Skift Travel News Blog

Norwegian Air and Nordic hotels group Strawberry said on Tuesday they plan to form a joint venture company which will provide benefits to the members of the groups’ respective loyalty programmes.

“Additional parties will also be invited to join the partnership, further increasing the attractiveness for the companies’ customers,” Norwegian and Strawberry said.

A final closing of the deal is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of 2023.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Louise Rasmussen)

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Travelers can fly between London and New York for as little as $116 one-way, plus taxes and many, many fees, beginning in August with the launch of new flights by startup Norse Atlantic Airways. The budget carrier will connect London Gatwick with New York JFK, as well as Oslo, from August 12, Norse said Friday.

Sound familiar? Discounter Norwegian Air, which retrenched during the pandemic, flew the London-New York route from 2014-2020, according to Cirium schedules. Norse, for all intents and purposes, is a reboot of Norwegian Air’s defunct long-haul operations though Norse CEO Bjørn Tore Larsen has repeatedly rejected comparisons.

“The introduction of affordable Norse Atlantic Airways point-to point flights between Europe and the United States, will benefit both local tourism and businesses,” Larsen said. “Not only are we directly investing in the countries that we operate by employing local staff but also supporting job creation across the wider tourism and service industry.”

Norse begins flights between Oslo and the U.S., including Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, and New York, in June.