Csy Mon

NAI flagged out to Ireland to bypass the labor laws of Norway.
The Irish subsidiary seems to hire crews of any nationality and they are flying to the US from Europe on a temporary permit using 787s.
Boeing of course supports the operation and they have lobbyist with more horsepower than ALPA.
Pretty sure NAI will get a permanent approval..

socalflyboy

Dear Mr. Socalflyboy

Thank you for writing to share your concerns about Norwegian Air International’s (NAI) application for a U.S. foreign carrier permit. I appreciate the time you took to write and welcome the opportunity to respond.

In 2013, NAI submitted a foreign air carrier permit application to the United States Department of Transportation to operate in the United States as an Ireland-based foreign air carrier. I understand you have concerns about foreign entities that engage in air transport operations within the United States. Many who oppose NAI’s expansion have argued that the airline is unfairly taking advantage of the United States-European Union Open Skies Agreement, and have expressed concerns about NAI operating as an Irish air carrier, even though its parent company is based in Norway. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines have openly criticized NAI’s business model, arguing that the airline is attempting to circumvent labor laws in Norway and the European Union.

The United States-European Union Open Skies Agreement specifically recognizes the importance of high labor standards, and requires the Department to apply a public interest standard when reviewing applications to make sure U.S. air carriers can fairly compete with foreign carriers. You may be interested to know that on March 12, 2014, I joined 37 of my Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx urging him to ensure that NAI’s proposed expansion is in the public interest and complies with the United States-European Union Open Skies Agreement.

On April 15, 2016, the Department tentatively approved NAI’s application after formally consulting the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel and the Department of State. According to the Department of Transportation, NAI appears to meet the standard conditions consistent with the United States-European Union Agreement, including the labor provision. The legal analysis further concludes that the labor provision does not afford an independent basis for rejecting an applicant that is otherwise qualified to receive a permit. The full justification is available at http://1.usa.gov/1ttJOtA. The Department accepted comments from the public through May 6, 2016, and will carefully review the input before finalizing its decision.

Throughout my time in the Senate, I have stressed the importance of safety and fair competition within the airline industry. I will be sure to keep your comments in mind as I continue to monitor the situation.

Again, thank you for your letter. If you have any additional comments or concerns, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C., office at (202) 224-3841 or visit my website at www.feinstein.senate.gov. Best regards.

Sincerely yours,
Yep...Obama, Obama..Oh momma!!

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the nation are available at my website, feinstein.senate.gov. And please visit my YouTube, Facebook and Twitter for more ways to communicate with me.

NEDude

" Many who oppose NAI’s expansion have argued that the airline is unfairly taking advantage of the United States-European Union Open Skies Agreement, and have expressed concerns about NAI operating as an Irish air carrier, even though its parent company is based in Norway. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines have openly criticized NAI’s business model, arguing that the airline is attempting to circumvent labor laws in Norway and the European Union."

I fail to see how an Irish subsidiary of a Norwegian company can circumvent EU labor laws considering Ireland is a member of the EU. Looking at the only 787 contract that Norwegian is presently offering and where their AOCs are located, nothing about the arguments ALPA, United, Delta, American, etc. seems to add up. Norwegian 787 pilots are based in London, not Thailand as the arguments have been made. The contract is with a UK subsidiary of a New Zealand agency (Rishworth), not an agency based in Singapore as the arguments have been made. Ireland is a member of the EU, so an Irish subsidiary is not going to be able to circumvent EU labor laws as the arguments have been made. Norway is fully covered under the US-EU open skies agreements, so an EU based subsidiary is not required for Norwegian to take advantage of the open skies agreements as the arguments have been made.

None of this makes any real sense. The arguments made against NAI by ALPA/Big 3 do not seem to line up with reality, and the need for Norwegian to set up its NAI subsidiary in Ireland seems non-existent. What am I missing?

Csy Mon

Murky waters: They also have a Bangkok base paying D-scale wages using the crews all over the system.
The Norway based crews have good compensation and good benefits, but other bases, Spain, Finland, the U.K., the US, Thailand, etc have lesser compensation.
(Yes, they have US bases and keeps hiring F/As and pilots, but you need a JAR ticket, pain in the arse to get and expensive)

NEDude

They are not alone among European airlines in paying different rates for different bases. EasyJet does the same thing, with Portugal and Italy based pilots making significantly less than pilots based in northern Europe or the UK. SAS also pays differently for pilots based in Copenhagen, Stockholm or Oslo.

Looking at Norwegian from the European side the outrage is not nearly as strong. The setup of pilot contracts, seniority and compensation is very different in Europe than it is in the States. Make no mistake, the pilots at legacy European airlines are not happy with the likes of Norwegian, Ryanair and such, but the level of outrage does not seem to be nearly as high. Additionally while the job market is improving in Europe, the pay is not following yet. An experienced pilot returning to Europe from the ME can go to an airline like SAS and make $7,000 per month, or go to an airline like Small Planet and perhaps make up to $7,200 per month, or go to Norwegian and make $11,000 per month. The Norwegian 787 contract is among the best paying jobs available in Europe for experienced pilots.

Probe

Holy "doing you homework" batman. Great catch.

Kind of makes ALPA's and the US Majors' argument completely mute.

full of luv

How could the BREXIT vote have any relevance yet? It was only an internal referendum that their politicians now have to decide how to proceed with, but until they do, England is still part of the EU.

Typhoonpilot

......but, but, but they needed to place a big bad boogey man under ever ALPA pilot's bed to be afraid of. This while their own management sign JV agreements, equity deals, and code share deals that pretty much eliminate any future growth to international flying


TP

NEDude

The current state of the US-UK air transportation treaties is known, but due to BREXIT the future is unknown. It was just a guess on my part, I do not have any insight about the reasoning of the decision. But it stands to reason that it is not wise to grant a permit when the future of the transportation treaties is a question mark.