The ongoing grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX has pushed Norwegian Air to cancel its entire schedule of flights between three Irish airports and North America. The routes had all been flown on 737 MAX planes.
Since the grounding, Norwegian has kept its flights from Cork, Shannon and Dublin to Providence, RI, New York-Stewart and Hamilton, Ontario going by leasing aircraft and crews from other suppliers. But since the profitability of the routes was based on the highly-efficient MAX and in-house crews, they have become unprofitable, and at a time when Norwegian’s financial struggles have caused it to shift focus from growth to profitability.
The termination, which may or may not have a future when the 737 MAX returns, ends trans-Atlantic flight from the three North American airports, and will result in significant job loss at the other end, with Norwegian shutting down its Dublin crew base.
The flights will end September 15, which means that passengers with reservations on later flights will have had enough advance notice for the airline to owe no compensation under the EU’s Rule 261—but not enough to find replacement flights except at much higher prices. The airline has said it will try to accommodate passengers on alternate itineraries, but for many travelers that will not be feasible.
