Norwegian signs new Dreamliners as traffic grows
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Norwegian has signed agreements to lease three new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners after seeing growth in passenger numbers in Q1.
Two of the new aircraft will be delivered in 2016 and the other in 2017 to be used on its long-haul routes.
The airline already has five 787-8 Dreamliners and nine on order, and as its first quarter results showed a 24% increase in passengers to 4.9 million.
Traffic growth in RPK was up 50% signalling that its customers are flying further, with load factors up 1% to 77%.
Its pre-tax profit came in at a NOK813m (GBP81.1m) loss for the quarter.
“Traditionally, the first quarter is seasonally weak and in addition the figures have been significantly affected by a weak Norwegian currency (NOK) against the dollar and the euro. Also, the wet-lease of aircraft has negatively impacted the quarterly result,” said CEO Bjørn Kjos. “On the positive side, the passenger growth is strong and the load factor continues to rise, even with the company’s strong production growth. The strong competition in Norway reflects the prices, but Norwegian is becoming increasingly equipped to meet this competition.”
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