Norway’s Norse Atlantic Airways to lease nine AerCap B787s

Low-cost long-haul start-up Norse Atlantic Airways has signed up to lease six B787-9s and three B787-8s from Dublin-based lessor AerCap, the two companies said in separate statements on March 30. All nine Boeing aircraft are scheduled to begin delivery during 2021 ahead of the airline’s maiden flight, set for December, with the delivery of all aircraft to be completed no later than the end of the first quarter of 2022. With the coronavirus pandemic leaving an abundance of used aircraft on the market, the lease provides the six B787-9s for approximately 12 years and the three -8s for about eight years at “attractive rates and payment terms” Norse said. Established in February and backed by aviation veterans such as Norwegian (DY, Oslo Gardermoen) founder and former chief executive Bjørn Kjos, Norse Atlantic Airways aims to start its services by linking major cities in Europe and the United States. Norwegian has leased B787s from AerCap for several years, and, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, it continues to have one of the lessor’s B787-9s in its fleet despite its withdrawal from long-haul flights. AerCap became a shareholder in Norwegian as a result of the carrier’s crisis. “I certainly do not want to do anything that is detrimental to Norwegian. I would not have participated in this if I did not feel it was a win-win for Norse and Norwegian,” Kjos told the online business newspaper E24 Næringsliv. “I see these companies as a joint venture. If Norwegian does not want and cannot bet on long distance, then it is very good that [Norse CEO] Bjørn Tore [Larsen] and the team do it. This is a win-win for both companies.” However, Norse Atlantic Airways has encountered some resistance in the United States where Peter DeFazio, chairman of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, last week urged the Biden administration to deny it a foreign air carrier permit to enter the US market. He said that the US Department of Transportation had “imprudently issued” in 2016 a permit to Norwegian, which DeFazio argued was incorporated in Ireland to avoid Norway’s sturdy labour protections. In another statement, Norse Atlantic Airways rejected the comparison with the Norwegian, pledging that “the operation will be in line with the agreements that regulate air traffic between Europe and the US.”