Low-cost carrier Norwegian has announced it carried just short of 2.7 million passengers in August 2024. The airline flew 2,369,469 passengers during the month while its regional affiliate, Widerøe, carried 340,955 passengers, totaling 2,710,424 passengers for the group.
The recent positive trend in rising passenger numbers continued for the Oslo-based company recording passenger growth of 10% over the same month in 2023. Additionally, the carrier’s load factor continued to rise, despite the airline operating at 11% more capacity in August 2024 over August 2023.
Norwegian’s capacity (measured in Available Seat Kilometers or ASKs) was 3,899 million seat kilometers, an increase of 11% over August 2023. Actual passenger traffic (measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometers or RPKs) was 3,341 million seat kilometers representing a similar increase of 11% over the same month in 2023.
The carrier’s network load factor increased by 0.4 percentage points over the same month in 2023, reaching 85.7% overall. It completion rate reached an impressive 99.5% meaning almost all scheduled flights were operated during the month.
The punctuality, measured by the number of flights departing within 15 minutes of the scheduled time of departure, was 76.5%. This was a decrease of 5.9% from August 2023. However, according to the company, 95.9% of all flights arrived within 60 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.
Norwegian operated an average of 86 aircraft in August comprising 22 Boeing 737 MAX 8 and the balance being 737-800s.
“I am pleased that we continued the positive trend from July to August. We had a significant increase in capacity year on year, while at the same time improving both the load factor and the yields from August 2023,” said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian. “I would also like to thank our dedicated colleagues for all the hard work they have been putting in throughout the summer,”
In a statement, Norwegian reported that it was experiencing strong booking momentum into the autumn and winter seasons for 2024/25, with the launch of several new and exciting routes.
“Norwegian’s autumn sales campaign was well received by our customers,” said Karlsen. “We are excited to see the pace of bookings continuing into the autumn and winter seasons across a good mix of traditionally popular routes and new destinations. The autumn school holiday weeks are beginning to look quite busy with many popular destinations filling up rather quickly,”
Over at Widerøe, the regional carrier also saw a strong performance in August 2024. The carrier saw an 8% increase in passengers over the same period in August 2023. The airline also reported solid booking momentum for the coming months across its entire network.
For Widerøe, the capacity in August was 194 million ASKs. The actual passenger traffic was 148 million RPKs, while the load factor landed at 76.5%, an increase of 3.9 percentage points from August 2023.
Widerøe currently operates a fleet of 46 De Havilland Canada DHC-8 turboprops plus three 110-seat Embraer E190-E2 regional jets.
