Low-cost airline Norwegian Air Shuttle ended the 2021 financial year with a significant improvement in operating figures.
As the Norwegian carrier indicated in its financial report for the full year of 2021, which was made public on February 17, 2022, it managed to make a pre-tax profit of NOK117 million ($13 million) in Q4 2021. In the same period in 2020, the airline made a loss of NOK 16.4 billion ($1.8 billion). The carrier’s revenue in the last quarter of 2021 increased to around NOK2.55 billion ($285 million) from NOK670 million ($74 million) in Q4 2020.
The company, which exited bankruptcy protection with the completion of its restructuring process in May 2021, also shrunk its financial liabilities. By the end of 2021, the total debt of Norwegian Air Shuttle was reaching NOK5.94 billion ($664 million), which came as a significant decrease from the debt amount of NOK53.4 billion ($5.98 billion) in 2020.
Meanwhile, the carrier flew 3.1 million passengers in Q4 2021, which was 2.5 million travelers more than in the same period in 2020.
The airline ended 2021 operating a fleet of 51 planes and is focused on fleet expansion in 2022. In summer 2022, Norwegian Air Shuttle plans to operate more commercial passenger planes to meet the expected passenger demand and bring the fleet to a total of 70 aircraft.
During the pandemic, many customers were booking last-minute but Norwegian said it has already noticed “longer booking curves”at the beginning of Q4 2021.
“Looking ahead Norwegian is well-positioned to respond to the increasing passenger demand driven by many European countries beginning to fully lift restrictions.[…] Booking trends show that customers are planning and booking earlier in anticipation that the positive recent developments in regards to COVID-19 vaccinations and restrictions will continue in the long term,” the company’s report reads.