Direct flights from Fort Lauderdale to Europe resume as new airline, Norse Atlantic, begins service

Direct air service from Fort Lauderdale to Europe was resurrected on Monday as the startup discount carrier Norse Atlantic Airways launched its first flight from South Florida to Oslo, Norway.

The new airline, whose U.S. headquarters is in Fort Lauderdale, says it will start flights to Paris and other European cities from the Broward County airport at a date yet to be determined.

Norse formally launched its service last week out of JFK International Airport in New York and plans to start flights from Orlando International Airport on July 5. The first flight out of Fort Lauderdale, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, lifted off Monday afternoon with a full complement of passengers, the airline said, and was scheduled to land in Oslo, the capital of Norway, at 6:35 a.m. local time Tuesday.

A la carte

Norse is starting one-way, thrice-weekly service for rock bottom fares that are well below $200.

“The combination of affordable transatlantic flights offered by Norse Atlantic Airways and the return of transatlantic service to and from FLL means that passengers now have the ability to explore further for less,” said Norse CEO Bjorn Tore Larsen in a company statement.

While promotional fares from the U.S. are at unheard of levels compared to domestic airlines, most of Norse’s one-way return flights are more expensive, according to the air traveler website The Points Guy.

A June 20 “Economy Light” flight from Fort Lauderdale is listed as $149 for the cheapest available seat, but the return flight from Oslo is $170 on June 24 or $225 on June 26, reported a staff member who rode the airline’s inaugural flight to Oslo from New York.

Economy passengers will have to pay for coffee, meals, and a so-called comfort kit that includes a blanket and headsets.

The airline is operating Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The Norse plane scheduled to leave Fort Lauderdale on Monday arrived in South Florida over the weekend and could be seen parked with its white and blue livery Sunday evening in the northwest corner of the airport.

The planes, according the airline’s website, boast a 56-seat premium seating section with a 2-3-2 layout, and a 288-seat economy section with a 3-3-3 layout.

The premium cabin offers a wider seat than in economy with more than 35% additional legroom, according to the airline’s website. Passengers receive two complimentary meals on all transatlantic flights, as well as “on-demand entertainment, priority boarding and free cabin baggage.”

The airline says passengers may “customize” their flight, choosing from “Light,” Classic” and “Plus” categories that offer various service levels.

The airline will offer economy passengers a chance to buy an upgrade to premium if available.

The outlook

Consumer demand for air travel remains high, according to industry officials, and the U.S. Government’s recent decision to drop a COVID-19 testing requirement for international passengers is expected to further support the trend.

In addition, the expectation that Norse will be serving other European cities will give Broward County tourism promoters a chance to raise the area’s visibility abroad.

“People want to travel nonstop,” Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel recently. “That will help considerably. We’ve never had nonstop service from Paris, and we will have an entirely new market to promote our destination.”

The Fort Lauderdale airport has offered TransAtlantic service before, only to see airlines pull out after brief stays.

Mark Gale, CEO and director of aviation at the airport, said Norse’s arrival restores a vital missing international link for local air travelers.

“Norse’s debut at FLL is an important milestone for our airport as it marks the return of transatlantic service and a direct link to Europe that has been missing for a few years,” he said in the airline’s statement. “We’re thrilled to welcome Norse to our portfolio of international carriers and look forward to a mutually beneficial and successful partnership for many years to come. South Florida travelers now have a new affordable flight option for traveling between FLL and Oslo, and we hope to see more European service from Norse in the near future.”

Nearly a decade ago, Scandinavian low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle began weekly flights between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The airline later added service to London’s Gatwick Airport, Paris and Barcelona.

But Norwegian unraveled in 2021, filing for bankruptcy, closing its U.S. service and re-emerging as a smaller regional carrier focusing on the Nordic countries and other parts of Europe.

That was largely a function of entrepreneurs getting ahead of themselves, expanding too quickly by adding marginally profitable — or unprofitable — routes, as well as too many planes to their fleets, said airline and travel industry analyst Henry Hartveldt of Atmosphere Research in San Francisco.

The airline’s fate was reminiscent of carriers from the distant post-deregulation past such as Sir Freddie Laker’s ‘Sky Train,” which offered $99 flights between New York and London, and the deep discounter PeopleExpress.

“Norse Atlantic’s success depends on the airline’s focus and discipline,” Hartveldt said.

“Depending on how other airlines choose to respond, it will certainly face some degree of competition,” he added. “Airlines that offer basic economy fares such as American and Delta could choose to match or come close to matching fares that Norse Atlantic charges.”

Discount competition is already appearing on the horizon.

A new low fare carrier called French Bee announced Monday that it is planning three flights a week between Miami International Airport and Orly Airport outside of Paris, starting Dec. 15.

But overall, today’s uncertain economy “could mean good things for Norse Atlantic,” Hartveldt said. “People who pay slightly more for air fares may want to, or need to spend less” and choose Norse over others.

“If we see a big falloff in travel demand, established airlines will discount their fares to try to stimulate traffic and that could create pressure for Norse Atlantic,” he said.