Norwegian Air Planning $69 One-Way Flights From U.S. To Europe By 2017

Norwegian Air CEO Bjørn Kjos says that the budget airline is planning to overhaul their international flights from the U.S. to Europe to ensure the lowest price points possible for their customers. In fact, the airline claims that they will be able to offer $69 one-way flights from the U.S. to Europe by 2017.

NBC News reports that Norwegian Air is looking at ways to significantly cut their airfare prices for flights between the United States and Europe. The budget airline claims that by 2017, they would be able to cut costs to a point that a one-way flight could cost as little as $69 to cross the Atlantic. Norwegian Air CEO Bjørn Kjos says the plan is an attempt to take some of the market share from other carriers that dominate the trans-Atlantic airline market.

Norwegian Air says they will be able to achieve the low price point by flying out of airports that currently have little to no international flights. By utilizing airports with the lowest fees, Kjos says they can pass those savings on to customers. For example, instead of flying out of larger international airports such as JFK, Norwegian Air would fly out of smaller airports, such as New York’s Westchester County Airport. Another airport mentioned by the Norwegian Air CEO was Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport.

The flights from the smaller Atlantic coast airports would land in Edinburgh and Bergen, Norway. Kjos points out that flights could be as cheap as $69 for a one-way ticket, but would run closer to $300 for a round-trip fare for most flights. Even at a price-point of $300 round-trip, that cuts the cost of a round-trip transatlantic flight by $200 per budget airline flight at current rates, which hover around $500 round-trip.

Norwegian Air says that instead of offering multiple flights to hundreds of destinations in the US and Europe, it will focus on “nonstop service to small cities that straddle the Atlantic more common, which keeps costs low.” According to Yahoo Finance, Norwegian Air is already preparing for the budget jaunts across the Atlantic by placing an order for 100 737 MAX jets from Boeing Co. Norwegian expects to receive five of those planes in 2017 to start their economical transatlantic flights.

The 737 MAX is a jet that is designed to make transatlantic flights — however, it is smaller than most planes currently making the trip. Norwegian Air says the plane will be a better option for transatlantic flights that will land in smaller airports, such as Birmingham in Britain. The smaller plane size will make using smaller airports with lower fees possible for the budget airline and will keep prices low for customers.

Though Norwegian Air is banking on the utilization of smaller airports with little to no international travel for its bulk budget airfare plans, Bjørn Kjos says the only other requirement for the plans to fall into place is that regulators will have to agree to set up customs stations at U.S. regional airports to handle international traffic. However, Kjos says he is confident that the customs stations can be arranged without issue.

Though Norwegian Air’s planned $69 one-way ticket price will be the lowest of its kind, Iceland’s WOW Air recently came close to the competitive price by offering $99 one-way tickets from Boston to Paris.

What do you think about the possibility of a $69 one-way flight from the U.S. to Europe? Will you be switching to Norwegian Air for your transatlantic travel if they are able to follow through with such a low price point?

[Image Credit: Facebook / Norwegian Air]