Norwegian Air's March traffic exceeds forecast, shares rise

Norwegian Air reported significantly higher than expected March traffic growth and a jump in revenue Friday, driven by strong demand for travel during the Easter holiday. Revenue per passenger kilometres at the budget carrier grew 48% year-on-year, exceeding an average forecast for a 39.9% rise in a Reuters poll of analysts. Norwegian shares were up 3.7% by 0738 GMT, beating a 0.6% drop in Oslo’s benchmark stock index. Norwegian last month raised US$165m in a share issue partly to pay for rapid fleet expansion as it tries to crack the market for transatlantic travel by undercutting established rivals. “Even though Easter strongly impacts this month’s figures, we have a solid passenger growth,” CE Bjoern Kjos said. “The international growth continues, and at the same time, more people are flying with us in Scandinavia”. The company’s passenger capacity grew by 44% in March from the same month of 2017, while its load factor increased to 86.7%, beating the 84.9% predicted. <br/>