Norwegian Expands US Network From London & Paris – Fares From $390 Available

Norwegian 787-9 Dreamliner

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UPDATED 28 August 2017 – Frequency changes

In time for the third anniversary of its low-cost routes between Gatwick and the US Norwegian has announced its intention to add four new routes to its transatlantic network. Two of its new US routes will be launched from London Gatwick while the other two routes will operate out of the airline’s Paris base. As if that wasn’t enough, the airline has also added more frequencies on two of its existing routes between Paris and the US.

Norwegian’s New Gatwick Routes

From March 2018 Norwegian will fly to Chicago and Austin from London’s Gatwick airport.

London Gatwick – Chicago O’Hare

a city skyline with water in the background

From 25 March 2018 Norwegian will offer a year-round service between Gatwick and Chicago flying the route 4x per week for most of the year and daily for the summer 2018 season (per a schedule update on 27 August 2017)

DY7151 LGW 10:00 – 12:35 ORD (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun)
DY7152 ORD 15:15 – 05:00+1 day LGW (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun)

The airline’s press release has said that fares will start from £179 ($229) one way for Economy Class and £499 ($639) for its Premium Cabin….but the reality appears to be better than that.

A quick look at the prices already showing on Norwegian’s site shows that, while £179 is the cheapest fare out of London, the one way fare from Chicago is far lower:

a screenshot of a calendar

Roundtrip Economy Class fares are available from £304.80 ($390) and I’ve seen roundtrip Premium Cabin fares from £909.80 ($1165) – those are very, very good fares for travel into and out of a UK airport…especially London.

London Gatwick – Austin

From 27 March 2018 Norwegian will offer a year-round service between Gatwick and Austin flying the route 3x per week.

DY7181 LGW 10:00 – 14:05 AUS (Tue, Thu, Sat)
DY7182 AUS 16:20 – 07:25+1 day LGW (Tue, Thu, Sat)

The airline’s press release has said that fares will start from £239 ($306) one way for Economy Class and £579 ($741) for its Premium Cabin….but, once again, the reality appears to be noticeably better than that.

This is what fares are on offer, right now, on Norwegian’s website:

a screenshot of a calendar

Roundtrip Economy Class fares are available from £419.80 ($537) while there’s roundtrip Premium Cabin availability from around £1,070 ($1,370). While not as impressive as the fares to/from Chicago these still represent pretty good value….especially when the only other carrier offering the London – Austin route (British Airways) is considerably more expensive:

a screenshot of a website

Even if you factor in the cost of a checked bag on Norwegian BA’s fares are still a far worse proposition.

Norwegian’s New Paris Routes

While the new routes from London Gatwick are being trumpeted by Norwegian’s press team the airline has been very quiet about two new routes out of Paris it has loaded into its reservation system.

From May 2018 Norwegian will fly to Boston and Oakland from Paris CDG.

a group of sailboats in a body of water with a city in the background

Paris (CDG) – Boston

Norwegian already operates a route to Boston from Paris Orly but, from 2 May 2018, the airline will also offer a service to Boston from Paris Charles deGaulle 3 -4 times per week.

DY7149 CDG 18:10 – 19:50 BOS (Wed, Fri, Sun)
DY7149 CDG 19:45 – 21:25 BOS (Mon)

DY7150 BOS 21:50 – 10:30+1 day CDG 789 (Wed, Fri, Sun)

As of right now the fares showing on Norwegian’s website look like this:

a screenshot of a calendar

So roundtrip Economy Class fares are available from just £280 ($358) while I’ve noted Premium Cabin fares from around £966 ($1,236).

For a short-ish transatlantic flight like this I don’t think I’d pay the Premium Cabin fare but the Economy Class fare is fantastic.

Paris (CDG) – Oakland

a bridge over water with a cloudy sky

Norwegian currently offers a service between Pari Orly and Oakland but, from 10 April 2018, the airline will significantly increase its service to the bay area when it adds 4 further weekly flights from Paris CDG.

DY7079 CDG 1215 – 1430 OAK (Tue)
DY7079 CDG 1615 – 1820 OAK (Thur)
DY7079 CDG 1645 – 1850 OAK (Sat)
DY7079 CDG 1815 – 2020 OAK (Sun)

DY7080 OAK 1630 – 1145+1 day CDG (Tue)
DY7080 OAK 2020 – 1535+1 day CDG (Thur)
DY7080 OAK 2050 – 1605+1 day CDG (Sat)
DY7080 OAK 2220 – 1735+1 day CDG (Sun)

This is what the fares are looking like right now:

a screenshot of a calendar

The lowest roundtrip Economy Class fare appears to start at £351 ($450) while Premium Cabin fares seem to start at around £1,271 ($1,627).

The Premium Cabin fare is definitely nothing to get excited about (I’ve seen Air France Business Class fares cheaper than that to the West Coast…although admittedly those were for departures out of Milan) but the Economy Class fares could be tempting if you don’t need to take a checked bag with you (which would cost extra).

Other Planned Paris Expansion

Per Routes Online, Norwegian also plans to expand a couple of existing transatlantic services out of Paris CDG:

From 3 May 2018 the Paris – Los Angeles service will operate 6 times per week (up from 4)

Paris CDG – Los Angeles

DY7097 CDG 15:15 – 18:00 LAX (Daily except Sunday)
DY7098 LAX 20:00 – 15:40+1 day CDG (Daily except Sunday)

From 28 February 2018 the Paris – New York JFK service will operate 12 times per week (up from 6)

Paris CDG – New York JFK

DY7021 CDG 1305 – 1530 JFK (Daily except Tuesday)
DY7019 CDG 1805 – 2030 JFK (Daily except Saturday)

DY7022 JFK 1730 – 0630+1 day CDG (Daily except Tuesday)
DY7020 JFK 2230 – 1130+1 day CDG (Daily except Saturday)

Bottom Line

All in all this is very good news for travelers. The more airlines like Norwegian compete with the traditional transatlantic carriers the better it will be for all of us….and I’m especially happy to see Norwegian continue to target British Airways.

Last month Norwegian announced that it will fly between London and Buenos Aires (exclusively a BA route up until now) and now it has announced service to Austin…another route on which BA has had zero competition until now. I can only imagine how BA management feel about this 🙂

The Paris service expansion looks interesting but make sure you price up fares from both Orly and CDG as I’ve noted dates on which flights to/from Orly are marginally cheaper than those to/from CDG. Also, don’t forget that there’s nothing stopping you from flying in/out of one of the Paris airports while flying in/out of the other on the return leg of your journey.

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