Norwegian Group sees strong growth in March, carries nearly 1.9 million passengers

Investing.com -- Norwegian Group saw strong passenger growth in March, carrying nearly 1.9 million travelers as it expanded capacity and maintained high operational performance ahead of the summer travel season.

The company on Friday said that the Norwegian Airlines transported 1,587,550 passengers, while Widerøe recorded 328,385 travelers, bringing the total for the group to 1,915,935 for the month. 

This marks an increase in capacity for both airlines, with Norwegian up 13% and Widerøe rising by 9% compared to March 2024.

Norwegian’s Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) for the month stood at 2,770 million, reflecting a 13% year-on-year increase. 

Revenue Passenger Kilometres, which measures actual passenger traffic, reached 2,245 million, up 8%. 

However, the airline’s load factor—indicating seat occupancy—declined to 81.1%, a drop of 3.9% points from the previous year. 

The decrease was attributed to the timing of the Easter holidays in March and the airline’s capacity expansion. Norwegian operated an average of 77 aircraft during the month.

Widerøe’s ASK grew to 168 million seat kilometers, up 9% from last year. Its RPK was recorded at 119 million seat kilometers, while its load factor saw a slight increase of 0.3 percentage points to 70.7%.

Operational performance remained strong, with Norwegian achieving a punctuality rate of 88.1%, meaning nearly nine in ten flights departed within 15 minutes of their scheduled time. 

Widerøe recorded a punctuality rate of 80.7%. Regularity, which measures the percentage of scheduled flights that actually took place, was 99.4% for Norwegian and 95.5% for Widerøe.

As the airline prepares for the peak travel months, Norwegian CEO Geir Karlsen emphasized the importance of maintaining efficiency. 

“I am pleased that we are continuing the strong momentum with our operational performance in Norwegian, something that is critical as we start our summer programme. March is the last month of the low season, and we look forward to a busy Easter travel period,” Karlsen said in a statement.

April marked the beginning of Norwegian’s summer program, featuring 350 routes, including 19 new destinations compared to last year. 

“Our summer programme swings into action this week, featuring 129 exciting destinations across Europe and beyond. Initial bookings for summer travel are strong, and we are looking forward to flying all our customers to their destinations. We advise any customers with set holiday dates to book early,” Karlsen stated.

In addition to passenger growth, Norwegian finalized the purchase of ten previously leased Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737-800 aircraft in March, a move aimed at strengthening its fleet and ensuring long-term operational flexibility.

Among Norwegian’s most popular international routes in March were London, Malaga, Alicante, Las Palmas, and Barcelona. Domestic and intra-Nordic routes were not included in the rankings.