Budget airline Norse Atlantic up 5% in Oslo stock market debut

Norway's Norse Atlantic, a recently formed long-haul budget airline that plans to launch operations this year, made its Oslo stock market debut on Monday, trading up 5% in early trade. Norse traded at 21 Norwegian crowns ($2.46) per share at 0731 GMT, up from a price of 20 crowns in a private placement late last month. “The global economy has been hit hard by the pandemic but a new era is coming. People will once again travel for business and pleasure,” Norse founder and CE Bjoern Tore Larsen said. The airline aims to fill a gap left by Norwegian Air, which offered low-cost transatlantic flights until mounting debt and the collapse of travel due to the COVID-19 outbreak forced it to exit its long-haul business. Seeking to benefit from a glut of cheap aircraft as established carriers scaled back amid the pandemic, Norse signed contracts for nine Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets from Irish lessor AerCap Holdings.<br/>