Norwegian committed to Ireland despite €94.5m loss

By Pádraig Hoare

Norwegian has said its Irish expansion is just getting started and that it is in a much better position for growth this year, despite the airline posting a larger loss than expected in the past three months.

Chief executive of the low-cost long-haul carrier Bjorn Kjos said he was “not at all satisfied” after the firm swung to a net loss of €94.5m from a year-ago profit of €20.25m.

Shares dropped around 5% in Norwegian, which is trying to crack the transatlantic market by undercutting established rivals but which faces pressures to control costs and shore up its balance sheet to weather competition.

“We truly hope 2017 will be the last year with loss. We are very optimistic for 2018. Bookings are looking good and cost is on track,” said Mr Kjos.

The airline has embarked on an ambitious expansion plan, buying more than 200 new fuel-efficient jets yet investors worry its drive to put more passengers on more planes is pushing up costs quickly without producing higher returns.

However, it allayed any fears about its Irish flights to the US, which have proved popular with flyers from Cork, Dublin, Shannon and Belfast.

Its Cork flight to Providence, Rhode Island on the east coast is the first ever transatlantic flight for the airport. A Cork-New York flight was also originally in the airline’s plans but that has been postponed until further testing on its Boeing 737 Max aircraft’s capabilities is done.

A Norwegian spokesman said: “We remain fully committed to Ireland as we see huge potential in the market. We’re in a much-better position for growth this year as bookings are stronger, we are continuing to introduce brand new aircraft and new exciting long-haul routes while creating jobs at the places we fly.”

He said Irish expansion is just getting started.

“We will double the number of flights between Shannon and Providence to four weekly flights and will add a third weekly flight to Stewart Airport in New York, ahead of plans to add a second daily service from Dublin to New York this spring.

“We still have ambitions to launch future new routes from Cork,” he said.

Meanwhile, Airbus took a €1.3bn hit on its delayed A400M military transport plane in 2017, lifting charges on Europe’s largest defence project above €8bn and clouding higher-than- expected underlying profits.

- Additional reporting Reuters