U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Rick Larsen (D-WA), chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation, called on the U.S. Department of Transportation Friday to deny Norse Atlantic Airways a foreign air carrier permit, citing fair labor standards.
In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the congressmen said they were concerned that the founder of Norse Atlantic Airways is also the executive leader of Norwegian Air Shuttle, which formed Irish and U.K. subsidiaries to operate low-cost long-haul flights into the United States from European cities, and that Norse Atlantic will use similar labor tactics – operating flights using crews assigned to the carrier under third-party placement agency contracts – in order to get around Norway’s strong labor laws and protections.
