As winter is coming, Norwegian Air Shuttle is resolving to selling aircraft and company shares as it tries to raise funds to survive the harsh upcoming season.
The airline is selling six Boeing 737-800 aircraft to a leasing company to raise cash for debt repayment with an extra $55 million left to increase the company’s liquidity. The aircraft are still flown by the airline and should be delivered in late 2019 and early 2020.
In October 2019, the airline signed agreement for similar sale of five Boeing 737-800 planes to Aircraft Recycling International. The rationale behind the deal was also to repay debts, with hopes to have an extra $50 million left. The aircraft were still flown by Norwegian and deliveries foreseen in the same period of Q4 2019 and Q1 2020.
“The sale is in line with the company’s continued strategy of capitalizing on the scale built up over the last few years and the changed focus from growth to profitability,” the company stated.
In its Q3 2019 financial presentation, Norwegian has revealed having already sold two Boeing 737-800 and two more planes of the same type were sold in April. According to planespotters.net data, Norwegian group has a fleet of 158 aircraft, 103 of which are Boeing 737-800s. In 2019, nine aircraft of the type have already left the fleet.
On November 5, 2019, Norwegian Air Shuttle has announced a discounted sale of its shares to raise up to $300 million (NOK 2.75 billion) in capital. The airline is striving to secure enough funds to survive the coming winter as its management expects “challenges” in the season. The funds from the share sale are expected to last through 2020, while the airline continues to work on its strategic transformation.