Budget carrier Norwegian’s Irish subsidiary, Norwegian Air International, is attributing to non-recurring costs a full-year operating loss of more than $456 million.
At the end of 2017 the company held the commercial results for 12 Boeing 787-8s leased from Norwegian for transatlantic routes, and operated 70 Boeing 737s – comprising 64 737-800s and six 737 Max 8s.
Norwegian Air International’s operating loss almost doubled from the previous figure of $234 million, according to its latest financial statement for the year ending 31 December 2017.
It lists a pre-tax loss of almost $446 million and a net loss of $390 million.
Revenues for the airline increased by one-third, to just over $2 billion – including ticket and ancillary income of $1.95 billion – while expenditure rose by 41% to $2.48 billion, including a 61% hike in fuel costs to $535 million.
“The majority of the loss was as a result of start-up costs relating to new bases which the company does not expect to incur in the future,” says Norwegian Air International.
“It is envisaged that the company will become profitable in future years.”
It stresses that its parent, Norwegian Air Shuttle, has undertaken to provide financial support enabling Norwegian Air International to pay its debts for at least a year.
As part of this support over 2017 the subsidiary issued 675 million shares to Norwegian Air Shuttle, taking Norwegian Air International’s overall issued share capital to more than 1 billion shares.
Norwegian Air International established a Danish branch last year, it says, and completed the set-up of an Italian branch.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
