30 per cent passenger growth for Norwegian in March

Norwegian continues its strong passenger growth. In March, 1 021 063 passengers chose to fly with Norwegian, a 30 percent increase from the same period last year. In line with the number of passengers and total production, the load factor improved by 3 percentage points.

- This month’s strong passenger growth is very satisfactory, although the figures are positively affected by the Easter holiday. More passengers choose to fly with Norwegian and our new Boeing 737-800 aircraft with higher capacity. We are also increasing the number of aircraft, the combined effect being a significant increase in capacity. The new aircraft which are being introduced to the fleet reduces our costs and thus the fares. In March alone we took delivery of four new Boeing 737-800 from Boeing in Seattle and yesterday morning our fourth direct-buy Boeing 737-800 landed in Oslo. This means that the fleet now comprises 23 aircraft of the 737-800 type in a total fleet of 51. By 2014 we will have 70 Boeing 737-800. New aircraft with more capacity is a win-win situation for our passengers, the environment and for the company’s focus on cost control, said Bjørn Kjos, Chief Executive Officer of Norwegian.

The yield is estimated at 0.55 NOK for March, down 11 per cent compared to the same month in 2009. The development partially reflects a significantly adjusted route portfolio, introduction of new aircraft with higher capacity and lower unit cost.

The cabin factor for the Group was 78 percent in March, up 3 percentage points compared to March 2009. Norwegian operated 99.6 percent of the planned flights in February, whereof 84.5 percent departed on schedule.

Please find more financial figures in the PDF attached.

Contacts:
SVP, Corporate Communications, Anne-Sissel Skånvik, phone +47 48 99 44 40
CFO, Frode Foss, phone +47 91 63 16 45.