Norse looks to concentrate on profitable routes and shift capacity to long-term charters

Norse is expecting to deploy at least half its aircraft capacity on wet-lease and charter services over the winter season, and signals that it is looking to de-risk its operation by entering longer-term external capacity agreements. The airline has been revising its business plan, to strengthen its financial footing, following the collapse of talks with a potential strategic partner earlier this year. Although it will deploy much of its capacity on its own network for the third quarter, it will concentrate on third-party opportunities during the weaker fourth. “Through the winter season we are planning to fly at least half of our operated capacity on [wet-lease] and charter contracts,” it states. Norse is scaling down its fleet to 12 Boeing 787-9s, after opting to return its three sub-leased 787-8s to their lessor, and it is re-assessing its business plan based on the smaller operation. It says the strategic changes to its business model could involve more of its capacity being “locked into longer-term contracts” which will mean the airline carries “lower market risk”. It says it is negotiating with “several” airlines over “multi-year contracts” to which it would allocate capacity – potentially from the end of this year – and replace part of its variable income with fixed revenues.<br/>