Norwegian Air Q3 net profit rises, to cut capacity in winter

Norwegian Air shares rose on Wednesday after reporting an increase in third-quarter net profit boosted by recovery from the pandemic and a pilot strike at rival SAS, but said it would reduce capacity by a quarter during winter. Norwegian, which came close to collapse when the pandemic broke out in 2020, posted quarterly revenue of 7.1b crowns ($688m), the highest of any quarter since the final three months of 2019, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Net profit for the three-months ending Sept. 30 rose to 910 million crowns ($87.57m) from a year-ago profit of 169m, Norwegian said. The airline will reduce its capacity by a quarter in winter, when demand is usually lower, by not using the planes it is leasing, and will closely follow how cash-strapped consumers behave in Q1. "We have a flexibility with our fleet that means we can reduce our capacity by up to 30%," CEO Geir Karlsen said. "We can leave planes on the ground, we can make them fly less."<br/>