Norse Atlantic Airways takes first 787-9

Norse Atlantic Airways (Oslo Gardermoen) took delivery of its first B787-9 ahead of its revised April 2022 debut, three months later than originally planned.

OE-LNY (msn 63346), a 2.5-year-old jet formerly operated by Norwegian Air Sweden, is owned by BOC Aviation and was ferried on December 20, 2021, from Warsaw Chopin to Oslo Gardermoen. It will become LN-FNB once registered in Norway. Norse Atlantic Airways underlined that it had secured it on “attractive” terms and that initially, the aircraft would be leased on a power-by-the-hour basis, allowing it to minimise overhead costs during the early stage of operations.

Norse Atlantic Airways plans to gradually take another eleven B787-9s and three B787-8s through April 2022. All of the aircraft will initially be based out of Oslo. The start-up plans to operate as a point-to-point low-cost carrier, at first focusing on serving the United States from Oslo. It had aimed to launch this month but deferred those plans due to renewed travel restrictions brought on by the COVID Omicron variant.

“We believe that transatlantic travel will resume with full force once the pandemic is behind us. People will want to explore new destinations, visit friends and family and travel for business. Norse will be there to offer attractive and affordable flights on our more environmentally friendly Dreamliners to both the leisure and cost-conscious business traveller,” Chief Executive and Founder Bjørn Tore Larsen said.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows all fifteen of Norse Atlantic Airways’ launch aircraft will be ex-Norwegian Group stock. SIx (all -9s) will be leased from BOC Aviation and the remaining nine (including all three -8s) from AerCap.

The start-up has yet to complete its certification in Norway but is simultaneously progressing with its UK licencing for its proposed transatlantic services out of London Stansted.