Norwegian Air beats quarterly profit estimates on high demand

Norwegian Air Surpasses Quarterly Profit Forecasts Amid High Passenger Demand

Norwegian Air's Strong Financial Performance and Market Trends

Quarterly Operating Profit Exceeds Expectations

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle's quarterly operating profit beat market expectations on Wednesday, helped by high demand despite elevated jet fuel costs.

Norwegian's operating profit came in at 2.7 billion Norwegian crowns ($289.4 million) in the third quarter, above the 2.3 billion crowns expected by analysts polled by the company.

Passenger Demand and Capacity Adjustments

"Passenger demand for air travel with Norwegian grew significantly across markets into the peak summer travel season," the company said.

The airline said it had reduced monthly capacity by between 25% and 40% compared with October and forecast full-year capacity growth of 2%, saying it would rise to around 5% in 2027 as its fleet grows to about 100 aircraft.

Impact of Fuel Prices and Geopolitical Uncertainty

While higher fuel prices and Middle East-related uncertainty have led the airline to cut planned first-quarter 2027 capacity by more than 5%, it said booking trends remained "encouraging," with ticket sales and load factors ahead of last year.

Unit Costs and Operational Efficiency

Norwegian Air's unit costs—the average cost of flying an aircraft seat—rose 8% from a year ago to 0.69 crowns in the quarter.

Reporting and Editorial Credits

(Reporting by Vera Dvorakova and Agnieszka Gosciak-Rabalska in Gdansk; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)