During challenging circumstances, such as the high winds and floods caused by Storm Hans in Southern Norway, as well as the air traffic troubles in the UK, Norwegian made sure travellers reached their destinations as smoothly as possible.
“Our August traffic figures were good. As autumn approaches, we are happy to see customers continuing to book holidays to many of our popular destinations, and that business travellers have made a comeback after the summer. Our autumn sales campaign has been well received and the booking momentum for the months ahead continues to look positive,” said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian.
Norwegian had 2,141,613 passengers in August, up 7 per cent from August 2022. The capacity (ASK) was 3,527 million seat kilometres, while actual passenger traffic (RPK) was 3,006 million seat kilometres. In August, Norwegian operated an average of 80 aircraft with a regularity, share of scheduled flights taking place, of 99.6 percent. Operations were impacted by the outage at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) in the UK on 28 August, causing heavy delays and 40 percent of this month’s cancellations. Punctuality was at 82.4 percent in August, the share of flights departing within 15 minutes of scheduled time. However, 98.0 per cent of all departed flights arrived on schedule or within one hour of scheduled arrival time, the highest level so far this year.
“Unforeseen events, such as Storm Hansin Scandinavia and air traffic control issues in the UK affected our operations this month. I am glad that we were able to set up additional flights between Oslo and Bergen as well as Trondheim. We also managed to offer alternative flights to all our passengers to and from the UK on the day following the air traffic issues”, said Karlsen.
Solid operations and positive booking momentum
The outlook for this autumn continues to be positive. Capacity has been adjusted to meet the seasonal variation in demand for the coming winter. Norwegian is excited to release the summer programme for 2024 next week, with further routes to new destinations being added in November.
“In addition to continued good sales to holiday destinations and domestic routes particularly, a lot of positive initiatives are currently coming to life at Norwegian. Our partnership with Strawberry will contribute to adding value to our passengers’ travel experiences, while the exclusive contract with the Norwegian Armed Forces demonstrates our strong value offering. We are however concerned about the potential increases in airport fees in Norway and how this may negatively impact our customers,” said Karlsen.
