Norwegian airline pulls out of Belfast International

Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air is cancelling its route from Belfast to New York and Boston next month.

The airline has confirmed its last flight will be October 27th 2018.

It said the decision was down to a lack of demand.

A Norwegian spokesperson said: “Following a comprehensive review of our services from Belfast in response to customer demand, we have decided to withdraw our routes from Belfast to the New York and Boston areas.

“Customers can still book flights between Belfast and the US on our website for travel up to 27 October 2018. New York and Boston-Providence remain well served by Norwegian from Dublin, Shannon and Cork with up to 33 weekly departures, giving customers in Northern Ireland an alternative for booking daily affordable flights to the US."

An Airport spokesperson said:

“While we are extremely disappointed by Norwegian Air’s decision to exit the Northern Ireland market, the basic fact remains that the flight schedule provided by the airline from Belfast (two flights per week) was neither flexible nor attractive enough to appeal to the local travelling public.

There is significant – and prospectively increasing – market demand between Northern Ireland and the USA / Canada, particularly focussed upon New York and Toronto as gateways.

Regrettably the limited and inferior product offered by Norwegian was creating awareness within the market, but channelling much greater levels of Northern Ireland passengers onto Dublin flights (where the airline were offering flexible two daily services, rather than the limited two weekly product from Belfast). Hardly a conducive outcome for Belfast and Northern Ireland economically or socially.

It is an unsustainable situation that two million people in our catchment area should be left with no option but to undertake lengthy and unnecessary journeys to Dublin in order to fly across the Atlantic.

It is of greater concern at a time when vital direct access from critical markets for trade, investment and tourism is becoming increasingly focal that the lack of any economically-driven strategy to develop and sustain Northern Ireland air routes from essential markets is creating setbacks of this nature.

The Northern Ireland – North America market remains strong. We will continue to work to ensure that partner airlines are encouraged to serve our market in an appropriate and sustainable manner.”