Norwegian Air Discussion

marno21

Nice.

IBK1751 BFS-SWF has just taken off again from Gander. Will arive into Newburgh almost 2 hours after its scheduled arrival time.

1123heavy

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Gander is doing well so far.

Probably the only ones making cash on it all!

LXFlyer

Looking at the first week, there have been three pit stops en route:

1) Bergen-Providence on Sunday 2 July (Keflavik)
2) Cork-Providence on Tuesday 4 July (Gander)
3) Belfast-Newburgh on Saturday 8 July (Gander)

There have been two separate sets of cancellations all of which have been with LN-NHB:

1) Shannon-Providence & Providence-Edinburgh (Monday 3 July)
2) Belfast-Providence & Providence-Dublin (Saturday 08 July)

Not the best of starts it has to be said!

Irishweather

All due to 737 Max.

bkehoe

Irishweather wrote: »

All due to 737 Max.

Really?

LXFlyer

Irishweather wrote: »

All due to 737 Max.

The three pit stops may well be down to weather and the aircraft range, but the cancellations were due to technical issues and staff sickness respectively.

Irishweather

bkehoe wrote: »

Really?

Yes.

1. Bergen, not enough range.
2. Belfast, additional passengers, past the take off weight.
3. Cork, additional passengers, past the take off weight.

737max

Is this fair criticism or just a convenient stick with which to beat norwegian?

Isn't this all part of the learning process to determine the real-life range of the 737max? They have to err on the side of safety until they can reliably assess how much fuel is left in the tanks when they take a splash and dash.
Nobody including the manufacturer has accurate fuel usage data on the 737max at this stage.

JCX BXC

You do realise that the 737 MAX aren't in use, and the main point of our posts is that these issues will not (hopefully anyway) occur on the MAX?

737max

When poster says "all due to 737max" and I know they have received 2 737max aircraft but can't see where they have used them so far then I have to assume the poster is correct and a 737max was used on those routes on those days but still couldn't cross the Atlantic.

Were 737max used on those days when the flights were "diverted"( or whatever term you want to use ) on those days?

JCX BXC

737 MAX has not been used yet on TATL. Fair enough, I understand where the confusion arose from.

EchoIndia

Norwegian's 737 Max aircraft, though delivered, have not yet entered service.

737max

even with the 737ng could it be a case that they might have more fuel in the tanks but can't be sure and have to err on the side of safety and won't really know about real life fuel usage for a couple of months.
nobody else has been doing these type routes before.

LXFlyer

So far there are only six aircraft in use on the new routes out of Newburgh, Providence and Hartford to Cork, Shannon, Dublin, Belfast and Edinbury, all are B737-800. No rotation of aircraft have taken place.

LN-NHA, LN-NHB, LN-NIG, LN-NII, EI-FJS and EI-FJT are the fleet members being used so far.

Whatever about the pit stops, two separate sets of cancellations in one week is not good for a relatively small operation, particularly in the first week of operations.

EchoIndia

737max wrote: »

even with the 737ng could it be a case that they might have more fuel in the tanks but can't be sure and have to err on the side of safety and won't really know about real life fuel usage for a couple of months.
nobody else has been doing these type routes before.

The 737NG has been in service for years and on a large scale. Norwegian has over 60 in service. Commercial aviation ops are not conducted on the basis of guesswork.

737max

so we are in agreement then or are you suggesting that erring on the side of safety is guesswork?

jjbrien

Does anyone here think they will launch a few more 737 routes? Like Liverpool - SWF or Manchester - SWF? Think theres a market for the Liverpool route and a low cost base for it too.

1123heavy

jjbrien wrote: »

Does anyone here think they will launch a few more 737 routes? Like Liverpool - SWF or Manchester - SWF? Think theres a market for the Liverpool route and a low cost base for it too.

Low cost transatlantic isn't straight forward, it naturally has a higher cost base than say an airline looking to make a quick buck on a short haul flight ... it is not as easy. I'd say if this ever happens it will be a while away. Though having said that, this airline don't seem to be showing any precaution in how they're going about this growth of theirs. It literally is as if someone sat in an office throwing darts at a map of the world. That's not criticism, but for even the most seasoned airline worker/businessman what is happening right now is very bizarre. Interesting to watch nonetheless.

jjbrien

1123heavy wrote: »

Low cost transatlantic isn't straight forward, it naturally has a higher cost base than say an airline looking to make a quick buck on a short haul flight ... it is not as easy. I'd say if this ever happens it will be a while away. Though having said that, this airline don't seem to be showing any precaution in how they're going about this growth of theirs. It literally is as if someone sat in an office throwing darts at a map of the world. That's not criticism, but for even the most seasoned airline worker/businessman what is happening right now is very bizarre. Interesting to watch nonetheless.

They had to wait 4 years for the permit im sure there was more planning than just tossing darts at a map.

HowItsMade

Flew from Stewart to Dublin and landed this morning, mad experience not sure if I loved it or hated it...

Bus from port authority was fine $20 standard bus which had wifi, left at 4pm and took around 80/90 minutes. Arrived in airport 3 hours early.

Check in was busy 3 people working, I had my name entered in the wrong order (first name in place of last name) and nothing was said to me.

Security was quite lax, they have the new body scan system jumping jack pose - you know the one.

I left a 100ml aftershave in the carry on in no clear bag, i wasn't pulled up on.

The flight or gate was never displayed on a board but there must be only 15 gates in departures.

Small duty free shop and one shop/café in departures.

Flight boarded 35 mins ahead of schedule, only notified it was boarding through speaker system and last call.

Once on board it was mayhem quite a few people didn't have overhead space for their bag. - baggage men in high vis took one or two bags under. Slightly messy.

My friend was offered a free check on when checking in. ie. took his carry on and put it under.

Seats are incredibly thin. Supposed to pay extra for food but I was offered a meal free of charge...

Wifi on board which was good, when logging in it had time remaining to Oslo?? rather than Dublin.

Flight was scheduled to land at 8:35 but landed shortly after 7am...

All in all, got a bit more than what I paid for with the early landing and meal but it's a sort of organised chaos at the minute, can definitely see something going wrong.

jjbrien

HowItsMade wrote: »

Flew from Stewart to Dublin and landed this morning, mad experience not sure if I loved it or hated it...

Bus from port authority was fine $20 standard bus which had wifi, left at 4pm and took around 80/90 minutes. Arrived in airport 3 hours early.

Check in was busy 3 people working, I had my name entered in the wrong order (first name in place of last name) and nothing was said to me.

Security was quite lax, they have the new body scan system jumping jack pose - you know the one.

I left a 100ml aftershave in the carry on in no clear bag, i wasn't pulled up on.

The flight or gate was never displayed on a board but there must be only 15 gates in departures.

Small duty free shop and one shop/café in departures.

Flight boarded 35 mins ahead of schedule, only notified it was boarding through speaker system and last call.

Once on board it was mayhem quite a few people didn't have overhead space for their bag. - baggage men in high vis took one or two bags under. Slightly messy.

My friend was offered a free check on when checking in. ie. took his carry on and put it under.

Seats are incredibly thin. Supposed to pay extra for food but I was offered a meal free of charge...

Wifi on board which was good, when logging in it had time remaining to Oslo?? rather than Dublin.

Flight was scheduled to land at 8:35 but landed shortly after 7am...

All in all, got a bit more than what I paid for with the early landing and meal but it's a sort of organised chaos at the minute, can definitely see something going wrong.

Thnaks for the review. Did the plane have a place to charge your phone or tablet?

JCX BXC

Reports I've read say no, although the 737-800's won't be in use in a few months, services will be switched to the MAX.

HowItsMade

No spot to charge, I just invested in a 20100mah USB battery pack from Anker off Amazon, very handy to have.

Mebuntu

From the Irish Times just now.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/norwegian-air-to-contest-aviation-workers-claims-1.3149961

The US Airline Pilot Unions are at it again. I love this rebuff:

"However, the department of transportation’s response to the unions’ claims points out that pilots actually left US legacy airlines to join Norwegian because the wages and benefits it offered were better."

1123heavy

Mebuntu wrote: »

From the Irish Times just now.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/norwegian-air-to-contest-aviation-workers-claims-1.3149961

The US Airline Pilot Unions are at it again. I love this rebuff:

"However, the department of transportation’s response to the unions’ claims points out that pilots actually left US legacy airlines to join Norwegian because the wages and benefits it offered were better."

I'd like to see facts rather than blind statements

If a 737 fo at AA left to go fly a 787 for Norwegian because they offered 6000 a month whereas AA only offered him 5000 on his 737 then I hardly think you can compare them.

Compare like for like. For example a united or AA 787 Cpt's pay and terms compared to a 787 Cpt at Norwegian. Then we're talking.

Growler!!!

1123heavy wrote: »

Mebuntu wrote: »

From the Irish Times just now.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/norwegian-air-to-contest-aviation-workers-claims-1.3149961

The US Airline Pilot Unions are at it again. I love this rebuff:

"However, the department of transportation’s response to the unions’ claims points out that pilots actually left US legacy airlines to join Norwegian because the wages and benefits it offered were better."

I'd like to see facts rather than blind statements

If a 737 fo at AA left to go fly a 787 for Norwegian because they offered 6000 a month whereas AA only offered him 5000 on his 737 then I hardly think you can compare them.

Compare like for like. For example a united or AA 787 Cpt's pay and terms compared to a 787 Cpt at Norwegian. Then we're talking.

The facts are that in US legacy carriers the time to command can be measured in tens of years. For some the time to command may be more than their time to mandatory retirement. Norwegian are looking for Relief captains at the moment (essentially Cruise Captains) and are offering it to F/O's with the right experience. This can lead to a perceived quicker command for some.

The chance of a quicker command on a new jet at or near a home base is a huge carrot dangled in front of some.

jjbrien

The the US Airline Pilot Unions are more interested in protecting the US airlines than their members. Most american carriers are in bad shape finincially and if theirs upper pressure on wages you will start to see cracks forming in delta, united etc. They all have been in and out of chapter 11 so many times.

john boye

jjbrien wrote: »

They all have been in and out of chapter 11 so many times.

Not to mention bailed out by the government. But of course it's only the ME3 who receive 'Government subsidies'...

gizmo81

Are the big carriers feeling it?

http://www.thejournal.ie/united-flights-suspended-shannon-airport-3492131-Jul2017/

Irishweather

Wow, that flight has been operating for years! I wonder if United is adopting a strategy of pulling back from Secondary routes? They also pulled out from Belfast in January.

So maybe new management has a different approach.