Norwegian Announces Flights from Rome and Madrid to Boston

Recently I wrote that in the Massport's Board Meeting powerpoint, on a slide about new routes, there was a mention of Norwegian Airlines adding flights to Rome from Boston, hinting at the possibility of the route being announced soon. The official announcement has been made and came with an extra twist. Norwegian Airlines will inaugurate seasonal service to Madrid and Rome from Boston next year. Both routes will be flown on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner,. The route to Rome will be flown four times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, beginning March 31, 2019. Madrid will be serviced three times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, starting May 2, 2019. With these route additions, Norwegian will fly to four transatlantic destinations from Boston. This move also breaks up the monopolies held by Alitalia and Iberia, on their routes to Rome and Madrid respectively. I find the addition of Madrid very surprising, this will be the 3rd carrier to announce their intentions to fly from Boston to Madrid in the last 2 years, previously by Air Europa (which terminated the route after one season) and Primera Air (which announced the route, but went bankrupt and terminated operations). Clearly, airlines see demand for an additional airline on the route, but so far, no airline has been successful. The route to Rome makes a lot of sense in my opinion as Alitalia has been in a bad financial situation for a long time and Rome is a large tourist destination, ideal for low-cost airlines. I wish Norwegian luck with the two new routes and look forward to seeing how prices will be affected when the monopolies held by airlines on the routes come to an end.
Source: www.usatoday.com
             www.cbs8.com

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