Norse Atlantic, JetBlue revive London Gatwick-North Atlantic airline market

Norse Atlantic has launched a daily London Gatwick-New York JFK service. The new-start long haul low cost operator is competing with British Airways and JetBlue on the route, and with British Airways, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines on other London-New York airport pairs.

The start-up’s Gatwick launch was followed in the same week by two US routes from Berlin, after four previous US route launches from its Oslo base.

Norse Atlantic is the North Atlantic’s only all-economy class widebody low cost operator, a niche Norwegian vacated in 2020 when it retrenched around its short haul network after six years of unprofitable long haul operations. Coincidentally, seat capacity between London Gatwick and North America is now the same as it was before Norwegian’s 2014 entry prompted rapid growth.

Following the entry of JetBlue in Sep-2021, Norse Atlantic brings the total number of Gatwick-North America airlines to six, which is two more than in Aug-2014. This signals that this market may be poised for a renewed period of growth.