December has been described as “operationally challenging” for the Norwegian Group, with the company citing poor weather and operational issues at European airports.
“Operationally December to a large extent due to winter weather conditions, has been a challenging month,” said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian. “We will continue to work hard to make sure our customers get to their destinations on time."
The Norwegian Group carried 1.76 million passengers during the month of December. A total of 1.47 million passengers were carried by Norwegian, with the remaining 293,000 being served by Widerøe. Capacity for Norwegian was up 24% from December 2023, while its load factor was somewhat down from last year, decreasing by 1.4 percentage points.
For the full year, the group served over 26.4 million passengers across both Norwegian and Widerøe. Despite the challenges, Karlsen expressed satisfaction with the group's overall performance, highlighting the successful acquisition of Widerøe during 2024.
“I am proud that Norwegian has managed to attract over 2 million new passengers during 2024, demonstrating the continuous improvement and relevance in our product. Over ten percent customer growth for both Norwegian and Widerøe is substantial,” he added.
The group also disclosed that in December 2024, district court in Oslo ruled fully in Norwegian’s favour, stating that Norwegian was not obliged to fulfil its EU ETS obligations during its reconstruction in 2020.
In addition, the court ruled that the penalty of an amount close to NOK 400 million ($35.3 million) was “unlawful” and that Norwegian is entitled to a full refund of this penalty plus interest. The court ruling is not yet final.