A Norwegian direct airline service to Los Angeles has revived hopes for a budget long-haul market.
Budget airline Norwegian started the new twice weekly service out of London’s Gatwick Airport on Wednesday.
Over the next two days it will also start flying twice a week from London to Fort Lauderdale and three times a week to New York.
Norwegian made its first foray into long-haul in 2013 with routes from Scandinavia to the US and Thailand.
Norwegian says that some low season flights can be had for as low as £179 ($272) one-way to New York, however only a limited of seats are available at this price.
On Wednesday, Norwegian’s website was offering flights in the height of the holiday season in July and August from £329 to £647.
Labour row
But the service, run from a new company called Norwegian Air International (NAI) in the Republic of Ireland, has been heavily criticised by US airlines and labour unions.
They say NAI is using Ireland because of its more flexible labour laws.
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) said the creation of Norwegian Air International “was clearly designed to attempt to dodge laws and regulations, starting a race to the bottom on labour and working conditions”.
Among their complaints is NAI’s use of pilots and crews from Asia to drive down costs.
Norwegian says that it always respects the regulations of the markets in which it operates and says it is hiring 300 American cabin crew and New York-based pilots for its 787 Dreamliner operation.
It said in a statement that NAI was based in Ireland to “access to future traffic rights to and from the EU (Norway is not a member of the EU)”, and because being registered in Ireland gave it access to more flexible rules on financing.
Consequences
Norwegian has planned its long-haul business round fuel-efficient aircraft. It has a fleet of 787 Dreamliners with four more due for delivery before the end of 2014.
If the Norwegian long-haul budget model works it could have far reaching consequences for the development of travel and how airports are used.
The new generation of fuel efficient aircraft could mean more passengers flying “point-to-point” rather than via large hub airports such as Heathrow, Schiphol or Charles de Gaulle.