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Norse Atlantic Airways Closes Florida Base, Reduces Number of Flights

Courtesy Norse Atlantic Airways

Norse Atlantic Airways is closing its South Florida base and reducing the number of flights it will operate to and from Miami.

The internal message informing the Fort Lauderdale-Miami crew about the upcoming closure arrived via employee email on February 11.

“We were given a date of the base closure – April 30. The email also had a survey asking us if we would be willing to relocate to the JFK base,” said a crew member who requested anonymity.

Norse Atlantic Airways is a budget long-haul airline headquartered in Arendal, Norway. The company was founded in 2021 and opened its official operation from the Fort Lauderdale Airport in June 2022. Norse flights from Florida to Europe start at $145 for the economy tickets, providing a budget-friendly alternative to legacy airlines.

The company, which took over some of the Norwegian Air Shuttle aircraft and offered jobs to the defunct airline’s American crew after it was furloughed at the beginning of the pandemic, employs around 250 cabin crew members in the U.S., 75 of whom are based in Miami, according to the same employee.

Norse flights connect New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Miami with European destinations like London, Oslo, Stockholm, Berlin, Rome, Paris, and Athens. The company also operates two Bangkok routes from Scandinavia and a London flight to Cape Town. The airline moved the Florida flights from Fort Lauderdale to Miami Airport in September 2023.

Miami flights to and from Oslo are absent from the company’s booking calendar beyond April, and the seasonal Berlin route, set to end in the spring, is reportedly not returning in the fall as it usually does. “The only flight remaining for Miami would be the London route, operated by the UK crews,” the MIA crew member shared.

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Florida cabin crew has been increasingly operating charter flights instead of the regular scheduled routes. Norse has an agreement with Italian Neos for the winter flights from Milan and a recently confirmed damp lease with IndiGo to serve long-haul routes out of India.

“They are trying to focus on the charter business, as it seems more secure,” the crew member shared. Another Miami base employee, who also asked not to be named, said the company had not had the “best luck securing ancillary income locally,” and the passenger loads on the Miami flights were not as full as expected at first.

“Funny enough, the EU flights from Miami are full now that they’ve had some time to “marinate” and create a market. I wonder if Norse is thinking they jumped the gun [by closing the base],” the second crew member shared.

Florida-based cabin crew members, many of whom live in Broward County, are still waiting to hear about the conditions of the relocation to the JFK base. The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) Union is negotiating with the company on their behalf.

An AFA representative declined to comment as the negotiations are ongoing.

“I would not move to NYC for a job that can’t even cover the cost of living in South Florida. I don’t know how people are making it in New York on this pay,” a crew member said, adding that many of their colleagues work second jobs to make ends meet.

With Norse doing away with Oslo and Berlin flights, local budget-minded travelers can still find relatively cheap tickets to Europe with TAP Air Portugal, German low-coater Condor, and Spanish Level.

Norse Atlantic Airways did not respond to multiple requests for comments on this article.

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Agrippina Fadel

Agrippina Fadel grew up in Siberia and received her master's in journalism from Tyumen State University. A resident of Florida for over 10 years, she also works as a marketing and communication specialist at a local university.