Is Starting a New Airline During a Pandemic the Best Idea?

Perhaps starting an airline in the midst of a pandemic would make some folks pause and reconsider their decision.

Yet here we are, two-and-a-half years later, and new carriers have burst on the scene. Among others, Breeze Airways – founded by JetBlue founder David Neeleman – Avelo Airlines and Aha! all started in the U.S. in 2021.

PLAY, a new budget carrier, began transatlantic flights from three U.S. airports earlier this year to Reykjavik, Iceland, and then offering service from there to 22 European destinations.

Now new Norwegian entry Norse Atlantic Airlines is set to launch on June 14, and despite the lingering effects of COVID-19 and an apparently crowded playing field, CEO Bjorn Tore Larsen is not looking back.

“It’s actually a very good time to launch an airline,” Larsen told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). “There is a huge pent-up demand. People haven’t been able to travel for two years or more, particularly between continents.”

Like PLAY, Norse Atlantic Airways will run routes between North American airports such as John F. Kennedy International in New York and European destinations, including London-Gatwick.

Larsen has been buoyed by the success of other start-ups and by the burgeoning air travel boom that aviation officials hope will extend beyond the summer travel season. The CEO said there are advantages to being the new kid on the block.

“We don’t have any legacy systems. We are able to start off this airline in exactly the way we would like to,” he said. “When the stars aligned last year, I viewed it as a once-in-a-lifetime market opportunity. … We have the flexibility to enter the market cautiously and in line with demand, which is exactly what we will do.”