Norwegian’s OSL base, and after seeing and hearing a lot about the refugee disaster around the Mediterranean, she decided to do something about it.

“My sister Trude Jacobsen started the Facebook group ‘A drop in the ocean’ (Dråpen i havet) to collect clothes and other necessities to help refugees in Greece. The group has received tremendous support, and needed help to ship all the donations. What my sister saw in Greece and the admirable work she is doing really inspired me to take action,” says Drevland.

Norwegian donates cargo spaceAs a pilot, Drevland decided to get in touch with her colleagues at Norwegian.

“The situation for refugees in Greece is acute and I wanted to help. I made some phone calls to my colleagues at Norwegian, and today they finally said yes to ship clothes, shoes, trolleys and other emergency aid to Athens. We are incredibly grateful,” says Drevland.

Making a differenceFrom Athens the sisters will have the cargo shipped to different places in Greece. One of those places is Lesvos, where a lot of the refugees come ashore after fleeing from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries.

“No help is given to the refugees when they come ashore and when they finally get to the refugee camps, they are overcrowded. With help from Norwegian we can maybe make their lives a little bit easier,” says Drevland.

When Red Nose spoke to Drevland, she was in the basement of Norwegian’s headquarters at Fornebu, packing trolleys.

“When the refugees get to Lesvos, wet and exhausted, they have to walk 70 kilometres to register as a refugee. These trolleys have been left behind by passengers and collected by Norwegian’s crew. Now we are flying them to Greece to

mothers and children who really need them, hoping the trolleys will make their long walk a little easier. Norwegian will have a big part in making that happen and really help make a difference,” says Drevland.

Would you like to help too? Norwegian has a partnership with UNICEF, which works hard to minimize the impact of the crisis on children. Click here if you would like to donate to UNICEF.

New Ryanair uniform, not that new!

Recently Ryanair has launched its new uniform along with new routes. But there is only on little details on the official pictures published. Apparently the new uniform lot is not including flight attendants cabin bag.

Check out that some cabin bags appear to be wheel less.

After all, it seems that a few things will never change!