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Bankrupt Discount Transatlantic Airline Updates

Posted by (Southeast US) on

Norwegian Air Shuttle

  • Former CFO Geir Karlsen, who always seemed to be the most competent person in the room during Norwegian's quarterly presentations, is now CEO
  • Long-haul (transatlantic flights) and the B787's are gone
  • Plans to have 250 (European) routes to 100+ destinations by summer 2022
  • Was able to hold onto its London Gatwick slots
  • $7.5 billion in cash on hand [great for Norwegian]; cash burn improving -- expects to be cash neutral Q3 [really, really great for Norwegian]
  • July load factor 74%
  • Prepandemic, Norwegian and Jet Blue had announced an intention to enter a partnership to allow connecting flights between the two purchased on a single ticket; I assume that is dead -- no mention of it and no one asked about it during the Q2 presentation
  • For airline geeks, the 2021 Q2/First Half Presentation

Norse Atlantic Airways

  • Okay, okay... not bankrupt... but this not-yet-flying startup airline was created by the three Bjørns, including Bjørn Kjos, the founder of Norwegian Air Shuttle whose aggressive transatlantic discount carrier plan pushed Norwegian to the verge of insolvency a couple of times per year.
  • Norse Atlantic is kind of like the pre-pandemic Norwegian minus the profitable domestic Nordic and intra-Europe operations to keep the airline afloat
  • Norse Atlantic has filed an application for a Foreign Air Travel Permit with the US Dept of Transportation; it's fun reading how the new airline sales itself to DOT
  • The juicy part of the DOT filing is the initial routes planned for summer 2022: Oslo-Fort Lauderdale, Oslo-New York Stewart International, Oslo-Los Angeles Ontario; so the plan seems to be transatlantic flights to secondary airports, at least to start

WOW Air

  • The name and assets of insolvent WOW Air were purchased in 2019 by an investor group whose most prominent investor is Michele Ballarin AKA Michelle Lyn Golden AKA Michele Roosevelt Edwards (you should probably suspect that this is not going to end well on the basis of the number of aliases alone)
  • No flights yet but has trade-marked the phrases WOW world™ and Honest Fares™
  • The description of Honest Fares Honest Fares™ on the WOW website seems more like satire than a genuine airline product
  • Oh yeah, Michele Ballarin apparently faked owning a $30 million mansion for an Iceland interview (the true owner denies knowing Ms Ballarin and wonders how she got into the place to do an interview there) and apparently is an election conspiracy theororist

Play

Posted by
11159 posts

Oslo-New York Stewart International,

I never would have guessed there was so much demand in Poughkeepsie to go to Oslo ( or is it the other direction?)

Just what travelers are clamoring for -- having to spend 3 hrs to get to another airport to continue their journey.

Posted by
14948 posts

There isn't a demand for Stewart or Ontario. These secondary airports charge a lot less than the main airports. This way the discount airlines can charge less. It's similar to the way Ryanair operates in many European markets.

It's all psychological. Let's say the discount airline charges you $200 round trip from Oslo to New York. Well, it's actually Stewart airport so you have to pay for transportation from the airport to NYC. (And of course, they'll supply the buses for an extra fee.) Then the extras will start--baggage charges, food charges, etc. etc. etc. You might wind up paying upwards of $500 round trip when it is all said and done.

But when asked, you will say you only paid $200 for your ticket.

Posted by
818 posts

Yet those of us who live upstate LOVE flying out of a closer airport, and we don't have to schlep to JFK, so we ultimately save $$$.

Posted by
9550 posts

The name and assets of insolvent WOW Air were purchased in 2019 by an investor group whose most prominent investor is Michele Ballarin AKA Michelle Lyn Golden AKA Michele Roosevelt Edwards (you should probably suspect that this is not going to end well on the basis of the number of aliases alone)

This is the best thing I've read on the Forum this week

Although this is a close second:

Oh yeah, Michele Ballarin apparently faked owning a $30 million mansion for an Iceland interview (the true owner denies knowing Ms Ballarin and wonders how she got into the place to do an interview there) and apparently is an election conspiracy theororist

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