progapanda

JFK-NOU? Sure, if they wanted to set a new record for the longest commercial passenger flight.

GUWonder

Guadeloupe and Martinique are integral parts of France, and thus of the EU. They not only vote in French elections as citizens of the French Republic, they also vote for MEPs in the European Parliament as citizens of the EU and use the Euro; and their passports are EU passports.

U.S.-EU flight service is what US-Guadeloupe and U.S.-Martinique flight service is -- just like Hawaii-Japan service is US-Japan service. Glad to see another EEA carrier provide more U.S.-EU service. It's good for competition.

Hawaii has one of the 50 stars on the U.S. flag and is a U.S. state; Puerto Rico, however, is neither a U.S. state nor does it have a star on the U.S. flag. It seems like comparative government, French governmental history and U.S. governmental history lessons may be useful to understand how the attempt at analogy using Puerto Rico just doesn't fly.

lhrsfo

Of course, any US-based carriers could set up service on the same routes. The fact that they haven't suggests that they have no good grounds for complaint.

GUWonder

I have to wonder if these route are going to be more economically viable for Norwegian than for US carrier. I have my doubts about that, but the U.S. should be cheering on the additional European competition for intra-western hemisphere flight services -- inclusive of intra-Western Hemisphere US-EU routes such as this.

nmh1204

Metropolitan France and Guadaloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and French Guiana are all one country, they are each Départaments, (which are the same as a US state, a UK County etc), and thus are Regions of France and have the same legal status as one another, they vote in French and EU elections, they all use the Euro. St Martin, Polynesia etc have the status of Collectivité d'Outre Mer (Overseas collectivity) which is effectively the same as a US unincorportated territory, or a British Overseas Territory, and doesn't afford the same legal status, particularly when it comes to immigration and travel, so if it were possible, Norwegian wouldn't legally be able to fly US to French Polynesia or New Caledonia as they are not part of Europe.

Its rather complicated.

Collectivité territoriale is the generic name for all country subdivisions in France that have an elected local government, which would include mainland France too. St Pierre and Miquelon is the Collectivité Territoriale de Saint Pierre-et-Miquelon, which is a Collectivité d'Outre Mer, and is effectively the same as the Falkland Islands, or South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands - British Overseas Territories - mostly independent, but are still governed by their Sovereign Nation.

rankourabu

So along the same lines:
AUA,SXM,CUR are are countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, so no go.
But BON = special municipalities of the Netherlands, so techincally possible?

nmh1204

I'm not really sure on that one. It would depend on whether they are part of the EU, rather than simply territories of an EU state, and I'm not sure if any of them are part of the EU.

The French Overseas Departments are legislatively part of France and therefore the EU, I think special municipalities aren't.

progapanda

IIRC, St-Martin (the northern, French side of SXM) per the Treaty of Lisbon has the same status as Martinique and Guadaloupe. So, an airline like DY could conceivably start service to the US from there, too - I'm just not sure if there's an airport on the French side.

As well as the Azores, and even Madeira and the Canary Islands (with the right aircraft).

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"IIRC, St-Martin (the northern, French side of SXM) per the Treaty of Lisbon has the same status as Martinique and Guadaloupe. So, an airline like DY could conceivably start service to the US from there, too - I'm just not sure if there's an airport on the French side."

There is, but the runway is too short to accommodate most (all?) commercial jet aircraft:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Espérance_Airport

sbm12

Correct. I specifically asked about that one when speaking with DY's CCO and he said that the French side of the island was legal but not possible.

There is scheduled service to the airport, though. I considered it as an option when building my trip on the inaugural JFK-FDF flight.

westerosi

Anyone got those cheap fares to Guadeloupe (PTP) it was $180 rt from BWI (and BOS)? Going early December...

marlin

How was it? Also, does anyone know if this is seasonal only travel? The website only goes through March 2016.

sbm12

Yes, it is seasonal only.

I've written a few posts about the inaugurals:
DYland Time: Norwegian’s Caribbean Inaugural Adventure

Norwegian Kicks off Low-Cost US-French Caribbean Service: Onboard the JFK-Martinique Inaugural Flight

n.b. The link above is to my blog or to one which I am a regular contributor. FT rules require that I disclose that in the post.

gfunkdave

In fact, telephone calls from mainland France to Departments are dialed and billed as standard national long-distance calls. They just have their own area codes within the normal French phone system.