As far as Premium ticket holders are concerned, two possibilities present themselves. The first is that Norwegian will not be selling the first class suites which will be blocked off, and instead passengers booking Norwegian’s premium economy tariff will get to luxuriate in business class. The other is that both cabins will be left free for reservations for those with tickets who then log into the website. We will find out when the aircraft is loaded onto the system.
On the ex-SIA A380, business class is configured just 1-2-1 on the A380’s upper deck and seating is lie-flat.
Norwegian would be only the second carrier to charter Hi-Fly’s A380.
The latter’s first customer was Thomas Cook (Scandinavia) who used it just a couple of days ago for charter flights between Copenhagen and Larnaca (Cyprus) returning to Oslo.
After Norwegian it is expected the A380 will find service with France’s Air Austral. French media speculates this independent airline will roster the A380 on a number of dates in late August and early September between Paris CDG and La Reunion.
Norwegian should face no difficulty in filling the extra 150 or so seats. Almost all its flights on this route are already heavily booked during August and Norwegian will gain considerable publicity and kudos for a budget airline to be operating the A380.
The possibility of Norwegian using the double decker aircraft on selected routes has been discussed on our forum,
