The carrier's CEO, Jóhanna á Bergi, confirmed the development in a conversation with Faroese national radio broadcaster Kringvarp Føroya.
According to Bergi, the airline will provide direct weekly flights from Vágar to Newburgh (New York Stewart) International Airport starting in late August 2023. Situated approximately 100 kilometers north of Manhattan, Newburgh is about 90 minutes by bus or 75 minutes by car from the city.
Initially, Atlantic Airways intended to fly to Newark, which is much closer to downtown New York, as Bergi mentioned to ch-aviation in October 2019. However, the plan was postponed due to the pandemic and later reevaluated.
Bergi stated that nearly all aspects of the plan are now confirmed, and the new route is expected to commence in late August. The airline will begin with weekly departures from the Faroe Islands on Tuesdays and plans to expand the route the following year.
Atlantic Airways has announced the new route on its website, stating that flights will operate "on Tuesdays from August 22 to around October 4, and the return flight will be on Wednesdays. The flight time will be around six hours. Sales start on May 15."
The acquisition of the A320neo has been crucial to opening up services to the United States. Atlantic Airways currently operates two A320-200N aircraft, both of which are dry-leased from Air Lease Corporation, as shown in the ch-aviation fleets advanced module. The airline's fleet also includes two A320-200s and a third A320ceo wet-leased from DAT (Denmark) subsidiary DAT LT (R6, Kaunas). In April 2021, Atlantic Airways announced that the delivery of two more A320neo aircraft had been postponed from 2023 or 2024 to 2027 or 2028.
