Norwegian continues to struggle for survival

Friday, January 8, 2021

Norwegian recently revealed that traffic figures for December continued to be heavily influenced by lower demand caused by continued travel restrictions across Europe although Christmas bookings were positive. Around 129,664 customers flew with Norwegian in December, a decrease of 94 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The capacity (measured in available seat kilometres) and total passenger traffic (in revenue seat kilometres) was both down by 98 per cent and the load factor was 52 per cent, down 31 percentage points. The low-cost carrier operated nine aircraft on average in December, mainly on domestic routes in Norway. Jacob Schram, Chief Executive, Norwegian, said in a statement that the pandemic continues to have a negative impact on the business as it has had since March.

He mentioned that at the beginning of last year, Norwegian was headed for a positive result in 2020, instead 2020 became a very challenging year and we now the airline is fighting for survival. However, he also shared that despite low demand in December, Christmas bookings were positive, and the carrier succeeded in adapting operations to the current situation.

He stated that the goal of the carrier is to be a financially strong and competitive airline, with a new financial structure, a rightsized fleet and improved customer offering. He added that the support from customers, employees and suppliers in the past year has been extraordinary and said that Norwegian’s focus continues to be able to connect people in a safe and comfortable way.

He also mentioned that the vaccination is now being rolled out across the world and is good news for both the aviation industry and those who want to travel and said that the airline will be ready to meet the competition for customers after the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to fight and come out of the crisis as a stronger Norwegian.

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