Expanding Norwegian Airlines coy on Cork to New York route

Norwegian Airlines is expanding its transatlantic flights out of Dublin and Shannon but said it has not made a decision yet on the viability of a Cork-New York route.

Europe’s third largest low-cost airline, which launched transatlantic flights from Ireland seven months ago, will today announce plans to increase from one to two the number of daily flights from Dublin to New York’s Stewart Airport from April 26, with one-way fares from €121.

The new early-morning service will depart Dublin at 8.10am and land in the US at 10.30am local time.

It will increase the route capacity by 66,000 seats and will bring to 29 the number of transatlantic flights operated by the airline from Dublin, Shannon, and Cork airports.

Norwegian will also announce plans to double the frequency of its Shannon to Boston-Providence service, from two to four flights a week, and add a third weekly flight to Stewart, from March 27.

However, the airline, which operates a twice-weekly Cork to Boston-Providence service, has yet to make a call on the launch of a Cork-New York service.

The airline introduced the new Boeing 737 MAX 189-seat aircraft on the Boston route late last year and said it is still assessing the aircraft’s operational capabilities out of Cork Airport.

“Although we do not break down performance by route, we have seen strong demand for Cork’s first ever transatlantic flights to the USA as our affordable services are proving popular with Irish holidaymakers,” a spokesman for the airline said.

“We still have ambitions to launch future new routes from Cork but our current focus is on continuing to deliver excellent value to Cork residents seeking high-quality flights to the USA.”

Norwegian’s chief commercial officer, Thomas Ramdahl, said more than 130,000 passengers have flown Norwegian between Ireland and the US since flights started last July.

Dublin Airport’s managing director, Vincent Harrison, said the move to a double daily service provides further choice and flexibility for passengers and is a testament to the popularity of the route.