Advocates on both sides of the debate over Norwegian Air International (NAI) are making their voices heard in Washington, D.C. this week, hoping to convince the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to either approve or disallow NAI from flying transatlantic flights to and from the U.S.
Norwegian Air Shuttle CEO Bjørn Kjos is visiting the U.S. capital city this week to make public appearances in support of NAI, Norwegian’s Ireland-based long-haul subsidiary, which in February filed an application with DOT for a foreign carrier permit to serve the U.S. from the EU. 
“NAI will provide the traveling public with an innovative, low-cost option that offers award-winning service to new and underserved destinations on brand-new Boeing [787]Dreamliner aircraft,” Kjos will say this week, according to a preview of his public remarks provided by Norwegian. “DOT approval of NAI’s application is the final barrier preventing American consumers from the choice they so desperately want and deserve.”
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA)—one of the strongest voices in the alliance of unions and mainline U.S. and European airlines that are against NAI’s DOT application—organized a public display of pilots on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, to urge members of Congress to oppose NAI. “U.S. and legitimate EU airlines play by the rules in the global marketplace—that’s fair competition,” ALPA president Lee Moak said. “Conversely, NAI’s model to skirt employment and tax laws is a direct attack on the fair market.”
Norwegian has strongly rejected the assertion that it is avoiding employment and tax laws by basing NAI in Ireland. “I believe the values of innovation, competition and the rule of law—so highly prized here in the United States—will serve to overcome the opposition NAI has received from entrenched interests,” Kjos plans to say. “I am confident that adherence to international agreements and the law will be the factors upon which DOT ultimately relies to decide this matter. I am equally confident NAI’s application will be approved by DOT, albeit far overdue.”
While ALPA and others believe NAI threatens U.S. jobs, Norwegian noted it “already employs 300 American cabin crewmembers in Fort Lauderdale and New York, and currently is recruiting American pilots at its New York pilot base.” Norwegian said in a statement that NAI “meets all statutory and regulatory requirements to serve the United States and is entitled to DOT approval with minimum procedural delay.”
Moak countered, “The U.S. maritime industry has seen the adverse effects of flag-of-convenience business practices where companies register merchant ships in a foreign state to avoid their own country’s regulation, taxes and labor codes. The precedent proposed by NAI threatens the U.S. airline industry and our jobs.”
ALPA said NAI will “take advantage of Ireland’s relaxed employment laws to employ outsourced foreign-domiciled workers contracted from a separate employer at wage and benefit levels substantially lower than if it operated as a Norwegian airline headquartered in Norway.”
NAI CEO Asgeir Nyseth said in October, “We moved to Ireland to have EU traffic rights … It is not possible to grow [into a major international long-haul airline] just within Norway.”