Norwegian has signed an agreement to lease an additional two new 787-9 Dreamliners so it can launch more intercontinental routes. Both aircraft are scheduled to be delivered in 2018. With this new agreement, the company’s long-haul fleet will consist of 40 787s by 2020.
Norwegian continues to expand its international presence by signing an agreement with AerCap to lease two new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Both aircraft are scheduled to enter service in 2018.
Norwegian CEO Bjørn Kjos said: “In order to offer customers more routes and make our intercontinental operation even more competitive, we are dependent on more brand new cost-efficient aircraft. Our intercontinental operation is crucial to the company’s global growth and the creation of new jobs. The Dreamliner is a great airplane with high passenger comfort, long range, low fuel burn and reduced emissions."
Norwegian currently operates eight 787-8 Dreamliners and one 787-9 Dreamliner.
Meanwhile, increased demand from both business and leisure passengers contributed to Norwegian’s growth in March. The company carried almost 2.2 million passengers this month, an increase of 27 per cent compared to March last year. The load factor was 87.9 per cent, up 3.7 percentage points.
The March traffic figures are characterised by growth and higher load factor. However, it needs to be taken into account that the Scandinavian pilot strike in March 2015 affected the figures last year. In addition, the traffic growth is affected by the fact that Easter did not extend into April this year.
Norwegian carried 2,195,037 passengers in March, an increase of 27 per cent compared to the same month previous year. The total passenger traffic (RPK) increased by 27 per cent and the total capacity (ASK) increased by 21 per cent.
Norwegian's CEO, Bjørn Kjos said: “We are very pleased that an increasing number of travellers are choosing Norwegian, not least business travellers both on domestic routes in Scandinavia and European routes in general. More and more companies are realising it is possible to get quality flights at a low fare and are updating their travel policies to reduce costs without compromising quality. In addition, the response to our intercontinental offer continues to increase as we launch new routes and destinations.”
Norwegian operated 99.3 per cent of its scheduled flights in March, whereof 75.6 per cent departed on time.