Press release - 4 December 2020 07:02

COVID-19 continues to impact Norwegian’s traffic figures

Norwegian’s traffic figures for November are heavily influenced by lower demand caused by continued travel restrictions across Europe. Christmas bookings look promising.

In November, 124,481 customers flew with Norwegian, a decrease of 95 percent compared to the same period last year. The capacity (ASK) this month was down 96 percent, while the total passenger traffic (RPK) decreased by 98 percent. The load factor was 44.4 percent, down 39 percentage points.

Jacob Schram, CEO of Norwegian, said: “The pandemic continues to have a negative impact on our business as travel restrictions remain. The development of vaccines is great news for the airline industry, and we look forward to welcoming more customers on board as travel restrictions are lifted. Our goal is to be a financially strong and competitive airline, with a new financial structure, a rightsized fleet and improved customer offering.”

62 added departures

“Our summer program is now out for sale and the bookings are increasing. We can see that people are slowly beginning to plan for their summer holidays. It is also worth noting that we have added 62 departures this Christmas and that bookings look promising. Now, we look forward to flying our customers home for Christmas,” Schram said.

The company operated 72.7 percent of its scheduled flights in November, whereof 94.8 percent departed on time.

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About Norwegian

The Norwegian story began over 27 years ago - we were founded in 1993 but only began operating as a low-cost carrier with bigger Boeing 737 aircraft in 2002. Norwegian expanded across the globe as the airline launched short-haul services across Europe and then entered the long-haul sector serving the US, Asia and South America. We operate a modern and fuel-efficient fleet consisting of Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Boeing 737s.

We were the first airline in the world to join the UN Climate Secretariat’s climate action-initiative in 2019, pledging to work systematically to become carbon neutral by 2050.

From being voted for six consecutive years as Europe’s Best Low Cost airline and for five consecutive years as the World’s Best Low Cost Long Haul Airline by Skytrax to winning Airline Program of the Year Europe & Africa for the fourth consecutive year at the 2020 Freddie Awards - In total Norwegian has won over 55 awards for our service, product and innovation in the industry since 2012.

Norwegian has become part of the fabric of Nordic culture and we take great pride in exporting our Nordic values across the world.

Contacts

For journalists only

Press contact Norwegian Press Office press@norwegian.com +47 815 11 816

Marketing/sponsorhip requests: marketing@norwegian.com

Press contact Marketing/sponsorship requests: marketing@norwegian.com

Norwegian.com

The Norwegian group is a leading Nordic aviation company, headquartered at Fornebu outside Oslo, Norway. The company has over 8,200 employees and owns two of the prominent airlines in the Nordics: Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe’s Flyveselskap. Widerøe was acquired by Norwegian in 2024, aiming to facilitate seamless air travel across the two airline’s networks.

Norwegian Air Shuttle, the largest Norwegian airline with around 4,700 employees, operates an extensive route network connecting Nordic countries to key European destinations. In 2023, Norwegian carried over 20 million passengers and maintained a fleet of 87 Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

Widerøe’s Flyveselskap, Norway’s oldest airline, is Scandinavia’s largest regional carrier. The airline has more than 3,500 employees. Mainly operating the short-runway airports in rural Norway, Widerøe operates several state contract routes (PSO routes) in addition to its own commercial network. In 2023, the airline had 3.3 million passengers and a fleet of 48 aircraft, including 45 Bombardier Dash 8’s and three Embraer E190-E2's. Widerøe Ground Handling provides ground handling services at 41 Norwegian airports.

The Norwegian group has sustainability as a key priority and has committed to significantly reducing carbon emissions from its operations. Among numerous initiatives, the most noteworthy is the investment in production and use of fossil-free aviation fuel (SAF). Norwegian strives to become the sustainable choice for its passengers, actively contributing to the transformation of the aviation industry.