WHY IT RATES: More than 2 million passengers took trans-Atlantic flights with the airline. —Janeen Christoff, TravelPulse Senior Writer
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Norwegian has sealed its residence in New York City as the largest non-North American airline to serve the New York and New Jersey area with 2,004,896 passengers carried in 2018. Edging out all other European carriers and overtaking British Airways, Norwegian became the leading airline in transatlantic traffic in a record-breaking year for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, surpassing 50 million international travelers for the first time.
“During a challenging year, Norwegian continued its growth in passenger numbers in a fiercely competitive and critical region, New York City. We see this as a positive indicator that Americans have embraced and continue to support our service and our disruptive model on transatlantic routes. New Yorkers are discerning consumers, so being the number one European airline to serve them is a tremendous honor as we strive to offer the best product, inflight service at irresistible fares moving forward,” said Bjørn Kjos, Chief Executive Officer.
According to the 2018 year-end report issued by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which collects traffic data from Newark Liberty International, John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia, Stewart International, Teterboro, and other regional airports – Norwegian carried the most passengers to and from Europe as the leading non-North American airline eclipsing competitors including Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa and several others. The airline was approximately 50,000 passengers short of being tied or surpassing Air Canada to become the leading international airline to serve New York City.
Norwegian currently offers 13 European nonstop destinations from three New York City airports: JFK, Newark and Stewart. Last week, the airline announced new service to Athens from New York, which will launch on July 2.
Overall, Norwegian offers nonstop flights from 17 airports in the United States, with more than 55 nonstop routes to Europe. On March 31, the airline will expand to leading airports including San Francisco International Airport and Miami International Airport, and will add two new nonstop routes from Boston Logan International Airport to Rome and Madrid. Additionally, Norwegian will offer a new nonstop route from Chicago O’Hare International to Barcelona starting this summer.
To book flights, visit Norwegian.com/us and to find the most affordable fares, go to the low fare calendar. Passengers on all of Norwegian’s flights are eligible to join Norwegian Reward, the airline’s award-winning loyalty program to earn CashPoints every time they fly, book a hotel or rent a car. In 2018, Norwegian Reward was named Program of the Year Europe and Africa for the second consecutive year.
SOURCE: Norwegian press release.
