Norse Atlantic has started flying from Berlin, a brand-new airport for the new entrant and the first in its current European network not to have been served – long-haul, anyway – by Norwegian. On August 17th, Norse launched Berlin to New York JFK, with Berlin-Los Angeles to follow on the 19th. And it has announced its next Berlin route – to Fort Lauderdale – which starts this December.

Willkommen, Berlin!

At 20:01 on August 17th, flight N0601 left Berlin bound for New York. With the call sign 'Longship Six Zero One,' it landed in JFK at 22:11 local time, according to Flightradar24, after some 8h 10m.

It was operated by LN-FNI, a 338-seat, 3.9-year-old B787-9 previously with Norwegian Air UK that positioned from Oslo the day before; see this video from the arrival. I flew LN-FNI last week; it was on this exact aircraft that I reviewed Norse's premium product.

Returning, N0602 departed JFK at the fun time of 01:20 and landed in Germany at 14:12. Influenced by tailwind and scheduling, arrived 13 minutes ahead of schedule. It wasn't operated by LN-FNI, which flew Berlin-JFK-Oslo. Instead, it was by LN-FND, which routed Oslo-JFK-Berlin and back, demonstrating how it'll be scheduled and that Berlin won't have any based aircraft.

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JFK and Los Angeles

Currently running 1x daily, Berlin-JFK sensibly reduces to 3x weekly this winter, when demand reduces significantly. It'll have the same frequency as Berlin-Los Angeles year-round.

They're scheduled as follows, with all times local. While JFK's schedule isn't necessarily overly appealing, it's undoubtedly driven by a lack of slots at the airport, with JFK the world's third-ranked long-haul airport. Both routes use Oslo-based aircraft:

  • Berlin-JFK: N0601, 19:20-22:00; 1x daily, 3x weekly in winter
  • JFK-Berlin: N0602, 00:30-14:25
  • Berlin-Los Angeles: starts August 19th, N0611, 08:50-12:05 (Wednesdays;); 13:20-16:35 (Fridays); 17:50-21:05 (Sundays)
  • Los Angeles-Berlin: starts August 18th, N0612, 10:40-06:50+1 (Tuesdays), 15:10-11:20+1 (Thursdays), 19:40-15:50+1 (Saturdays)
Norse Atlantic's first Berlin to JFK flight
This was the routing of the first flight. Image: Flightradar24.

Both were unserved

In 2019, Berlin Tegel-JFK had approximately 130,000 point-to-point (P2P) roundtrip passengers, according to booking data. While a good chunk flew nonstop with Delta, which ended the route in October that year, the majority flew via a hub.

Berlin-JFK has seen multiple airlines, including PanAm, airberlin, Lufthansa, and – on three separate occasions – Delta. And Delta will return next May with a 5x weekly B767-300ER service, supplementing United's 1x daily year-round B767-300ER/B767-400ER operation from Newark.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, had airberlin between May 2012 and October 2013, then again between May 2017-September 2017. In 2019, when it wasn't served, approximately 67,000 P2P passengers connected en route.

Norse Atlantic Berlin to JFK
From September, Norse will be Berlin's leading provider of long-haul capacity by seats for sale, flights, and available seat miles. Pictured here are Thomas Hoff Andersson (left), Berlin's COO, and Bjorn Tore Larsen, Norse's CEO. Photo: via Norse Atlantic.

Fort Lauderdale is coming

Norse isn't done with Berlin. On December 7th, it'll begin a 3x weekly Fort Lauderdale service, using that airport as an alternative to Miami and wider South Florida. It'll supplement its existing Oslo-Fort Lauderdale operation.

airberlin flew Tegel-Miami between November 2010-September 2017, and booking data shows that around 53,000 passengers connected to and from Miami/Fort Lauderdale in 2019, another sizeable market.

What do you make of Norse Atlantic's Germany network? Let us know in the comments.