Norwegian loses 503.9 million euros in the first semester due to the impact of the Covid.

In the first half of the year, Norwegian recorded net losses of
5,300 million Norwegian crowns (503.9 million euros) due to the impact of Covid, the Norwegian low-cost airline reported on Friday.

Before the outbreak of the pandemic, Norwegian had communicated to the market that it would make profits in 2020, “with the best summer in its history”.

“The strict travel restrictions imposed by the governments and the consequent drop in customer demand forced us to ground 140 aircraft and put approximately 8,000 jobs on hold,” the Norwegian airline stressed.

During the first half of the year, 5.31 million customers traveled with Norwegian, 71% less than the same period in 2019 and passenger traffic dropped by 72%. In the second quarter, the company only operated seven to eight aircraft on domestic routes within Norway.

After a restructuring process, the company obtained access to the loan guarantee from the Norwegian government of NOK 3 billion (EUR 285.24 million) and an additional NOK 300 million (EUR 28.52 million) from commercial banks.

“Over the past few months we have been working tirelessly to ensure that we can emerge from this crisis as a stronger and well-positioned company in the face of future competition. Some of these measures have been painful, but absolutely necessary if we are to move forward,” said Norwegian CEO Jacob Schram.

By EuropaPress