Norse takes delivery of first Boeing Dreamliner ahead of debut flights

Airline startup Norse Atlantic ASA took delivery of the first of a fleet of Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner jets ahead of a planned beginning of transatlantic flights in spring 2022.

The carrier, led by shipping entrepreneur Bjorn Tore Larsen, will continue to receive as many as 15 of the planes through April and they will be based in Oslo, Norse said in a statement on Monday. The initial Dreamliner is leased from BOC Aviation Ltd.

Norse opted to push back the start of operations by about three months last year due to prolonged travel bans to contain the coronavirus. Many of those—including lucrative routes between the U.S. and Europe—are now open, though the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant has raised fears of fresh restrictions.

“We believe that transatlantic travel will resume with full force once the pandemic is behind us,” Larsen said.