- Thursday, October 17, 2024
Norwegian Air Shuttle, a leading low-cost carrier, achieved impressive results in the third quarter of the year, with net profit more than doubling compared to the previous year. The company reported a net profit of 2.04 billion Norwegian kroner ($182.4 million), up from NOK909.7 million in the same period last year.
The strong financial performance can be attributed to a significant increase in passenger demand for air travel across all markets during the busy summer travel season. Total revenue for the quarter rose by 23% to NOK8.78 billion, with passenger numbers reaching 6.5 million, up from 6.1 million in the previous year.
Although current booking trends have slowed down in line with the usual seasonal fluctuations, Norwegian remains optimistic about the fourth quarter, with encouraging booking momentum for both leisure and business travel.
Looking ahead, visibility for the first quarter of 2024 and beyond remains limited, as is typical for this time of year. However, Norwegian has not yet observed any signs of weakness in forward bookings. Nevertheless, the company is cautious about potential uncertainties in consumer confidence and their impact on demand.
To address fluctuations in demand due to seasonality, Norwegian has decided to reduce capacity by 30% to 40% for the upcoming winter season compared to the end of the third quarter. On the other hand, the airline plans to increase its fleet to approximately 90 aircraft for the summer of 2024 to meet the expected high demand for air travel and benefit from economies of scale.
Chief Executive Geir Karlsen expressed confidence in the company's preparedness for the quieter winter trading period, highlighting the reduced capacity and other strategic actions taken.
Norwegian forecasts a low single-digit percentage capacity growth year-on-year for the fourth quarter of 2023 and first quarter of 2024. For the second quarter of 2024, capacity growth is expected to be between 15% and 20%.
At 1102 GMT, shares of Norwegian Air Shuttle were trading 12% higher at NOK9.17.
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