Airline Norwegian says £69 seats to US 'sold out within hours'

Budget airline Norwegian has sold all of its cheapest tickets between Edinburgh and the north-east United States within hours.

It claimed several hundred fares, at just £69, were available on each of three new US routes.

They were also offered for new transatlantic links with Cork, Shannon, Dublin and Belfast.

The flights were advertised in other countries at even cheaper rates of 69 euros and $65.

The rush for cheap seats led to 20,000 tickets being sold within three days.

Prices now range from £160 to £280 one-way, with about £65 more to check in one piece of luggage.

'Bare-bones travel'

The marketing method, pioneered by Ryanair, has been criticised in the New York Times, which said the airline "offers a kind of bare-bones intercontinental travel that American travellers may be unused to".

The introduction of Norwegian into small airports for transatlantic flights was met with lobbying resistance from other airlines and labour unions in the USA.

A Norwegian airline spokesman said the ultra-low fare was only intended as "an introductory price", and that affordable tickets were still available.

The Edinburgh routes will connect from 15 June with small, low-cost airports in Rhode Island, Connecticut and an airbase north of New York City.