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Norwegian closing all of its Irish routes due to Boeing 737 MAX woes

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Norwegian is pruning routes quite heavily as part of its ‘from growth to profitability’ initiative.

In simple terms, this means getting rid of routes where it is losing money.  Gatwick to Las Vegas was given the chop recently, for example, as we covered here.

The airline has just announced that all of its long-haul Irish routes are closing.  These are:

  • Dublin to Hamilton, Newburgh and Providence
  • Cork to Providence
  • Shannon to Newburgh and Providence

Norwegian closing irish routes

The last flights will take place on 15th September.

To be fair to Norwegian, this is a decision partly forced on them by the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX.  It was used to fly these routes which meant that Norwegian had already temporarily suspended or sourced alternative aircraft for them.

If the Norwegian story does not end well, people will be debating for years whether it was actually the fault of Boeing.

Norwegian planned to offer low cost long haul flights by investing in ultra fuel efficient new aircraft which would let it undercut its rivals.  Unfortunately, it chose two complete dogs – the Boeing 787 (Rolls-Royce engine variant) and Boeing 737 MAX – which has left large parts of its fleet unable to fly.

Comments (144)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Craig says:

    Just checking my facts, if an airline cancels and give you more than 2 weeks notice then you are entitled to diddly-squat? If that happens would travel insurance cover rebooking? Only asking because the family have flights to Tampa with Norwegian to meet up with us on a States trip. I would imagine last minutes flights would be very expensive..

    • Shoestring says:

      no compo but the airline must re-ticket you free of charge

      plus you’d be covered under S75 if you paid on a credit card (not charge card) and value was over £100, a form or free credit card insurance

      • Craig says:

        Thanks Shoestring, I’m not worried about getting the money back, lots of options for that. I’m worried about the cost of replacement flights at short notice?

        • Shoestring says:

          that’s why I’m switching to buying all our flights on credit card, the S75 protection means the credit card co must pay for replacement flights at short notice, which can be expensive – they are also responsible for consequential losses involved, that might mean paying for a taxi to another airport and a hotel for the night, or refunding you for a hotel night you lost the other end

  • AJA says:

    The potential BALPA / pilot strike / BA pay deal settlement is good news as long as the new offer is accepted. I don’t think it’s surprising BA found some extra cash. The argument BA were pleading poverty is hardly believable. All BA has done is divert funding from somewhere else. Hopefully whatever it was earmarked for is not customer facing. If BALPA reject this latest offer then any goodwill towards pilots is likely to evaporate.

    I just hope that the rest of the staff at BA who accepted the previous pay deal as was recommended by the other unions don’t now cry foul and ask for more.

  • LewisB says:

    OT – Has anybody here registered their cards on Aer Club? I visit Odeon pretty much every week and the last two months Aer Club have been offering 10 avios per £1 spend in store on tickets / drinks and snacks if you register your card on the website. I’ve registered all of my cards and have yet to receive a single avios. Can’t seem to get a response from Aer Club either. Has anybody had the same issue?

  • Rui N. says:

    OT: any Amazon Amex codes working today? 🙂

  • James says:

    O/T – HSBC Premier. 25% bonus points posted same time as points. Didn’t see any info on HSBC – not advertised anywhere on my account or during transfer. Thanks for the heads up everyone on here!

  • Frankie says:

    Thanks for the information on the BA strike Rob. This is a relief for me as I fly on 31st August. The BALPA website and Twitter feed does not give as much information as you did, so your article has been a relief to read.

  • Dawn says:

    Ref the recent AMEX BA offer of 1000 avios for £100+ spend. Is it essential to press the ‘redeem now’ button and book that way? I just bought LON to Edinburgh tickets on BA via the BA site and used my card. Will it still be tracked or am I an idiot for not doing it via the ‘redeem now’ button?

    • BJ says:

      You’ll be fine Dawn, don’t worry.

    • Spurs Debs says:

      I did it same way as you as I had forgotten about it, and it redeemed and posted just fine.

    • Rob says:

      Not necessary but I agree it is confusing. Amex may be looking to take a cut.

      • BJ says:

        Since it’s August a short article on your HFP affiliate links might not be a bad idea. Some cost us nothing but it is easy to forget to use them, and newer readers may even be unaware of them.

        • memesweeper says:

          Rib, you have a page with all the affiliates listed, but not their links. If I want to (say) make a BA booking if you could make the page all consist of links I could very easily click through and pay my subs for the year. I’m not likely to spend *too* long seeking out a link to pay you, so make it easy for me!

          • Rob says:

            The BA link – plus IHG, Hilton, Marriott, Amazon, Virgin – are in a big box in a massive font in the sidebar on EVERY page of the site on desktop and tablet 🙂

  • Sandra says:

    Got Deliveroo offer on BAPP but not supermarket spend offer which would be much more useful – in our rural backwater supermarkets, , Royal Mail and Amazon are about all that deliver!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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