Norwegian has had “productive meetings” with Boeing following the grounding of 737 Max aircraft.
The low-cost carrier saw passenger carryings rise by 5% last month to 2.9 million despite the withdrawal of its Max 8 aircraft used on some transatlantic routes.
The Max 8s were grounded worldwide following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in less than six months with Boeing working on a software fix for the aircraft.
Norwegian operated 97.4% of its scheduled flights in March despite the carrier’ Boeing 737 Max aircraft being taken out of service.
“The passenger impact was limited,” Norwegian said. “The airline combined flights and offered passengers alternative departures.”
CEO Bjorn Kjos said: “Despite the fact that our Boeing 737 Max aircraft were taken out of production this month, the regularity is satisfactory, and the punctuality is up 8.5 percentage points.
“Our dedicated colleagues here at Norwegian have been working day and night to find solutions for our customers.
“Those affected by the changes have shown great understanding of a situation that is beyond Norwegian’s control and I would like to thank them for that,
“We have had some productive meetings with Boeing where we have discussed how we can manoeuvre through the difficulties the Max situation is causing Norwegian.”
Norwegian, which reining in capacity growth to focus on profitability, took delivery of one new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in March.