Competition in aviation have been high in 2018

The airline under financial pressure, Norwegian, have experienced a 13% increase in passengers – or 37,3 million passengers in 2018 – according to them, the future is bright.

Norwegian have spent several billions on expanding the business in recent years – the growth in passengers however, have had a hard time keeping up.

In 2018, Norwegian expanded its fleet with 25 new airplanes and 35 new routes. In 2018, the “cabin factor” – the average number of occupied seats – was 85,5%, a slight decline from the year before where the number was 87,5%.

However, Norwegian came back strong in December of 2018, where the number of passengers increased with 15%, compared to the same month, the year before.

Norwegian have been under a lot of financial pressure and there have been doubts on whether they would be able to handle the debt of 30,1 billion NOK.

In the light of the financial pressure, Norwegian have initiated cuts and saving initiatives in the billions and at the same time, some airplanes have been sold.

Founder and CEO Bjørn Kjos, mentions their challenges with the Rolls Royce engines and the high oil prices as an explanation to the company’s financial pressure.

However, Norwegian are optimistic about the future and states that “they are well positioned relative to fuel prices, compared to other airlines”.