Norwegian Group reported its “strongest quarterly results” in the third quarter, with a profit before tax of 2.9bn Norwegian krone ($289 million) and an operating profit of 3.1bn krone ($309 million).
The company's operating margin was 25.1% for the quarter.
The group carried 8.41 million passengers, including 7.28 million for Norwegian and 1.12 million for its subsidiary Wideroe.
For the upcoming winter months, Norwegian has reduced its monthly capacity by between 25-40%, compared to the October capacity. The group said this was to “better align” with demand and optimise performance in the low season.
“Booking trends are looking encouraging, and our customers are booking their flights further in advance this year compared to previous years. We have therefore sold more tickets this year, compared to the same time last year, with reduced capacity," said Norwegian CEO Geir Karlsen. "This bodes well for a busy winter season with high load factors.”
Norwegian's third quarter load factor averaged at 88.3%, which was up 0.3 percentage points from last year. Wideroe's load factor was down 0.6 percentage points to 77.5%. Capacity increased 2% and 3% for Norwegian and Wideroe, respectively.
The third quarter was also noteworthy for the fact that the airline paid its first-ever dividend of 0.90 krone per share to around 75,000 shareholders. Additionally, the company exercised purchase options to acquire 30 additional 737 MAX 8 aircraft, bringing the total firm order to 80 aircraft.