May 2, 2014

Secretary Anthony Foxx

Office of the Secretary

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

Washington, D.C. 20590

Dear Mr. Secretary Foxx,

I am writing to you in response to the Norwegian Air International application 

and in regards to the numerous communications that have been placed in the U.S. 

Department of Transportation (DOT) docket number OST-2013-0204. As a citizen of the 

United States I feel it necessary to respond about the matter at hand.

Recently, ALPA and other unions have expressed their concern about Norwegian 

Air International and their application through the open skies agreement. Recently, 

Norwegian halted talks with Boeing in regards to an order of Dreamliner’s’. ALPA is 

stating that this is a “coercion ploy” by Norwegian in order to gain approval for their 

permit. It is my concern that ALPA’s concern has not merit. Why would a company place 

an order for a product that they might not be able to use? 

The Unions have stated publicly that Norwegian is undercutting labor laws by

utilizing cheap labor, the Thai crews. However they fail to mention that Norwegian has 

hired Scandinavian and US crews at competitive wages and that these crews have been 

working the flights between the US and Scandinavia. Unfortunately the delay in the 

permit is threatening the US jobs as well as Scandinavian jobs.

This week also the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) wrote a 

letter urging the denial of the application stating that it would undermine the thousands of 

Flights Attendants that would be employed by the “New” American Airlines pending the 

finalization of the merger between American Airlines and US Airways. It is hard to 

believe that Norwegians expansion plans would undermine them. As a flight attendant 

myself, working for 14 years in different carriers like Delta and American Airlines to 

name a few, the compensation packages offered to the Cabin Crews by Norwegian far 

excels those offered by some US carriers. The starting wages for the US Cabin Crew 

members is far better than that of a starting Flight Attendant at a US carrier, $3.61 more 

at Norwegian to name. The unions have been comparing the starting pay of Norwegian 

with those of Flight Attendants who have been flying for 15+ years.

APFA has also stated that the “New” American is trying to stay competitive 

against other foreign carriers. However, how are they not being competitive when they

have alliances where they sell seats in each other’s flights, thus still creating profit 

between themselves. 
In addition Norwegian has been creating jobs in an economy where it has been 

getting harder and harder to find a job. As of now they have created over 300 jobs for 

cabin crew position alone in the US without counting the pilot jobs that they are creating.

If the application is denied now all those people who finally found a job will be 

unemployed and for some this is their only source of income and insurance.

The fact is that they are scared of the competition that Norwegian will bring in a 

market that has been dominated for years by the major carriers. Now with the mergers 

happening ticket prices have been skyrocketing and Norwegian is offering prices at much 

lower costs thus providing affordable travel to those who would never had though of 

being able to travel to Europe and who could not afford the tickets. However if 

Norwegian’s application whether approved or not, what is going to stop other carriers 

like Ryan Air who have already showed interest in transatlantic travel, from starting 

service? 

It is my belief that ALPA and APFA do not know what they are fighting for 

anymore, as they have been providing information without merit to each other. Their 

arguments should not hold merit in the decision of the DOT for Norwegians application. I 

urge you Secretary Foxx to approve Norwegian’s application. If the company has 

fulfilled all the requirements for the permit then it should be granted without any further 

delay. This delay is not just affecting now The US Cabin Crewmembers for Norwegian 

but also the flying public who are looking forward to their dream vacations. 

Sincerely,

E.S.A