Bjorn Kjos, a Norwegian co-founder and former CEO, holds 15% of the nascent carrier s shares. The majority owner is shipping entrepreneur Bjorn Tore Larsen, the co-founder of OSM Aviation, which used to provide flight crews for Norwegian. We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a brand-new airline from scratch, Larsen said in a prepared remark. As the world reopens, the public needs an innovative, low-cost intercontinental airline with modern, more environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient aircraft. We have industry knowledge and have secured modern Dreamliners at very good terms.
The demise of Norwegian s transatlantic operations, as well as the death of Iceland s Wow Air and other discount transatlantic carriers over the past three years, have led some industry experts to sound the death knell of that business model, at least for the foreseeable future.
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Norse Atlantic Airways is the latest Norwegian airline to establish operations, with plans to launch as a low-cost operator by December 2021. The new carrier was founded by industry veterans, Bjorn Kljos, Bjorn Kise and Bjorn Tore Larsen, who respectively held top positions at Norwegian Air Shuttle and OSM Aviation.
Larsen, who will become the CEO of Norse Atlantic, is in talks with lessors to lease twelve of the former Norwegian B787s, which will be the sole aircraft type in the initial fleet of the new trans-Atlantic airline. Nine aircraft have already been secured, with three pending lease contracts.
Two months after Norwegian Air Shuttle ended transatlantic flying to focus on routes closer to home, a new Norway-based airline has unveiled plans to enter the low-cost long-haul market.
Norse Atlantic Airways aims to begin service by the end of 2021, connecting destinations such as New York, Los Angeles and Miami in the US with European cities like London, Paris and Oslo. The carrier intends to operate its network using Boeing 787s.
If the business model sounds all too familiar that is because a key investor leading the startup is industry veteran Bjørn Kjos (
pictured), the co-founder of Norwegian who steered the company’s rapid expansion into the transatlantic market. He stepped down as CEO of the airline in July 2019 as part of a restructure.