Norwegian Group on time performance hit by drone airport disruption

Norwegian had 2,302,536 passengers, while Widerøe had 395,637 passengers

On 26 September, Norwegian announced it will exercise the option to expand its Boeing Max 8 order by 30 aircraft, bringing the total to 80.

Norwegian also unveiled several new routes, including 10 from Billund Airport.

“September was a strong month in terms of both passenger numbers and load factor. This confirms that we have an attractive network well adapted to our customers’ travel requirements,” said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian.

The load factor was 86.6%, up 1.4%. Norwegian operated an average of 89 aircraft during September.

Norwegian and Widerøe’s punctuality, defined as the share of flights departing within 15 minutes of scheduled time, was 78.9% and 94% percent respectively.

Both airlines were affected by airspace closures in Denmark and Norway due to suspected drone activity.

Close to 40% of Norwegian’s cancellations in September occurred during and immediately after the closures at Copenhagen Airport and Oslo Airport.

“This has been an especially active month. I am very pleased that we could confirm we will be exercising our option to expand the Boeing order by 30 aircraft. This will be pivotal to our ongoing fleet renewal and underlines Norwegian’s growth ambitions,” said Geir Karlsen.

In addition to the base summer programme, Norwegian launched eight new routes during September including to Tangier and Palermo from Oslo, from Bergen to Riga and Stockholm to Hamburg and Milan.

Norwegian announced it will also fly to Edinburgh from Billund.