Norwegian Air’s Bjoern Kjos stepped down as chief executive of the airline he co-founded and turned into Europe’s third-biggest budget carrier by passenger numbers.

Norwegian Air Shuttle, the carrier trying to grab a larger slice of transatlantic flights, reported a slump in earnings and said the outlook for both growth and costs was worse than expected.

Budget airline Norwegian Air has suspended talks on buying 20 Dreamliner planes from Boeing because of a delay in receiving US backing for its long-haul plans, according to its chief executive Bjoern Kjos.

Budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA has signed deals worth 127 billion kronor (€16.5bn) to purchase 222 planes from Boeing and Airbus.