Norwegian Airlines

You may find this of interest

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/norwegian-air-too-risky

They have won many awards, they are very dependable from flights within Europe, which seems to be the flights that you would be most interested in since they don't fly direct from the USA to Eastern Europe.

When they expanded to transatlantic flights they started having financial problems, so you will probably hear something from naysayers on the forum as they've eliminated a lot of routes recently from the USA.

Many friends and i love Norwegian and fly them regularly from Oakland to Europe. Great airline.
Yep, you’ll get lots of responses from the glass half empty group.

My favorite airline!

4 years now we have flown nonstop Orlando to Gatwick or Oslo. On time and comfortable seats. But bring your own food and water. Norwegian gives you nothing for free. We have also flown with Norwegian within Europe and found them much better than Easyjet or Ryanair.
Already booked for next summer.
I just hope they don’t go bankrupt!

Thanks for all the replies, and for the link to a discussion about he airlines. Much appreciated. Will consider the options available.

I have tickets on them the end of May to Madrid. I do have a Plan B if there are any problems with Norwegian, however.
They are the #3 largest budget air carrier in Europe, and they have a huge fleet of Boeing 787's. They might be a merger with other more stable airlines in the worst scenario.
We really need those budget European carriers to come into Europe. It keeps the big legacy air carriers "honest", and the airfares down. I have seen Delta dropping fares to some U.S. cities where Norwegian comes into and cities where they compete with Jet Blue, Allegiant, Frontier and even Southwest.

We flew Norwegian LAX to Paris (deGaulle) last November. You can't beat the fare, but as it is truly a budget airline, you need to take that into account.
Pros:
--Very competitive fare.
--Great planes (787 Dreamliner is an awesome aircraft) with comfortable seats, even in basic economy.
--Reasonably priced snacks and drinks, though they tend to run out of "supplies" later in a long flight.
--Friendly flight attendants.
--Ability to bid on upgrades at less than the established fare.

Cons:
--Strict carryon luggage limits. (Selective enforcement depending on personnel) My wife and I shared and paid for one checked bag and made sure our carry-ons were within size and weight restrictions to avoid checking and additional fees.
--Overpriced "meals", $45 for a small serving, though the food was tasty.
--No WiFi on US-Europe flights, though I understand that this is coming.
--Mediocre in-flight entertainment.

Granted, this is from one experience, so frequent Norwegian passengers probably have different takes. My advice is to pack light and strategically, bring your own food and in-flight needs (though the snacks are pretty reasonable compared to meal service) and be patient in the boarding process, which tends to be a tad disorganized, probably due to the size of the Dreamliner. All in all, it's worth it for the price of the fare.

The best aspect of these budget international carriers is that they're forcing the legacy airlines to compete, which is always a good thing for the flying public. I don't know if I'd like to fly internationally in a 737 Max, but that 787 was really nice.

Plenty of people fly Norwegian and arrive on time (I've done it myself), but when you look at the numbers they are the 2nd least punctual European airline. And yes, they are much better than Easyjet or Ryanair, but that doesn't say much to be honest. It's a bit like asking for restaurants reviews and get the answer that the food is much better than at McDonald's…

They have been in financial trouble, and IAG announced a few days ago that they are selling their shares in Norwegian. I don't know what that means, but I would check my travel insurance before buying a Norwegian tickets far ahead, just in case. And check what a ticket with a flag carrier costs, sometimes the price is roughly the same.

They just raised 3B NOK ($353 million US) via a rights issue.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-29/norwegian-air-to-raise-353-million-after-iag-drops-offer

The article states that going forward their emphasis will be on profitability rather than growth. Time will tell if the profit comes from cost reductions or higher fares and fees or a combination of both.

So is this the 'cure' or just another band-aid?

Dang-- where is a good crystal ball when you really need it!?