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Norwegian Air in massive plane purchase

Low-cost carrier Norwegian has announced it will buy 222 new airliners from Boeing and Airbus at a total cost of 127 billion kroner ($21.5 billion).

Norwegian Air in massive plane purchase
Photo: Hans Olav Nyborg

The deal is being viewed as the biggest ever single investment in mainland Norway.

“This is one of the biggest plane orders in the world and the biggest in Europe,” spokeswoman Anne-Sissel Skånvik told news agency NTB.

“We can afford it. The deliveries will start in 2016 and we have several possibilities for financing.”

The budget carrier said it had signed agreements for 122 aircraft from Boeing and 100 from Airbus.

The order includes 100 of the new Boeing 737 MAX8 and 22 Next-Generation 737-800, the company said, as well as 100 Airbus A320neo.

 “We have secured our fleet renewal for years to come and are very pleased with the agreements with both Airbus and Boeing,” said CEO Bjørn Kjos in a statement.

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AIRLINE

Airline Norwegian posts 15 billion kroner loss after nightmare 2020

Low cost airline Norwegian has registered a loss of 14.9 billion Norwegian kroner for 2020, a year in which the company saw a drastic reduction in passenger numbers and was on the brink of bankruptcy.

A file photo of a Norwegian Air Shuttle plane in Finland.
A file photo of a Norwegian Air Shuttle plane in Finland. Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva / AFP

Low cost airline Norwegian has registered a loss of 14.9 billion Norwegian kroner for 2020, a year in which the company saw a drastic reduction in passenger numbers and was on the brink of bankruptcy.

The company published its annual results on Friday, revealing the huge operating loss.

Norwegian’s 2019 result, a loss of around 1.7 billion kroner, had put the company in a difficult position even prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak and its consequent travel restrictions reduced the company’s passenger numbers to 6.9 million in 2020. That is 29 million fewer than in 2019.

Not all of the loss is due to fewer passengers. Around half of the company’s devaluation is attributed to a depreciation of the value of its aircraft fleet, news wire Ritzau reports.

“2020 was an exceptionally demanding year for air travel and for Norwegian,” CEO Jacob Schram said in a statement on the annual results.

“In light of that, the result for the fourth quarter (of 2020) is not surprising. Unfortunately, the majority of our employees are furloughed and many have lost their jobs – in part because of the closure of long distance services,” he added.

The company was already in debt prior to the pandemic and is now under bankruptcy protection in Ireland and is undergoing similar process in Norway.

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