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Norwegian up 12% in March but late Easter hits load factors

Norwegian carried more than 2.4 million passengers last month as the low-fares carrier attracted 12% more passengers over March 2016.

The figures were negatively influenced by lower demand during the month because Easter falls in April this year, compared to March in 2016.

This saw the load factor fall by 3.8 percentage points to 84.1% percent, reducing the unit revenue by about 10% year-on-year.

Norwegian chief executive Bjørn Kjos: “We are very pleased to see that more passengers chose to fly Norwegian.

“The growth is primarily driven by our international traffic, which is becoming increasingly important in the company’s global expansion.”

Norwegian operated 99.5% of scheduled flights in March, with 78.5% departing on time.

Meanwhile, easyJet carryings rose by 10.6% in March to more than 6.3 million with an improved load factor of 92.7%.

This gave the UK budget carrier a 7.3% rise in rolling annual passenger numbers to almost 76 million.

March traffic at British Airways owner International Airlines Group grew by 2.6% year-on-year, outstripping a 2.4% rise in capacity. Premium traffic rose by 6.9% in the month

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