Norwegian Group Reports Record Passenger Numbers for October 2024
Norwegian Group, which encompasses budget carrier Norwegian and regional airline Widerøe, has announced a strong performance for October 2024, with a significant rise in passenger numbers and improved load factors. The airlines are experiencing robust forward sales as they approach the busy holiday season at the end of the year.
In October 2024, Norwegian transported 2,197,751 passengers, while Widerøe carried 372,757 passengers, resulting in a combined total of 2,570,508 passengers for the month. Norwegian’s capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), increased by 10% compared to October 2023, achieving a remarkable overall load factor of nearly 87%, which marks a record for the airline outside of the peak summer month of July.
Norwegian’s capacity reached 3,437 million seat kilometers, with revenue passenger traffic (RPK) hitting 2,982 million seat kilometers, reflecting an 11% increase over the previous year. The overall load factor improved by 0.6 percentage points to 86.8%. Additionally, Norwegian achieved a flight completion rate of 99.3% in October, while on-time performance stood at 81.8%, a slight decline of 3.2% from October 2023 but an improvement over earlier months in 2024.
The airline operated an average of 85 aircraft during October, comprising 63 Boeing 737-800s, each with 186 seats, and 22 Boeing 737 MAX 8s with 189 seats. Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian, expressed satisfaction with the month’s results, stating, “October has been solid, and I am pleased that we have delivered increased unit revenue and load factor, while at the same time delivering double-digit capacity growth.” He also noted strong booking momentum as the winter season and Christmas holidays approach, advising travelers to book early.
On the regional front, Widerøe continued its upward trend, flying 372,757 passengers in October 2024. The airline reported a solid load factor alongside increased capacity, with a capacity (ASK) of 192 million seat kilometers, up 5% from October 2023. The passenger traffic (RPK) stood at 141 million seat kilometers, resulting in an overall load factor of 73.6%, an increase of 5.2 percentage points from the previous year.
Widerøe operated a fleet of 50 aircraft in October, including 47 De Havilland Canada DHC-8 turboprops and three Embraer ERJ-190 regional jets, servicing 122 routes to 52 destinations across 10 countries. Karlsen praised the efforts of Widerøe’s team, stating, “Widerøe continues to go from strength to strength, and I’m impressed to see the good work our colleagues are doing to ensure the product offering appeals to a record number of growing passengers.”
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