Norse Atlantic has received a flight license in Norway – still has to wait for traffic rights in the US
On Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Authority granted an operating license (AOC) to the young airline Norse Atlantic. The airline writes in one stock exchange announcement that it is on track to begin transatlantic travel in the spring of 2022.
Such an aircraft license from the Authority requires an airline to be able to conduct commercial aviation activities.
– I want to applaud my colleagues in Norse for their outstanding efforts after getting the important operating license in place, says founder and CEO Bjørn Tore Larsen in the message.
Larsen has previously said that the goal has been to apply for an operating license in both Norway and the United Kingdom, and now the first of them is in the box. Already in August last year, the Norwegian application was submitted, and a similar application was being worked on in the United Kingdom.
Awaiting US response
Norse Atlantic must also have in place so-called traffic rights from the US Department of Transportation to run air traffic to and from the US. DN has written that an application was submitted to the ministry in Washington, DC at the end of September this year, input to the case came in mid-October, and the processing previously usually has about eight weeks. This should mean that Norse Atlantic could expect an answer no earlier than mid-December this year. So far, just over ten weeks have passed.
Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen, Communications Director at Norse Atlantic, says that there are formalities that make it a little longer to get approval in the USA.
– A Norwegian operating license must be in place before it (approval in the US, editor’s note) is issued, and it (Norwegian operating license, editor’s note) came today, he writes in a text message to DN.
He goes on to say about a clarification in the United States:
– It should happen relatively quickly, as our application had no objections, only statements of support from important stakeholders.
Regarding the permit in the UK, Sandaker-Nielsen writes that this “will be in place next year”.
Ticket sales three to four months before
Norse Atlantic founder Bjørn Tore Larsen told DN already in July this year that the start-up with routes to and from the USA would most likely be postponed to March / April 2022 due to a slow recovery in the pandemic. Both the delta variant – later also the omicron variant – and slow vaccination in many countries have meant that the borders have been kept closed longer than expected. The latest wave of omicrons has also led to new restrictions internationally, and the infection in the US is again strong towards the end of the year.
Norse Atlantc has so far announced that their first routes to the USA will go to airports near the big cities New York, Miami and Los Angeles, but the date has not been set and the flight tickets are not for sale.
Larsen said in July this year at the pre-sale “preferably” should start three to four months before the first departure.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For further terms see her.