Norse Atlantic Airlines Offers Premium Seats For Low Fares

Forbes

21-04-2025

A Norse Atlantic Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft taxis at Los Angeles International Airport ... More after arriving from Paris on May 5, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by)
Have you heard of Norse Atlantic Airways? Hundreds of thousands of budget travelers to Europe—and to the U.S. from Europe—are becoming familiar with the Norwegian international airline. And judging by the packed premium cabin on my flight from LAX to Rome on April 18, the airline has added large numbers of value-oriented Premium Class flyers are as well.
Norse Atlantic is the latest entry in the low-cost, long-haul sweepstakes. From Laker to Tower Air to Norwegian Airlines, many contenders have tried to make the model work. Beloved Norwegian now competes only in Europe using Boeing 737s; its once globe-spanning Dreamliners are long gone.
Still, the power of price appears to be driving Norse numbers.
For example, my wife and I recently flew Norse Atlantic from LAX to Rome non-stop on April 18. We return from Paris to LAX on Norse May 9, also non-stop. Cost of the two one-way premium tickets was just under $1500 for each of us, or about $3000 for both. We were each allowed a personal item, one carry-on up to 33 lbs., and 2 standard pieces of luggage up to 50 lbs. We also got two meals, included wine an Ud beer and nice big wide premium leather seats with a 43-inch seat pitch for stretch-out comfort and lots of legroom.
Is Norse on to something by offering premium seating for less? After all, giant competitor United just announced a 9.2% increase in premium cabin revenue, including 7.6% growth in premium economy.
View into the Premium seating section of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner of the airline Norse Atlantic ... More Airways. The airline Norse Atlantic Airways launches its first flight from BER Airport to New York (JFK) on August 17. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images)
What are comparable costs on other airlines? A recent Expedia search found a Norse LAX-Rome nonstop with Premium Flexstra seating. It departed LAX on May 3 and returned from Rome on May 13. Total round trip price was$1575 per passenger.
The only other airline offering non-stop flights from Los Angeles to Rome (a 12-hour, 6640-mile jaunt) was ITA. An ITA LAX-Rome-LAX premium economy Full Flex roundtrip ticket was a staggering $6,972.81 p for one traveler. A less-flexible premium economy ticket was $3,167.91 roundtrip.
Before doing the May LAX-Rome-LAX search, I tried several round-trip comparisons in June. Premium seating on Norse was already sold out on the dates I tried. Comparisons with other airlines offering one-stop flights on the LAX-Rome route also showed higher prices along with longer travel times of 16 hours or more.
Unlike LAX to Rome non-stop or the upcoming LAX to Athens, Paris to LAX is a fairly popular non-stop route. For our May 9 return date, we found premium seating for $715 on Norse, versus premium economy seating on Air Tahiti Nui for $1,586, on Delta for $3,510, Virgin Atlantic $3,510, and Air France $3,537.
The tickets we bought were slightly more expensive Norse Premium Flexstra seat, the most expensive option. Norse offers Premium Light, Premium Classic and Premium Flexstra, which includes seat selection (we got a window and aisle next to one another) premium boarding, and priority check in. Most important, these seats were both changeable and refundable. This came in handy when our plans changed and we flew on different dates.
Norse currently flies from Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, and Miam to Oslo, London, Paris, Berlin and Rome. A non-stop from Los Angeles to Athens is starting in June. Cape Town and Bangkok are destinations reachable from Europe.
View into the economy class seating of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner of the airline Norse Atlantic ... More Airways. Norse Atlantic Airways launches its first flight from BER Airport to New York (JFK) on August 17, 2022. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images)
In March, Norse Atlantic Airways says it recorded a load factor of 95%, meaning that its fleet of 15 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners took off with just a tiny handful of empty seats. The airline says this equals its highest load factor ever achieved. The gain represents a 13% increase from 82% in the same month the year previous. Norse operated 374 flights and transported 108,710 passengers in March. Some 73% of flights departed within 15 minutes of their scheduled time.
Will Norse Atlantic be able to sustain this, along with the pricing? As Simple Flying recently put it, 'As always, loads only tell one part of the story, and lower revenue per passenger is probably the main reason for the increase' in passenger loads. As the publication notes, since the airline's debut in June 2022, it has cut 12 US routes and stopped flying to five US airports.
On the other hand, until recently Norse Atlantic had not shown up on Expedia. Originally dreaming of business class seats, my wife did our original price comparisons on Skyscanner. Others who are doing the same are attracted by Norse Atlantic's low price.
And with the summer season approaching and U.S. airlines in a slump, (a recent rating of the top 25 world airlines did not include a single American carrier) the time is ripe for a low cost contender.
Some people are already well aware of Norse Atlantic, despite the company's somewhat mysterious profile. Numerous queries to the company's public relations group went unanswered. On-board, the 'About Us' section of the passenger video screen that delivered movies, TV shows, and flight information was blank.
Still, the passenger in front of us in the Premium section was apparently a Norse frequent flyer. We heard her loudly declare, 'I would never fly any other airline, unless I got rich.'
Our Premium seats were extremely comfortable and had adjustable foot/leg rests, making it easy for most passengers to sleep for hours. The 43' pitch seats also have plenty of legroom.
Although it's clearly a leisure, rather than a business, airline, I found it much easier to work than in economy class. Just put a laptop on your hide-away tray table or on your leg and type away. You can watch a movie on the fold-out video screen, or use your device to play a game , or do anything that doesn't require Wi-Fi.
17 August 2022, Brandenburg, Schönefeld: Björn Tore Larsen, CEO of Norse Atlantic Airways, sits in ... More the cockpit of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner ahead of the inaugural flight from the capital's BER Airport to New York (JFK). (Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images)
My laptop's wireless detected no network connection. Unless I missed something, flyers will be taking an involuntary 12-hour vacation from internet connection, streaming and social media.
Still, as a 787 Dreamliner, the two-aisle aircraft is roomer, the overhead compartments are larger, and the food and beverage selection greater than that on single-aisle, narrow-body jets. Above all the bathrooms are much bigger than on wash-one-hand at a time 737MAX aircraft.
Our take-off was delayed for about 15 minutes for an unspecified issue, but despite a little turbulence, the flight was smooth and fast. It occasionally hit over 600 mph. On bord, the Norse flight attendants were pleasant and service was frequent. I wouldn't call the food choices—chicken or beef—particularly inspired, but they were edible, although served in Styrofoam containers.
Similarly, the movie and tv selection weren't the freshest. I love Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, Eugne Levy and the late Fred Willard in Best in Show, but the movie is now 25 years old.
I did take the chance to catch up on WESTWORLD. No, not the abruptly cancelled HBO series but the original 1973 movie with Richard Benjamin, James Brolin and Yul Brynner as the implacable black-clad cowboy killer robot.
Will offering premium as well as economy seats at a low price make or break Norse Aviation this summer? If they can continue to deliver the value that both upscale and budget travelers seek at a reasonable cost, they have a shot at making the low-cost, long-haul model actually work.
Norse Atlantic Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner taking off from Oslo Airport, Gardermoen