Norwegian Reports Strong Passenger Figures in August

2012-09-10 — /travelprnews.com/ — Norwegian’s (NAS) passenger growth continued in August. More than 1.7 million passengers flew with Norwegian, up 13 percent compared with the same month last year. The load factor was also high, while Norwegian’s on-time performance was significantly affected by the lack of air traffic controllers at Avinor (Norway’s civil aviation authority).

During August this year, Norwegian flew 1,724,046 passengers. The total passenger traffic (RPK) increased by 18 percent. The load factor was 80 percent, down 2 percentage points from the record-high figures from August 2011.

“During the last year, more than 17 million passengers have chosen to fly with us. It is inspiring to see that an increasingly better offer has resulted in such good passenger figures,” said Norwegian’s CEO Bjørn Kjos.

So far this year, Norwegian has phased in 9 of a total of 13 brand new aircraft due to be delivered during 2012.

Norwegian operated 99.8 of its scheduled flights in August, whereof 87.8 percent departed on time. Had it not been for the lack of air traffic controllers, the Group’s total on-time performance would have been 91 percent and 93 percent at Oslo Gardermoen Airport (OSL) alone.

For more detailed information, please see pdf attached.

Media Contacts:

Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Anne-Sissel Skånvik, tel: +47 97 55 43 44

Chief Financial Officer Frode Foss, tel: +47 91 63 16 45

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, commercially branded “Norwegian,” is a public low-cost airline noted on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The company is the second largest airline in Scandinavia, and has a route portfolio that stretches across Europe into North Africa and the Middle East.  With competitive prices and customer friendly solutions and service, the company has experienced significant growth over the previous years. With close to 16 million passengers in 2011, Norwegian is the 3rd largest low-cost airline in Europe. Norwegian currently operates 64 aircraft on 294 routes to  more than 114 destinations and employs approximately 2,500 people.