Press release - 7 May 2009 12:29

Strong passenger growth for Norwegian in April

The total number of passengers flown in April was 861 530, an increase of 18 per cent. The domestic growth in Norway is even larger with 23 per cent growth in the number of passengers. From the recently established base in Denmark more than 95 000 passengers chose to travel with Norwegian in April.

“We are very satisfied with the passenger growth and the increased load factor in April, says CEO Bjørn Kjos. He emphasizes the strong growth in the domestic marked in Norway, and especially the growth on Norwegian’s routes in Northern Norway.

- In Sweden, we improved the load factor significantly compared to last year, the increase was 11 percentage points, from 70 to 81 per cent. We flew longer routes and operated more efficiently compared to last year. In Denmark we have established 22 new routes during a short period of time and enjoy a significant passenger growth compared to previous months. We are starting the summer program in Scandinavia with 20 more routes than last summer. In sum, there are several reasons for our satisfaction with the company’s performance, says Kjos.

The load factor for April was 79 per cent, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to April 2008.

The company estimates a yield around NOK 0.63 for April 2009, an increase of 6 per cent compared to April 2008.

In April 2009 the Group operated 99.9 per cent of its scheduled flights, whereof 86 per cent departed on time. From April Norwegian will be reporting on-time performance.

Strong domestic growth
Norwegian flew more than 354 000 passengers in the domestic marked in April, compared to 287 000 passengers the same month the year before. Both the number of passengers and the number of flights dip during Easter, which negatively effects the growth figures. Despite the mentioned effect, domestic passenger growth increased by as much as 23 per cent this period. The routes in Northern Norway have even stronger growth than domestic Norway in total.

Norwegian flew 100 000 passengers in this region in April.

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

Topics

Annual and interim reports

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.