In a bit of budget tightening, Norwegian Air is dropping its pilot and crew bases for 737 crews in Newburgh, New York and Providence, Rhode Island, although the cuts will not change any existing flight schedules.
Norwegian began service to the two mid-size airports, located just outside the New York and Boston metro areas, in 2017, and opened the bases to support staffing its 737 MAX flights to destinations in the British Isles and Norway, but the small-city routes have not developed as fully as expected, and will now be served by Europe-based crews.
Service was also originally offered from Hartford, Connecticut, but was cut last year. Part of the issue is whether there is enough demand for some of the European cities that are within reach for the 737s; that has resulted in dropping some routes to Edinburgh and Belfast.
Some industry analysts believe that Norwegian is also financially over-stretched and must make more cuts to stay alive. Although it is a major player on many trans-Atlantic routes, it has expanded rapidly, adding routes and planes.
