Skip to content

Press release -

Norwegian Ranked Largest Foreign Airline in New York City for 2019

Norwegian has maintained its leadership position as the largest foreign airline in New York City for 2019, after surpassing Air Canada in February 2019, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s (PANYNJ) year-end traffic statistics. For full-year 2019, Norwegian handled 2,057,284 customers in New York City.

The airline has continuously grown its presence in NYC, where it currently offers eight nonstop routes from John F. Kennedy Airport to Europe: Amsterdam; Athens; Barcelona; London; Madrid; Oslo; Paris; and Rome. According to PANYNJ, after leading JFK’s international passenger traffic for two years in a row, Norwegian was the third-ranked contributor to growth with a net increase of 349,224 travellers and a 28.5 per cent jump.

“During a challenging and complex year, becoming the largest foreign airline in New York City is remarkable and a testament that our low-cost business model continues to appeal to modern travellers. With our focus on John F. Kennedy Airport, where we will soon be unveiling biometric boarding for greater efficiency and convenience, our presence will be further enhanced and improved in the forthcoming months. We will strive to solidify our lead in the New York region as we continue to offer our award-winning service to our customers,” said Matthew Wood, Senior Vice President of Commercial Long Haul and New Markets at Norwegian.

In eleven consecutive months in 2019, Norwegian continued to considerably increase its passenger numbers in-spite of route closures at Stewart International Airport due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft; and route transfers from Newark Liberty Airport to John F. Kennedy Airport; as well as other issues facing the industry. Norwegian exceeded Air Canada in February and maintained its ranking as the eighth overall largest airline after U.S. carriers United, Delta, JetBlue Airways, American, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Alaska Airlines, respectively. Air Canada is ranked ninth and British Airways as the tenth largest airline in terms of passengers carried.

With more than 40 nonstop routes to the US, Norwegian offers more routes from Europe than any other European airline. Norwegian is also the largest airline to Europe in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Florida.

In 2019, Norwegian partnered with climate company CHOOOSE to make it easy for customers to offset their carbon footprint when buying a ticket with the airline. CHOOOSE has developed a solution that seamlessly integrates into the customer check-out process, making it easy for customers to connect with the best CO2-reducing projects around the world. In addition to Norwegian, CHOOOSE enables a wide range of partners to integrate climate action directly into their products and services, and now has customers in over 70 countries.

Thanks to Norwegian’s young and more fuel-efficient fleet, 1.7 million metric tons of CO2 were saved in 2019 compared to the industry average. At the same time, 40 percent of the total CO2 emissions were offset through EU’s emissions trading system.

Topics


Norwegian in the UK and Ireland:

  • Norwegian carries almost 6 million UK passengers each year from London Gatwick, Edinburgh and Manchester Airports to 30 destinations worldwide
  • Norwegian is the third largest airline at London Gatwick, with 4.6 million yearly passengers, and over 1,200 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 11 U.S destinations, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro from London Gatwick
  • Norwegian is the only airline to offer free inflight WiFi on UK flights to more than 30 European destinations and 13 long-haul destinations.
  • The airline has one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the world with an average age of 4.6 years, including next-generation Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing 737 MAX and Boeing 737-800s
  • Norwegian has been voted ‘Europe’s best low-cost carrier’ by passengers for six consecutive years at SkyTrax World Airline Awards from 2013-2018, along with being awarded the ‘World's best low-cost long-haul airline’ in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019
  • 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

Contacts

Press Office details

Press Office details

Press contact
Marketing/sponsorhip requests: marketing@norwegian.com

Marketing/sponsorhip requests: marketing@norwegian.com

Press contact Marketing/sponsorship requests: marketing@norwegian.com

Norwegian.com

The Norwegian group is a leading Nordic aviation company, headquartered at Fornebu outside Oslo, Norway. The company has over 8,200 employees and owns two of the prominent airlines in the Nordics: Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe’s Flyveselskap. Widerøe was acquired by Norwegian in 2024, aiming to facilitate seamless air travel across the two airline’s networks.

Norwegian Air Shuttle, the largest Norwegian airline with around 4,700 employees, operates an extensive route network connecting Nordic countries to key European destinations. In 2023, Norwegian carried over 20 million passengers and maintained a fleet of 87 Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

Widerøe’s Flyveselskap, Norway’s oldest airline, is Scandinavia’s largest regional carrier. The airline has more than 3,500 employees. Mainly operating the short-runway airports in rural Norway, Widerøe operates several state contract routes (PSO routes) in addition to its own commercial network. In 2023, the airline had 3.3 million passengers and a fleet of 48 aircraft, including 45 Bombardier Dash 8’s and three Embraer E190-E2's. Widerøe Ground Handling provides ground handling services at 41 Norwegian airports.

The Norwegian group has sustainability as a key priority and has committed to significantly reducing carbon emissions from its operations. Among numerous initiatives, the most noteworthy is the investment in production and use of fossil-free aviation fuel (SAF). Norwegian strives to become the sustainable choice for its passengers, actively contributing to the transformation of the aviation industry.

Norwegian