North Atlantic narrowbody aircraft routes: a dynamic niche segment undergoing transformation

On 2-Jan-2018 Nordic LCC Primera Air confirmed it is considering new services to Montreal and Washington. It has no widebody aircraft and currently operates no long haul routes.

Nevertheless, it will begin nine new trans-Atlantic routes in summer 2018 using the new narrowbody A321neo (Birmingham, Paris CDG and London Stansted to Boston, Newark and Toronto). Four of these routes are new airport pairs (the three Stansted routes and Birmingham-Boston), made possible by the superior economics of the new generation of narrowbody aircraft. Primera's route capabilities will be further extended when it takes delivery of two of the longer range A321neoLRs in 2020.

Air Canada and Delta are also opening new trans-Atlantic routes with narrowbodies this summer, while SATA International is to switch three routes from widebody to narrowbody operation with the A321neo, before taking delivery of the A321neoLR in 2019 and 2020. Norwegian launched 12 new North Atlantic narrowbody routes last summer, using the Boeing 737MAX-8.

Narrowbody routes on the North Atlantic form a small, but very dynamic, niche segment undergoing transformation, thanks to new aircraft types and new entrant airlines.