FRANKFURT, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Budget carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle aims to start offering long-haul flights from Germany to the United States as it steps up competition on transatlantic routes, Chief Commercial Officer Thomas Ramdahl told a German magazine.

“We are working on flying to the United States from Duesseldorf from 2018, and are looking at up to a dozen destinations,” WirtschaftsWoche weekly quoted Ramdahl as saying.

That will add to pressure on Lufthansa’s Eurowings, which offers flights from Cologne-Bonn airport, which is just 60 km (37 miles) from Duesseldorf airport, to U.S. cities Seattle, Las Vegas and Miami.

Norwegian this month said it would add 50 percent more flights between Britain and the United States next summer, days after the United States granted the budget airline extra flying rights. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)