Norse Atlantic cuts September capacity by a third as transatlantic routes exit winter schedule

Norse Atlantic Airways saw its capacity and traffic fall by a third in September, driven by a sharp reduction in scheduled flying, as the Scandinavian long-haul budget carrier reshapes its winter network away from the United States.

Scheduled network flights dropped 54% year-on-year for the month, while charter and aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance services rose 168%. Total flights were down just over a quarter.

Available seat kilometre capacity fell by a third, on a 32% reduction in revenue passenger kilometres. Load factor rose 1.7 percentage points to 96.9%. The airline said unit revenue climbed 35% year-on-year in September to 5.3 cents per ASK.

Chief executive Eivind Roald said the carrier continues to fly with reduced capacity in response to prolonged high fuel prices and is optimising fleet allocation. He added that the winter programme has been adjusted with greater focus on the Far East, where initial bookings show positive momentum.

All but one of its scheduled transatlantic routes have been removed from the winter schedule. Flights to New York from London Gatwick, Rome and Athens leave the network at the end of October. London Gatwick to Orlando is the only US route retained.

In their place, Norse Atlantic will fly to Bangkok from London, Manchester, Oslo and Stockholm. The winter network also includes London Gatwick to Cape Town. The shift marks a change of direction for a carrier that launched in 2021 with plans for transatlantic Boeing 787 services.