Transatlantic flights to begin despite fresh delay

New low-cost transatlantic routes from Ireland will take off as planned next month despite a second delay in the delivery of new aircraft.

Norwegian Air moved last night to reassure passengers that the launch of its new routes from Cork, Dublin, and Shannon to New York’s Stewart Airport and to Boston/Providence on July 1 will go ahead as planned after Boeing announced another delay in the delivery of its new 737 Max aircraft.

Norwegian is the European launch customer for the 737 Max aircraft, with 108 on order. The airline had planned to collect the first aircraft from Boeing’s plant in Seattle on June 13 and fly it back to Oslo.

But a spokesman said Boeing doesn’t expect the first 737 Max to be ready until the end of the month.

“This will not affect our operation or our passengers, as the upcoming launch of transatlantic routes between Ireland and the US east coast will be operated by another aircraft type,” he said.

It is understood Norwegian will use its existing 737-800 aircraft for the first few weeks, then switch onto the Max once it is delivered. The 737-800 and Max have identical interiors, seat room, and layout.

A Boeing spokesman said the delivery processes for new aircraft can sometimes be affected by minor issues.

“In this case, we and our customer decided to re-schedule this delivery in order to resolve a minor technical issue,” he said.