General Industry

Norwegian Air's June Traffic Down 97% Ahead Of Restart

By Dave Simpson
Norwegian Air's June Traffic Down 97% Ahead Of Restart

Norwegian Air's June passenger volume was down 96.7% from a year earlier as most of its fleet remained grounded by the coronavirus pandemic, it said on Monday July 6.

It flew 113,000 passengers last month versus 3.48 million in June 2019.

Slowly Restarting Services

The budget airline, which is slowly restarting services this month, cut most of its network in March.

In May, Norwegian won backing from owners and creditors for a financial restructuring, and aims to rebuild operations, albeit on a smaller scale than before the pandemic.

Initially limiting its operations during COVID-19 to domestic flights in Norway, the airline reactivated 12 aircraft this month to fly across Europe, taking the total to 20, while more than 100 remain parked.

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"Demand has gradually picked up again and last week's bookings increased by 40% for flights in July and August," Norwegian said in a statement.

Aircraft Order Cancellation

Last week, the airline cancelled orders for 97 new Boeing aircraft and said that it will claim compensation from the US planemaker for the grounding of the 737 MAX and engine problems on its 787 Dreamliner jets.

News by Reuters, edited by Hospitality Ireland. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.