Press release -
Jane Austen announced as Norwegian’s latest British tail fin hero
Norwegian is proud to announce that British author Jane Austen will become its latest ‘tail fin hero’. The renowned author’s portrait will grace the tail fin of a Norwegian Dreamliner aircraft, as 2017 marked the 200th anniversary of her death.
Since Norwegian’s first aircraft took to the skies, the airline has always honoured iconic figures on the tails of its aircraft, using personalities who symbolise the spirit of Norwegian by pushing boundaries, challenging the norm and inspiring others.
To reflect Norwegian’s rapid growth in the UK, where it flies 5 million UK passengers each year to more than 40 global destinations, the airline is planning a series of British tail fin heroes. Jane Austen will become Norwegian’s sixth British tail fin hero, following the announcement of rock legend Freddie Mercury, footballer Bobby Moore, children’s authorRoald Dahl, pioneering pilot Amy Johnson and aviation maverick Sir Freddie Laker.
Jane Austen, one of the world's most famous authors, born on 16th December 1775, spent most of her life in the historic and beautiful county of Hampshire. Its houses, countryside and people provided the inspiration for many of her novels. It was during her time in the quiet village of Chawton that she wrote and revised six of her most famous novels - Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice and Northanger Abbey, and wrote Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. It wasn’t until 1810 that her first novel Sense & Sensibility was accepted for publishing by Thomas Egerton.
Norwegian’s Chief Commercial Officer Thomas Ramdahl said: “As Norwegian continues its rapid expansion in the UK, our ‘tail fin heroes’ offer us a perfect chance to pay tribute to some of the greatest Britons of all time. Jane Austen has inspired generations and as the world celebrates her bicentenary it is a huge honour to have one of the greatest authors of all time adorn our aircraft.”
The portrait of Jane Austen, which will be used to adorn the tail of a Norwegian aircraft, has been taken from a late nineteenth-century engraving, commissioned by Jane Austen’s nephew. The engraving is based upon National Portrait Gallery London’s pencil and watercolour sketch of Jane Austen, by her sister and closest confidante Cassandra Austen in 1810.
The Jane Austen tail fin will take to the skies next summer when it will adorn a Norwegian Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
For more information visit www.norwegian.com/uk
Topics
Norwegian in the UK:
- Norwegian carries 5.2 million UK passengers each year from London Gatwick, Edinburgh and Manchester Airports to 50 destinations worldwide
- Norwegian is the third largest airline at London Gatwick, with 4.6 million yearly passengers, and with more than 1,000 UK-based pilots and cabin crew
- In 2014, Norwegian introduced the UK’s first low-cost, long haul flights to the U.S. - the airline now flies to 9 U.S destinations and Singapore with fares from just £139 one way
- In 2017, Norwegian also launched affordable transatlantic flights from Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, Cork and Shannon to the US East Coast, using the brand new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft
- Norwegian is the only airline to offer free inflight WiFi on UK flights to more than 30 European destinations
- The airline has one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the world with an average age of 3.6 years, including next-generation Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Boeing 737-800s
- Norwegian has been voted ‘Europe’s best low-cost carrier’ by passengers for five consecutive years at SkyTrax World Airline Awards from 2013-2017, along with being awarded the ‘World's best low-cost long-haul airline’ in 2015, 2016 and 2017
- Norwegian Reward is the airline's free to join award-winning loyalty programme offering members CashPoints and Rewards that reduce the cost of Norwegian flights
