President-elect Donald Trump will be facing some serious decisions affecting the aviation industry when they cross his desk next month-starting with what to do with Norwegian Air.
The international carrier was approved earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin trans-Atlantic service next year from the U.S. to Europe. Yet, Norwegian Air has been heavily criticized for using Ireland as a home base (where labor laws are less stringent) to set up its subsidiary Norwegian Air International (NAI).
This has irked U.S. carriers and aviation labor unions and prompted U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) to lead a bipartisan group of more than 100 members of Congress to call on Trump to reverse the Norwegian Air decision by the DOT.
Larsen penned a letter to Trump stating that NAI is allowed to hire pilots and flights attendants on an individual contract basis, which keeps costs lower and, critics say, violates the Open Skies agreement with Norway and the European Union and gives it an unfair competitive advantage in the transatlantic market.
"On December 2, 2016, the Department of Transportation (DOT) made a grievously wrong decision to grant Norwegian Air International a foreign air carrier permit for U.S.-Europe air services," the letter to Trump states. "Given your commitment to protecting American jobs and our national security, we strongly urge you, on Day One of your presidency, to revoke or suspend the permit until Norwegian changes its business model to a model that does not rely on a flag of convenience and threaten America's international aviation industry and our national security."
A full copy of the letter can be found here.
[READMORE]READ MORE: DOT Approval Of Norwegian Air Thrills Some, Rankles Others[/READMORE]
Norwegian officials have denied the charges, saying they will not hire foreign pilots at below-market rates. In addition, with flights to Europe originating from five American airports, the airline contends it will be creating and supporting thousands of jobs in the U.S.
"Yet, these opponents continue to ignore the facts and maintain creating a fear-mongering and wildly inaccurate scenario," Anders Lindstrom, Norwegian Air spokesman, told USA Today. "Fortunately, the DOT has analyzed all the facts provided to them, which clearly states that no other foreign airline invests in the American economy like Norwegian."
By the end of 2017, Norwegian will have more than 300 long-haul crew members based in New York and 200 in Fort Lauderdale, according to USA Today.
"No other foreign airline has more US-based cabin crew and continues to create more American jobs than Norwegian, and next year, we will be the only foreign airline to recruit American pilots as we will open up several new pilot and cabin crew bases in the United States," Lindstrom said. "All US-based pilots and crew are hired under local laws and regulations with competitive packages."
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