Unions still irked over the awarding of an air permit for Norwegian Air International have mobilised the support of lawmakers to persuade incoming President Donald Trump to revoke it.
More than 100 members of Congress sent a letter to Trump asking for the permit to be revoked or suspended ‘on Day One’ of his presidency.
There has been strong opposition to the Dublin-based subsidiary of Norwegian Air, which unions claim skirts labour laws and plan to use subcontracted Asian pilots on low wages.
Norwegian Air has continually denied this and accused unions of fear-mongering.
The letter addressed to Trump even suggests the airline is a threat to national security.
"Given your commitment to protecting American jobs and our national security, we strongly urge you to revoke or suspend the permit until Norwegian changes its business model to a model that does not rely on a flag of convenience and threaten America’s international aviation industry and our national security," the letter said.
But the airline says the DOT’s decision to award the permit will create and not diminish US jobs.
"No other foreign airline has more US-based cabin crew and continues to create more American jobs than Norwegian, and next year, we will be the only foreign airline to recruit American pilots as we will open up several new pilot and cabin crew bases in the United States. All US-based pilots and crew are hired under local laws and regulations with competitive packages."
