Norwegian welcomes 1.5 million passengers in March (+60%)

Norwegian had 1.5 million passengers and a load factor of 81 percent in March. The first month of spring marks the return of the summer schedule with a considerable increase in capacity. In the meantime, Norwegian continues to experience strong booking momentum, far above the booking levels seen this time last year.

“March has been very solid month for Norwegian in terms of traffic figures. It marks the return of the summer schedule with a considerable ramp up in capacity. We very much look forward to welcoming a growing number of passengers on board over the summer months of 2023,” said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian.

Norwegian had 1,502,366 passengers in March, up 60 percent from March 2022. The capacity (ASK) was 2,347 million seat kilometres, while actual passenger traffic (RPK) was 1,903 million seat kilometres. In March, Norwegian operated an average of 67 aircraft with a regularity, share of scheduled flights taking place, of 99.2 percent. Despite both challenging weather conditions and significant labour action affecting air traffic across Europe, punctuality was at 81 percent in March, measuring the number of flights departing within 15 minutes of scheduled time. However, 95 percent of all departed flights arrived on schedule or within one hour of scheduled arrival time.

Strong booking rate exceeding 2022

Norwegian continues to experience solid demand for air travel with a persistently strong booking momentum. 

“We are heading into the summer season with a positive outlook. Our booking numbers are significantly higher than at this point last year. This indicates continued strong demand for air travel, particularly to our many attractive beach destinations, and we expect a busy summer once more. We are very happy to see that a growing number of travellers continue to choose Norwegian as their preferred airline,” said Karlsen.

To prepare for the summer season, Norwegian recently insourced parts of the ground handling service at Oslo airport Gardermoen with 150 new colleagues joining the company. The Norwegian Red Handling team initially manages customer-facing positions at check-in, boarding and arrivals. 

“We are very satisfied to see that the transition has gone smoothly. Insourcing of ground handling services at our largest base is an important step in bringing key functions in-house to deliver better customer service and a more seamless travel experience,” said Karlsen.

With an expanded route network, Norwegian also continues to recruit new cabin crew and is currently busy taking in several new modern and fuel-efficient aircraft. Ahead of the summer 2023 season, Norwegian will take delivery of a total of 11 modern and fuel-efficient Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. 

With this year’s summer programme, Norwegian offers more than 300 routes to 114 destinations, including several new destinations.