Norwegian Air's Secret to Luring Millennial Travelers
*By Carlo Versano*
The summer of 2018 has been good to Norwegian Air.
The low-cost, long-haul airline saw a 13 percent year-over-year increase in passengers in July, flying 37 million people on popular transatlantic and European routes using its fleet of brand-new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The airline is actively trying to differentiate itself from other value options with its hardware, CEO Bjørn Kjos said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar.
"You can only fly on low fares with modern airplanes like the Dreamliner," he said.
Because the Dreamliners are more efficient and aerodynamic, they use less fuel, which means the company is less dependent on the price of crude oil than competitors with aging fleets. Modern aircrafts are the best hedge against fuel prices, Kjos said.
Norwegian has greatly expanded its offerings in the U.S., adding regional airports like Tampa to big hubs in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Kjos said the airline is also growing globally. It most recently [debuted](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-04/emerging-markets-maintain-losses-after-argentina-turkey-moves) an $18 in-country fare for Argentina, appealing to tourists interested in exploiting a weak currency.
Norwegian's expansion into a crowded low-fare marketplace has drawn both the ire and admiration of rivals. The chief of Ryanair reportedly called the airline ["a dog"](https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/norwegian-air-new-flights-tampa-ryanair-michael-oleary-british-airways-iag-a8415546.html), while the head of British Airways' parent company said he admired Kjos's ["bravery"] (https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/norwegian-air-new-flights-tampa-ryanair-michael-oleary-british-airways-iag-a8415546.html).
For Norwegian, the focus is on keeping costs down and appealing to millennial travelers, Kjos said. Younger passengers are more willing to fly on a no-frills flight, so long as they're on a modern aircraft, and prices remain cheap. While Norwegian's ethos is "affordable fares for everybody," according to Kjos, millennials are his most important customers.
"We really have to take care of them," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/norwegian-air-marks-record-passenger-numbers).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
