Norwegian Air CFO says sales volumes, prices stronger than yr ago

Ticket sale volumes and pricing at Norwegian Air have been far better than a year ago in the past few months, acting CFO Tore Oestby said. The rapidly expanding airline, which offers transatlantic flights as well as European short haul, has seen an improvement in trading, likely due in part to problems experienced by rival Ryanair, and the collapse of Monarch and Air Berlin, Oestby said. “We saw a pretty weak 2016 and start of 2017 ... But since then we have seen the market gradually strengthen. Both in long haul and short haul,” Oestby said. “Through H2 2017 and the beginning on 2018 (it) is far better than a year ago - both on volume and pricing,” he said. “We are quite confident about 2018. The market looks pretty good.” Norwegian’s shares fell sharply last year reflecting investor worries over the airline’s costs, high debts and rapid expansion into long-haul flights. But the stock has rebounded this year following its strong passenger traffic figures. Oestby said that recent cancellations of some of Norwegian’s transatlantic routes was just part of the normal churn of a low-cost carrier.<br/>