Norse Atlantic Airways

Norse Atlantic Airways is an airline that is easy to overlook because it has so few aircraft. For spotters, that is more of an advantage: around a dozen Boeing 787-9s, each with its own national park name, plus a business model in which the same aircraft flies as Norse today and under another airline’s flight number tomorrow. Here you will learn how to reliably recognize the Norwegians and where you can still see them at all.

Norse Atlantic Airways at a glance

Norse Atlantic Airways is a Norwegian long-haul low-cost carrier headquartered in Arendal on Norway’s south coast. It was founded in 2021 by shipping magnate Bjørn Tore Larsen. Bjørn Kjos, the founder of Norwegian, was also on board at the start – no coincidence: Norwegian had said goodbye to long-haul during the pandemic, and Norse wanted to fill exactly that gap with low-cost transatlantic flights.

The capital came together quickly. In spring 2021, Norse raised an amount in the billions (in Norwegian kroner) through a private placement and its stock market listing in Oslo combined. The aircraft came from lessors, including AerCap and BOC Aviation. The industry already knew many of them: they were Dreamliners that had previously flown for Norwegian. Norse took delivery of its first 787-9 in December 2021, and the Norwegian air operator certificate followed shortly after.

The first scheduled flight departed on June 14, 2022 from Oslo to New York JFK. After that, things moved fast: Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Orlando and Berlin were added. In 2021, Norse had also founded the British subsidiary Norse Atlantic UK, which flies from London Gatwick.

There is no alliance. Norse mainly sells point-to-point tickets and offers connections only through so-called virtual interline partners, where booking platforms combine flights from different airlines.

Codes and callsigns

• IATA code N0: appears in the flight number, on departure boards and on tickets. Careful: the second character is the digit zero, not the letter O.
• ICAO code NBT: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign LONGSHIP: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio – the English word for the Viking longship.
• Norse Atlantic UK: The British subsidiary has its own codes – IATA Z0, ICAO UBT and the callsign LONGBOAT.

The callsign is a nice example of how airlines carry their brand all the way into the radio. You will find more stories like this in the article on quirky airline callsigns.

The fleet: only the Boeing 787-9

Norse consistently relies on a single type. According to the available fleet overviews, around a dozen Boeing 787-9s fly in 2026, some of them with Norse Atlantic UK. There is no new order – all aircraft are leased.

Type	Status	Seats	Spotter note
Boeing 787-9	in service, around a dozen	338 (56 Premium, 282 Economy)	Only current type, many aircraft ex Norwegian
Boeing 787-8	handed back in 2024	–	Three aircraft from the early days, most recently subleased to Air Europa

The Boeing 787-9 is the stretched version of the Dreamliner and made for long-haul low-cost: plenty of range, enough room for over 300 seats and much lower fuel burn than older widebody jets. The shorter 787-8 was only a topic at Norse for a short time. The three aircraft were subleased to Air Europa and returned to the lessor in 2024, so that Norse operates just one type. According to FlightGlobal, these three 787-8s were fitted with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. The manufacturer of all the Dreamliners is Boeing.

In the cabin, Norse uses two classes: 56 Premium seats in 2-3-2 and 282 Economy seats in 3-3-3. Extras such as baggage or meals cost extra depending on the fare – the classic low-cost principle, just on a ten-hour flight. The article How low-cost carriers work explains how the model works in general.

How to recognize Norse

The brand plays on Scandinavia’s Viking heritage. The logo is inspired by the Oseberg ship, a famous Viking ship find from southern Norway; the livery and brand look pick up the shape of the longship. The fuselage carries the “Norse” titles. Norse unveiled the final livery in August 2021, before the first scheduled flight.

The nicest detail for collectors is the names: every aircraft is named after a national park, usually in a country Norse flies to or used to fly to. They include Raet in Norway, the Everglades in Florida, Dartmoor in England and Yellowstone National Park. If you photograph the names too, it is easier to match your sightings to individual aircraft later.

Because Norse flies only one type, the type question is settled quickly – as long as you can reliably recognize the Dreamliner. Typical features are the strongly upswept, slender wings without classic winglets, the serrated engine trailing edges and the curved nose with the distinctive cockpit windows. If you are unsure, the comparisons A350 or 787? and Telling the Boeing 777 and 787 apart help.

Wet lease: when a Norse 787 flies for others

From the start, Norse has not only operated aircraft itself but also made them available to other airlines. With a wet lease – also called ACMI in the industry – Norse supplies aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance, and the other airline sells the tickets under its own flight number. For spotters, this creates unusual combinations.

Partner	Period	What happened
Air Europa	from 2022	Two 787-8s and two 787-9s subleased for 18 months
TUI fly Nordic	Winter 2022/23	One aircraft for leisure flights from Scandinavia
Neos	Winter 2024/25	One aircraft for the Italian leisure airline
IndiGo	2025 to 2026	Up to six 787-9s for long-haul flights from India, early termination announced in July 2026 effective November 1, 2026
Pakistan International Airlines	reported in October 2026	Leasing agreement according to media reports, details still open

IndiGo in particular has shown how important this business has become for Norse. According to Aviation Week, Norse flew significantly fewer of its own scheduled flights in August 2026 than a year earlier, while the number of ACMI and charter flights rose sharply. After the IndiGo contract ends, the aircraft return on November 1, 2026; Norse is looking for new assignments with other airlines for some of them. For you, that means a Norse 787 can also turn up at airports that Norse itself never had in its schedule.

The route network: a lot of movement in a short time

Hardly any airline has rebuilt its network so often in so few years. Norse started as a transatlantic airline with destinations such as New York, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Orlando, Miami and Las Vegas. Many of these US routes were discontinued again over the years. European destinations also came and went: Berlin ended in September 2025, Paris Charles de Gaulle in April 2026.

For winter 2026/27, Norse has, according to Aviation Week, also dropped New York – both from Gatwick and from Rome. The only scheduled transatlantic route that remains is London Gatwick–Orlando. The focus is now on leisure flights to Thailand: Bangkok and Phuket are served from Gatwick, Manchester, Oslo and Stockholm and make up most of the winter capacity. In addition, Norse flies charter and ACMI assignments for other airlines.

There have been changes within the company, too. Since late 2025, Eivind Roald, previously Chief Commercial Officer at SAS, has led the airline as CEO. As early as 2025, Norse cut jobs, mainly in administration; in 2026, a strategic review followed that, according to Aviation Week, could also result in a sale, a merger or a partnership. Treat all information on the route network as a snapshot as of October 2026.

A record at the South Pole

One chapter makes Norse unforgettable in aviation history: in November 2023, the 787-9 with the registration LN-FNC landed at Troll Airfield in Antarctica, the ice runway of the Norwegian research station Troll. The aircraft came via Cape Town and carried 45 passengers and around twelve tons of cargo. It was the first landing of a Boeing 787 on the Antarctic continent. Photos of this flight are among the most unusual Dreamliner pictures ever – and LN-FNC has been a special registration on many spotters’ wish lists ever since.

Spotting Norse: Oslo, Gatwick and wet-lease destinations

In Germany, Norse currently has no scheduled service after the end of the Berlin flights. Your best chances are at the bases:

• Oslo Airport: Home airport of the Norwegian company with flights to Thailand. The airport is also home to the aircraft collection Forsvarets flysamling Gardermoen, which combines well with a spotting day.
• London Gatwick Airport: Base of Norse Atlantic UK with flights to Orlando and Thailand. You will find tips on spots and light in the guide Plane spotting at Gatwick.
• Wet-lease destinations: When Norse flies for other airlines, the Dreamliners also show up at airports that are not in its own schedule.

Long-haul flights have their own rhythms: many aircraft from Asia and North America land in Europe early in the morning and depart again in the evening or at night. The article When long-haul flights land and depart in Europe shows when you can typically expect widebody jets.

Norse in comparison

Long-haul low-cost is considered a difficult business, and its history is full of attempts. Zoom Airlines of Canada flew cheaply across the Atlantic in the 2000s and went bankrupt in 2008, Level from the IAG group flies with Airbus A330s, and French bee flies Airbus A350s from Paris. With its all-787-9 fleet, Norse is a particularly clear example. Another Norwegian carrier is the short-lived Flyr, which was founded around the same time as Norse but focused on short- and medium-haul and gave up in 2023.

Common mix-ups

• Confusing N0 with NO – the IATA code ends in the digit zero.
• Thinking Norse is a Norwegian subsidiary – Norse is independent, but many of its aircraft come from Norwegian.
• Logging every Norse 787 as a Norse flight – on wet lease, it flies under another airline’s flight number.
• Confusing the 787-9 with the A350 – pay attention to the cockpit windows, nose and wingtips.
• Using old route lists – New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Berlin are currently no longer in the schedule.
• Logging a 787-8 – Norse gave up the short version in 2024.

Conclusion

Norse Atlantic Airways is small, young and changeable – and that is exactly why it makes a rewarding collecting target. A manageable fleet of Boeing 787-9s with national park names, a Viking logo and a history that even includes a landing in Antarctica: anyone following the Norse Dreamliners mainly needs an up-to-date schedule and a look at the registration, because not every flight of a Norse 787 is a Norse flight.