Even before commencing operations at Green Airport, Norwegian Airlines announced yesterday that it’s expanding service with nonstop twice-weekly flights to the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique starting Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, respectively.

Anders Lindstrom, director of communications for Norwegian, was back before a packed Mary Brennan Room at the airport, to announce the latest routes with introductory fares of $79 one way. Earlier this year, Lindstrom announced service beginning this month to Ireland, Scotland and Norway. The airline is offering 18 flights weekly to the European destinations.

Lindstrom said within a day of the announcement, 10,000 tickets were sold. With the service to the Caribbean, he said, the airlines would be offering “a slice of European heaven.” And looking at the service from another perspective, he said, “we’re putting Rhode Island on the map for Europeans.”

But it didn’t require a passport or a ticket to get the flavor of the Caribbean as Sandra Venite, U.S. director of the Guadeloupe Islands Tourist Board and her counterpart from Martinique rolled out the red carpet with hats, brochures and descriptions of pristine beaches, marvelous scenery and mouth-watering French/Caribbean cooking. The mood was upbeat and exciting.

Then, however, it wasn’t simply the prospect of an escape to tropical islands. It was that more routes are being added at the airport that has been striving to bring back the traffic it had in 2005 when 5.7 million passengers flew in and out of Green.

“We have to quit meeting like this,” joked RIAC Board Chair Jonathan Savage, adding, “Today is another big day for the airport.”

Exactly a week earlier from the same podium, Frontier Airlines announced it would commence daily nonstop flights to Orlando and Denver beginning Aug. 14. Like Norwegian, Frontier is a low cost carrier.

More destinations and low fare flights are what Iftikhar Ahmad, RIAC president and CEO, has targeted. He said Wednesday’s announcement makes Norwegian the largest international airline serving Green, offering eight nonstop destinations, although as of this point Norwegian hasn’t flown into Rhode Island.

Ahmad said the airline is being offered the same incentives as all airlines bringing or creating additional service to Green. He said marketing support ranges from $200,000 for domestic to $750,000 for international flights. The funding is to be spent over three years to promote the service. In the case of the added service to the French Caribbean islands, he said the airlines would receive $200,000 for each new service. Norwegian and Frontier are also eligible for reduced landing fees, he said.

In an interview, Savage said securing the additional service involved a lot of work going back months. He personally visited Norwegian offices in Oslo to put together the deal. Also, he alluded to another “exciting announcement” in the near future without disclosing any details.

House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi likewise alluded to yet more announcements.

“These are exciting times for the airport in Warwick…please continue growth of the airport,” he said.

Mayor Scott Avedisian said it has been “two great weeks for the airport.” He noted that the additional service is the product of a long and thoughtful process. As he said last week at the Frontier announcement, Avedisian urged people to go online and buy tickets to ensure the sustainability of the service.

Overall, Norwegian now offers 52 transatlantic flights from 13 U.S. airports to Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as six routes to the French Caribbean, totaling 58 routes out of the United States. Upcoming launches from the U.S. include: Los Angeles to Barcelona (June 5); New York/Newark to Barcelona (June 6); Oakland/San Francisco to Barcelona (June 7); Newburgh/Stewart to Edinburgh (June 15); Providence to Edinburgh (June 15), Hartford to Edinburgh (June 17); Newburgh/Stewart to Belfast (July 1); Newburgh/Stewart to Dublin (July 1); Providence to Belfast (July 1); Providence to Bergen (July 1); Newburgh/Stewart to Bergen (July 2); Newburgh/Stewart to Shannon (July 2); Providence to Dublin (July 2); Providence to Cork (July 3); Providence to Shannon (July 3); Orlando to Paris (July 31); Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona (Aug. 22); Denver to London (Sept. 16); Seattle to London (Sept. 17); Providence to Guadeloupe (Oct. 29); Providence to Martinique (Oct. 30); Fort Lauderdale to Martinique (Oct. 30); New York/Newark to Rome (Nov. 9); Los Angeles to Rome (Nov. 11); and Oakland/San Francisco to Rome (Feb. 6, 2018).