Regulators clash over Norwegian Air transatlantic plan
The ongoing saga of the Norwegian Air application for a permit to fly low-cost routes to the US is causing friction between regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.
EU regulators claim the US is in breach of EU-US air transport agreement by continually holding up the application.
Norwegian Air already flies to the US on a temporary license registered in Norway and has applied for a foreign carrier permit for its Irish subsidiary.
Norwegian’s application has been strongly criticised by Delta, American, United and airline unions, saying it plans to circumvent strict labour laws and working standards.
“The European Commission considers that there is a breach of the EU-US air transport agreement by the US authorities as they are taking too long to process the application,” the EU executive said in a statement.
It said other less contentious applications had been granted without delay.
The 2007 open-skies reciprocal agreement allows EU-registered airlines to fly to the US from anywhere in Europe.
Last week Norwegian Air CEO Bjorn Kjos called the hold-up ‘purely political’ and urged a final decision as quickly as possible.
EU and US officials met November 25 and a further meeting is planned in January.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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