Originally Posted by
aussieizborn
Can someone inform me as to how Norwegian, as a foreign operator, can operate out of Gatwick to destinations various, competing and actually denying business to true British carriers? Is it part of the EU agreement. If so I must admit I can't wait until the skies belong to our operators again.
Absolutely. It's the same rules which allow easyJet to establish a base at e.g. Schiphol and cart people from there all over the continent and UK. Works both ways, you see.
The aircraft Norwegian have based at Gatters are Irish registred, that is until they've got their UK AOC up and running and start transferring aircraft over to G-reg. The RoI is a full EU member, Norway is an EEA member, which brings most of the benefits of being a full EU member - including the ability to launch an airline anywhere in the EU under a Norwegian AOC.
Norwegian is 'denying business' no more than any other airline operating in the UK or EU; they are offering a product which a large and growing number of people are reacting positively to. There's nothing stopping a UK company doing something along the same lines, and indeed they have - with tremendous success.