Update! Good news for us fliers. See:
Or don’t, here’s the skinny. You may remember me discussing
Norwegian Air as part of my flights strategy: they’re ultra-low cost, on the
surface of it, but make much of that up by charging extra for basics like seat
assignments. I’m not sold on them, but one of their real values is in driving
prices down on legacy carriers (whose margins right now are fat enough to qualify as "Taftian").
Norwegian’s trick here is to register and operate as an
Irish company – Irish labor laws are more relaxed than the rest of Europe,
much less Scandinavia, where I believe a worker is entitled to six weeks paid leave for a bad haircut. Irish workers, in contrast, may be paid in fruit. This move will drive costs down even further, especially should Norwegian
expand beyond the few US departure points (Boston, Newark, Orlando, LA). I have
a hard time seeing ATL thrown into the mix – Atlanta really needs a secondary
airport, ATL is too crowded, but don’t hold your breath, Delta's still paying enough to keep their near monopoly. Charlotte makes sense,
or Chicago, or…well, BHM is *technically* an international airport, it
certainly has the prerequisite runway. I can at least hope that Mayor Bell is
making some calls, unlikely as the prospect is.
Anyway, what this means for you: don’t expect this to have an immediate effect. Norwegian will have to implement their labor strategy (e.g., lower cost cabin crews from, say Thailand, have been mentioned -- gosh, it seems wrong to put it that way, as if they're flying in indentured labor, but I'm just reporting what I hear). Best you can hope for is that this drives down their cost a little on the routes they already serve, maybe $50. For a family of four, that’s a $200 difference: still not *quite* enough for me to get on board with them, but closer. So keep checking those departure points. And if you're thinking about next year, watch this space for updates. I'll let you know if Norwegian expands.
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