Norwegian pilots happily taking more than 1.3 million people for a ride in December 2023.

In December, Norwegian had more than 1.3 million passengers and recorded a strong load factor of 83.6%, 6 percentage points higher than December 2022. Throughout 2023, Norwegian carried over 20 million passengers, a 16 percent increase from the previous year.

“With 1.3 million passengers in December, a total of more than 20 million passengers chose to travel with us in 2023. Our load factor has increased significantly from December 2022, and I am happy to see these solid results. It is also encouraging to see that the positive booking trend we saw through 2023 seems to continue into 2024. Our customers are now planning and booking their next travel adventure with many taking advantage of our New Year’s sale that was launched recently,” said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian.

Norwegian had 1,308,441 passengers in December, close to the same number as in December 2022. The capacity (ASK) was 2,013 million seat kilometres, down five percent from the same period last year. Actual passenger traffic (RPK) was 1,684 million seat kilometres. In December, Norwegian operated an average of 65 aircraft with a regularity, meaning the share of scheduled flights taking place, of 99.5 percent. Punctuality was affected by the winter storm Pia and the share of flights departing within 15 minutes of scheduled time was 70.4 percent. However, 93 per cent of all departed flights arrived on schedule or within one hour of scheduled arrival time.

For 2023 as a whole, Norwegian had 20.6 million passengers, an increase of 16 percent from the previous year, the capacity was up by a total of 18 percent, while the load factor increased by 2 percentage points to 84.7percent.

“Winter storm Pia challenged our operations a few days prior to Christmas, but thanks to the relentless effort and meticulous planning by colleagues across the business, we managed to add several extra flights and get passengers home in time for their Christmas celebrations,” said Karlsen.

In December, the Norwegian Competition Authority (NCA) approved Norwegian’s acquisition of Widerøe, and the transaction will be implemented later this month. The two companies complement each other well and will offer customers a better choice of routes and the opportunity for more streamlined travel within Norway and abroad.

In December, Norwegian launched new routes from cities in Norway to Rhodes, Palma de Mallorca, Edinburgh and Istanbul. The flight schedule for summer 2024 offers more than 330 routes to more than 120 destinations.