NEDude

Are you seriously not aware of the longtime practice of predatory pricing? The U.S. legacies have a long history of doing it.

All of the U.S. airlines are revamping their long-haul products to compete with LCCs:

https://www.investors.com/news/airlines-basic-economy/

And for the record, Norwegian's 787s main cabin seats are the same as the main cabin 787 seats on American, United and Air Canada. According to seatguru.com, the main cabin on all of them offer 9 abreast at 31 to 32 inch pitch (American and Air Canada are listed at 31", Norwegian is shown at 31" to 32", and United is shown at 32".)

Denti

Scope sounds nice. However, it is not necessarily legal. Lufthansa mainline had a scope clause and sued their management when it started the Sunexpress longhaul services taking services from Lufthansa based in DUS to that company and closing their DUS base. They lost the court case and have subsequently abandoned their scope clause alltogether while at the same time lowering their T&Cs by about 15% while the company made record profits.

IAG before it became IAG had similar issues, BA pilots went on strike over Open Skies, a french BA subsidiary offering lower cost TATL services. That was against advice of their own legal counsel. The resulting court case (BA sued BALPA) nearly bankrupted the union. After that BA pilots even went so far and worked as cabin crew during cabin crew industrial action to nullify the effectiveness of that (legal) unions action.

SWISS put the newly aquired 777 with their regional subsidiary at regional pay levels, forcing SWISS pilots to lower their conditions as well to get at least a shot at flying it. Helped of course by the fact that different unions represented their pilots before those unions merged recently.

The EU is not a united states of europe, especially in labour law there are huge differences between sovereign countries inside and outside that Union (switzerland is outside, the UK will soon be).

Joachim

British Airways and Air France.

dera

Lufthansa, Finnair.

sailingfun

All the major airlines are pricing their product at a level where they are making a nice profit. Delta is doing extremely well over the Atlantic. Norwegian has been losing their ass on the long haul. If they were pricing it above their costs they would be profitable dont you think?

NEDude

Obviously Norwegian feels the long haul stuff is viable. The short haul fleet is the one getting the axe. For certain trans-Atlantic operation on the MAX has been a financial nightmare. Most of the issues on the 787 fleet are due to the engine problems, and that is not unique to Norwegian. Apparently the new deal with Rolls Royce eliminates much of the financial problems caused by the engines.

Unofficial word is that the recent re-structuring is being directed by IAG as part of the terms of the sale. IAG supposedly wants Norwegian mostly for the long haul operation. If that is true, then clearly IAG sees something of value in the 787 operation.

Winston

https://airwaysmag.com/airlines/iag-...IBtpsPtHoeZQew

IAG Dismisses Norwegian Interest, To Sell Remaining Stake
by Jonathan Winton

January 24

MIAMI — British Airways owner IAG will no longer submit a bid for ailing carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle, the airline group said on Thursday.

IAG currently holds a 3.93% stake in the low-cost carrier but has revealed that it will also sell its remaining stake in the company.

This latest news comes as a major blow to Norwegian as it seeks to curb its growing losses.

In a public statement, IAG said that it “does not intend to make an offer for Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA and that, in due course, it will be selling its 3.93% shareholding in Norwegian.”

Last week, the carrier announced it would close its Boeing 737 bases in Palma De Mallorca, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and Rome, effective April 2019. Overseas, the airline will also shut down its Stewart and Providence bases in the US.

Reportedly, these route and base cuts are part of the airline’s ongoing cost-cutting efforts, which aim to save up to $234 million. This program was announced during Dcember 2018.

It has been no secret that in recent times Norwegian Air Shuttle has had to endure a host of financial difficulties which have played a major part in the airline’s decisions to implement a whole host of changes to its 2019 summer schedule.

Norwegian’s Shares Plummet

The effect on Thursday morning following IAG’s withdrawal news saw shares in Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA drop by over 20%—a new low which has seen its shares continuously plummet since it first revealed it was closing several of its European bases at the start of January 2019.

In a statement to its shareholders, CEO and founder of Norwegian Air Shuttle, Bjørn Kjos, remarked that the airline’s current plan is to “continue building a sustainable business to the benefit of its customers, employees, and shareholders.”

Not a week seems to go by without Norwegian making the headlines for one reason or another.

Whether it is cuts to the airline’ fleet, axed routes, financial troubles or finding suitable long-term funding going forward, the airline seems to be mitigating major difficulties.