Berlin, arguably the biggest capital city to have only a handful of long-haul international flights and almost none to the U.S. is now getting new connections to three U.S. cities.
The cut-rate airline that is a reprise of sorts to the failed Norwegian long-haul service, has chosen the German capital as a new focus for U.S. destinations, with service started this week to New York and Los Angeles, and announced service to Fort Lauderdale in December.
Other than Norse, non-stop service between Berlin and the U.S. has been limited to a United flight from Newark and Lufthansa flights from New York and Chicago. Most of Lufthansa’s Berlin itineraries involve changing planes in Frankfurt or Munich. Norse’s flights will use its 787 Dreamliners; the United flight operates with a 767-400.
Norse has made other moves lately as it tries to grow in a more controlled way than Norwegian did. One move that is a radical difference from Norwegian’s plans to serve many cities directly is its recent move to set up a feeder network that will allow Easyjet in Europe and Spirit in the U.S. to write through tickets using Norse for the trans-Atlantic leg. That move could allow it to serve fewer American gateways without losing access to markets.
