Norwegian and long haul

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary (see COMMENT) may well be keeping an eye on Norwegian Air Shuttle as it swung to an operating profit in the second quarter, as its bet on the long haul market turned profitable for the first time.

The non-EU airline has expanded rapidly with the addition of long haul flights in 2013, making it the only budget carrier to offer direct flights between Europe and the United States.

"We've reached critical mass in long haul and we now expect a very good development going forward, not least in the London market," Bjørn Kjos, Chief Executive, told an investor presentation.

Norwegian did not give separate earnings numbers for the long-distance operations but Kjos said that they had contributed to profits.  "We're already there now," Kjos said.

The number of passengers flying on routes between Europe and the United States and Asia rose 130% year-on-year and made up close to 5% of Norwegian's 7m passengers and 10% of revenue in the quarter.

Norwegian said that it expects available seat kms for its long haul business to grow 30% this year and 38% next year.

The company's quarterly load factor increased to 85% from 80% a year before as the increase in passenger numbers outpaced capacity growth.  www.norwegian.com

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Andrew Sharp, Surbiton

It may be a non-EU airline, but it has an Irish-registered subsidiary.