Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA has shelved flights between Europe and Canada until next year after delivery delays afflicting Boeing 737 Max narrow-body jets left too little time to market the planned routes.
The move will not hit the airline’s Irish operations as Norwegian has no immediate plans to fly from here to Canada, although a spokesman said that it was “looking at opportunities” for doing this.
Services won't now begin until spring 2019 following a slippage of about four weeks in the handover of two 737s, Norwegian Air chief executive officer Bjorn Kjos said in an interview.
Ticket sales had been authorised to start last month with flights due from July 23rd, according to the Canadian Transportation Agency. "We got a slight delay, not much, but it gave us a month shorter pre-sale period," Mr Kjos said at the carrier's headquarters in Fornebu, near Oslo, adding that the hitch stems from issues with 737 engines made by CFM International, a partnership between General Electric and France's Safran. Delays in aircraft handovers also hit Norwegian last summer.
- Bloomberg