Norwegian Airlines is currently struggling to keep its operations afloat as it deals with the worldwide Boeing 737 MAX grounding crisis and, more notably the Boeing 787-9 Rolls Royce engine issues.. The carrier has effectively leased aircraft from four different carriers to cover for its flights from London’s Gatwick Airport, the second largest airport serving the British capital.
This is not the first time Norwegian Air has been facing these problems. In fact, it has been going on for months now.
In fact, in August last year, Norwegian Air leased the HiFly Airbus A380-800 to cover for its New York JFK evening rotations from London Gatwick. Norwegian had confirmed that the ‘continued issues with a specific Rolls Royce engine type affecting our 787 Dreamliner fleet has reduced our aircraft availability’. Norwegian became the second ever carrier to lease the aircraft temporarily for its operations.
Norwegian’s transatlantic flights have been hit hard so much – with every single plane operating on the sector facing significant issues. The Boeing 737 MAX was grounded worldwide following two major crashes involving the type killing all on board. As mentioned, the Boeing 787 continues to face engine-related checks and maintenance after problems were reported in the air from airlines all around the world.
Norwegian intended to operate the Boeing 737 MAX from Dublin on flights to New York Stewart and TF Green Airports (the latter is in Providence), however after the grounding, the carrier decided to replace both flights with one Dreamliner service to New York and then a bus service to Providence.
Later today on April 30, 2019, Wamos Air will serve the Denver rotation from London Gatwick three times a week and on May 1 it will begin flights to Chicago on behalf of Norwegian Air.
Flying 6 times a week, a Privilege Style Boeing 777-200 has begun operating on the London Gatwick to Miami sector since 29 April 2019. Since the same date, a HiFly Airbus A340-300 has been flying to Orlando.
Finally on 3 May 2019, an Evelop Airlines Airbus A330-300 will fly 6 times a week to New York JFK.
Conclusion
Norwegian Air is no doubt struggling, but despite it being perhaps funny to some, it has asked Boeing to compensate for the massive loss the carrier is facing from the issues relating to the MAX 8. For the 787 on the other hand, Norwegian Air remains confident about the plane and it seems that issues are slowly resolving – a lot of the aircraft are back in service, with others going in for checks and maintenance to fix the issues.
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