Primera Air Scandinavia (Billund) is mulling launching flights to Montréal Trudeau and either Baltimore International or Washington Dulles out of its European bases in order to further establish itself on the low-cost long-haul market, CEO Hrafn Thorgeirsson told Forbes. In the medium-term, the Scandinavian carrier would also potentially launch operations to Africa, the Middle East, and India.
"We're definitely looking at more destinations both in Canada and in America. It would be either Washington, D.C., or Montreal, or perhaps both. Those are the next two that I would expect to come out with a decision on for North America. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw them coming in 2019," Thorgeirsson said.
If the results on those routes fulfil the carrier's expectations, it will consider expanding to Kenya, Gambia, Cape Verde, India and the Gulf region, pending appropriate governmental approvals, he added.
The carrier currently focuses on Scandinavia-Mediterranean leisure operations, operating mainly out of Copenhagen Kastrup, Billund, and Aalborg, while its Latvian-based subsidiary Primera Air Nordic (Riga) flies predominantly out of Stockholm Arlanda, Gothenburg Landvetter, and Reykjavik Keflavik.
In 2018, the group plans to shift its operations more towards scheduled flights out of its new bases at Birmingham, GB, London Stansted, and Paris CDG to each of New York Newark, Boston, and Toronto Pearson. The airline will take delivery of eight A321neos in 2018 to operate these flights. Primera Air has also announced it will enter the UK-Spain market with flights from Birmingham to each of Malaga and Palma de Mallorca, as well as from Stansted to each of Alicante and Malaga.
According to Thorgeirsson, initial sales on Primera Air's maiden transatlantic services are promising enough to consider further growth in this market.
The airline will have ample capacity at its disposal as it plans to take delivery ten B737-9s in 2019, followed by eight more aircraft of the type and two Airbus A321neo LRs in 2020. According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the Danish- and Latvian-based subsidiaries together currently operate two B737-700s and seven B737-800s.
