Norwegian (Oslo Gardermoen) would consider acquiring a European airline already in possession of a US foreign carrier permit should the US Department of Transportation (DoT) reject the pending application of new Irish subsidiary, Norwegian Air International (Dublin International).
"If that happens we'll buy an airline with a permit," Chief Executive Bjorn Kjos said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "We've had many offers from airlines to buy them, but it would be better for us to have our own license," he added.
Kjos did however, remain optimistic about his airline's prospects of securing its US permit.
Norwegian is facing extreme resistance from both US trade unions and legacy carriers over its application to the DoT. They argue that Norwegian's use of an Irish AOC amounts to the use of a flag of convenience and would allow it to circumvent costly labour regulations in its homeland, Norway, thereby giving it an unfair competitive advantage.
Kjos warned that Norwegian Air Int'l's failure to secure a US traffic permit would force Norwegian Long Haul (Oslo Gardermoen) to maintain the airline's longhaul operations out of Oslo Gardermoen, a market he deemed insufficient to sustain Norwegian's longhaul ambitions.
The CEO also played down previous reports in the local media that claimed Norwegian would acquire a US carrier claiming his quote had been taken out of context.
