Norwegian low-cost airline launches a new flight to Greece

The past five years have witnessed an explosion of low-cost carriers promising to take travelers to destinations previously served only by major airlines. In the United States, new low-cost carriers such as Avelo and Breeze Airways are displacing longtime low-cost players such as Spirit (SAVE) and Frontier (FRON).

Overseas, a new airline, Fly Atlantic, plans to launch from Belfast in 2025. The low-cost carrier hopes to turn Northern Ireland into a stopover for travelers between North America and Europe, just as Icelandair has done with Reykjavik over the past three decades, according to dcourier.com.

Norse Atlantic Airways, a Norwegian airline based in Norway, made its first flight in February 2022, launching a similar model of low-cost flights between several cities on the US East Coast and European capitals. The airline currently operates flights to London, Paris, Rome, and Oslo from cities such as New York and Miami, as well as some flights from Oslo to Bangkok and Los Angeles.

Promotional fares for travel to Greece

Norse is also preparing to launch its first flight to Greece from New York next spring. The upcoming JFK-Athens International Airport (ATH) flight is a summer seasonal route that will operate from May 30 to October 26 up to five times a week on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (BA) aircraft.

"This launch underscores our commitment to meeting the growing travel needs of our passengers," said Norse founder Bjorn Tore Larsen in a statement announcing the new route. "We believe that this route will not only meet the demand for travel to Greece but also create opportunities for cultural exchange and business cooperation between these two vibrant destinations," he said.

To attract attention to the new flight, Norse is offering a promotional fare of $249 round-trip for those who plan their trip in advance (the regular fare for the same flight booked at the last minute or during the most popular summer dates will be around $1,000).

Routes that airlines are betting on this summer

With post-pandemic travel now in full swing, and Europe seeing particularly high demand, airlines are redesigning new networks to serve more smaller cities on the continent.

Last fall, United Airlines (UAL) announced the launch of new flights to Reykjavik, Rome, Brussels, Malaga, and the Portuguese city of Faro, as well as the opening of summer routes to Lisbon and Barcelona from Washington Dulles International Airport several months earlier than last year due to high demand.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) also recently launched a new flight from New York to Naples and brought back summer routes to Shannon, Ireland, and Zurich, Switzerland, while the UK's Virgin Atlantic (SPCE) will operate seven daily flights between London and New York by next summer, along with numerous other routes to various US cities.