Norse Atlantic Airways

Bjørn Tore Larsen, Norse Atlantic Airways' founder and CEO, hadn't planned to get into the airline business. But when the COVID-19 pandemic depressed the global demand for air travel and the lease rates for jetliners, he realized if ever he was going to get into the airline business, this was the time. With below-market lease rates on 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Norse launched a new long-haul low-cost carrier targeting heavily traveled intercontinental markets. Norse’s business model started by offering consumers low-cost seats on routes like London – New York. This meant limiting their network to routes that already had well-developed traffic that afforded an opportunity for market segmentation. The company also put a strong focus on ancillary revenue as a key element of its business model.

Many other companies had tried and failed to make the long-haul low-cost business model work on the North Atlantic. During the tourism-driven summer months, it was easy to fill the planes and make money. The question was, could they make it through the off-season? Larson was focused on maintaining operational simplicity and a low-cost structure, but he admitted that the model had yet to be proven, and the history of those who had tried before him was not great.