Press release - 6 February 2023 07:00

Norwegian had 1.1 million passengers in January

Norwegian headed into the new year with a strong sales campaign, 1.1 million passengers and a load factor of 78 percent in what is historically the quietest travel month of the year.

In January, Norwegian had 1.1 million passengers, an increase of 78 percent from this month last year.

“People traditionally travel less in January, instead using this time of year to book their next travels. Nevertheless, we had close to full flights to warmer destinations this month. Our New Year’s sales campaign resulted in more than one million sold seats, a satisfying start to this year’s ticket sales. We see that the positive booking trend continues also after this sale. Many of our passengers are currently planning their travels for this year’s school breaks and long weekends in May”, said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian.

This year’s summer program comprises 300 routes to 114 destinations, including several new destinations. With an expanded route network and new aircraft, Norwegian continues to recruit new colleagues.

“The past week has been very particular for the Nordic aviation sector, marked by Flyr’s bankruptcy. I strongly sympathise with the employees, customers and others affected by the situation. We would like to make sure stranded passengers reach their destinations, provided we have free seats available. We also invite employees that have been affected by the bankruptcy to apply to job vacancies at Norwegian”, said Karlsen.

Norwegian had 1,131,474 passengers in January, up 78 percent from January 2022. The load factor in January was 78 percent. The capacity (ASK) was 1,870 million seat kilometres, while actual passenger traffic (RPK) was 1,453 million seat kilometres. In January, Norwegian operated an average of 62 aircraft and 99.5 percent of the scheduled flights were completed. Punctuality, as measured by the number of flights departing within 15 minutes of scheduled time, was at 85.0 percent in January.

Topics

About Norwegian

Norwegian was founded in 1993 but began operating as a low-cost carrier with Boeing 737 aircraft in 2002. Since then, our mission has been to offer affordable fares for all and to allow customers to travel the smart way by offering value and choice throughout their journey.

Norwegian has been voted Europe’s Best Low-Cost airline by Skytrax for six consecutive years and won Airline Program of the Year Europe & Africa at the Freddie Awards for four consecutive years. Since 2012, Norwegian has won over 55 awards for our service, product, and innovation in the industry.

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.

Norwegian operates a short haul network across the Nordics and to key European destinations providing customers with excellent quality at affordable fares.

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.