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Norwegian seeks to re-sell aircraft orders

Norwegian Air plans to sell or divest itself of orders for more than 100 aircraft in a de-escalation of previous expansion plans.

Chief financial officer Geir Karlsen revealed this week that most of Norwegian’s order for 90 Airbus A320 and A321 neos (new engine option) aircraft “are for sale”.

Karlsen told news agency Reuters: “We have 90 neos from Airbus on order. All of the A320 neos are, for all practical purposes, for sale.

“We have started a process where we will try to find a new home for these planes.”

He added: “The problem is not to sell them, but to get the price we want.”

Norwegian announced the sale of six Boeing 737s last week and is reported to be ready to sell up to 140 aircraft.

At the same time, Norwegian put domestic flights in Argentina on sale this week. The carrier is due to commence operating domestic flights in the country on October 16.

Norwegian Air Argentina will fly initially from Buenos Aires to Cordoba and Mendoza and is offering return flights from 699 Argentine pesos or about €15.

However, Argentina is in the middle of a deepening economic crisis with its currency collapsing and inflation at 60%.

The government raised interest rates to 60% at the end of August and is seek an International Monetary Fund bail-out in excess of $50 billion.

Karlsen said a decision on whether to take delivery of all 30 of the A321s would depend on how sales in Argentina progress.

He said: “We are pretty excited about what we are doing in Argentina. Depending how that goes we well decide on the Airbus 321 and will possibly move some of them to Argentina.”

Norwegian reported “strong passenger growth”, in August, with passenger numbers increasing 10% year on year in the month to 3.6 million.

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