On Friday, Norwegian, Europe’s #3 low-cost-carrier, announced increased frequency to Europe from major U.S. gateways such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Finnair also announces a new codeshare agreement with Fiji Airways, adding new South Pacific destinations.
Next summer, passengers will have more options on Norwegian, with increased frequency to popular European destinations. The low-cost long-haul carrier announced in a press release today that they will be increasing service from Los Angeles to Paris to 10 weekly flights and New York to Paris nine times weekly. Also, the San Francisco to London route will increase to a daily frequency. Additionally, service will be increased from Los Angeles to Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, San Francisco-Barcelona, Austin-London, Denver-London and Boston-Paris. In the announcement, Norwegian’s Senior Vice President-Commercial, Matthew Wood stated,
“The United States is Norwegian’s key market for long-haul routes and is now the largest market by revenue within our entire network. Our nonstop routes to Paris, London and Barcelona have been in very high demand by American and European travelers alike, and we continue to bolster capacity to meet the demand. Paris, in particular, has seen rapid growth in recent years, now served by seven U.S. gateways and we see potential for more. With this expansion, we anticipate a very successful summer 2020.”
According to Norwegian, statistics from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey now show that they are the largest foreign airline, in terms of passenger numbers, to serve New York City. During the last week of October, Norwegian will be consolidating all of their greater New York City area service to JFK, with their Barcelona and Rome routes migrating from Newark-Liberty (EWR) to JFK starting October 27th. Norwegian also carries more passengers to Europe from the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, than any other foreign airline.
Finnair/Fiji Airways
On Friday, Finnair announced a new codeshare agreement with Fiji Airways, which will extend their network reach into exotic South Pacific destinations. The Finnair Press Release states that the new codeshare partnership will be between Helsinki (HEL) and Nadi (NAN) in Fiji and that their “AY code” will be added to Fiji Airways’ flights between Hong Kong (HKG), Singapore (SIN) and Tokyo-Narita (NRT) and Nadi. Later, pending government approvals, Finnair’s flight numbers will be added to Fiji Airways flights from San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX) and Nadi, allowing Finnair customers to travel around-the-world with Finnair. Flights can be booked now, for travel beginning October 27, 2019. In the announcement, Finnair’s Chief Commercial Officer, Ole Orvér stated,
“We are excited about this cooperation with Fiji Airways and are delighted to offer this wonderful new destination in the South Pacific to our customers. This cooperation is unique as it will allow Finnair customers to purchase around-the-world routings under Finnair’s code for the first time, using a combination of gateways in Asia and on the US West Coast. We would like to warmly welcome Fiji Airways’ customers to enjoy the wonders of Finland and the Nordics.”
Regarding the new partnership, Mr. Andre Viljoen, Fiji Airways’ Managing Director and CEO stated,
“We welcome our fellow oneworld partner Finnair in our family of codeshare partners. Through this partnership, we are adding the wonderful city of Helsinki to our network, making Fiji and the entire South Pacific more accessible for Finnair customers. We look forward to working with Finnair and introducing Finnair customers to Fiji, one of the world’s most welcoming and authentic cultures."
Source(s): Norwegian, Finnair