Norwegian carried 1.5 million passengers in November, while regional carrier Widerøe flew 324,000 travellers, bringing the Group total to 1.84 million for the month. The airline also recorded its highest-ever November load factor, reaching 85.5%.
Geir Karlsen, Norwegian’s chief executive, said the figures reflected a “strong performance” during what is traditionally a quieter travel period.
“Our network and capacity adjustments for the winter season are making a positive impact,” he said. “We are also pleased with the increase in unit revenue and that operational performance continues to be solid into the winter season.”
Norwegian and Widerøe traffic performance
Norwegian’s capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASK), was 2.4 billion in November – 6% lower than a year earlier. Revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) fell 2% to 2.06 billion. The airline operated an average of 75 aircraft during the month.
Widerøe reported ASKs of 161 million, a 2% year-on-year decline, and RPKs of 113 million. Its load factor for the month was 70.3%, down 1.4 percentage points, with operations affected by periods of severe winter weather.
Punctuality – the share of flights departing within 15 minutes of schedule – reached 82.3% for Norwegian and 79.8% for Widerøe. Regularity, the percentage of scheduled flights that operated, stood at 99.7% and 94% respectively.
Holiday travel demand building
Both airlines say Christmas bookings are filling up quickly, with strong demand seen across domestic routes, European cities and sun destinations.
Geir Karlsen said: “We are well prepared for a busy holiday period and see solid demand for Christmas travel, both for domestic, city and beach destinations. The most popular dates are filling up fast, and we are all looking forward to bringing our passengers to their Christmas destinations.
“The booking momentum remains encouraging well into the beginning of next year, with more tickets sold than at the same point last year”.
