Investing.com -- Norwegian Air Shuttle reported third-quarter operating profit of 2.73 billion Norwegian crowns on Wednesday, beating analyst expectations of 2.33 billion crowns, while profit before tax also exceeded consensus as the airline benefited from strong summer travel demand and cost control.
Profit before tax was 2.52 billion crowns, compared with analyst consensus of 2.15 billion crowns. The operating margin was 21.4%.
Quarter-end liquidity stood at 11.2 billion crowns, up 0.7 billion crowns from a year earlier, after the company repaid its last outstanding bond in September.
The group carried 8.75 million passengers in the quarter, including 7.64 million on Norwegian and 1.1 million on Widerøe.
Norwegian's capacity increased 5%, while its load factor rose 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier to 88.5%. Widerøe's capacity increased 2%, and its load factor was 76.1%.
Norwegian's punctuality improved to 80.7%, up 2.9 percentage points from a year earlier, while Widerøe's rose to 93.5%, up 1.7 percentage points.
Regularity was 99.3% at Norwegian and 97.9% at Widerøe, with both airlines affected by an air traffic controller strike in Norway in August.
Chief Executive Geir Karlsen said booking trends remained encouraging, with tickets sold significantly higher than at the same time last year.
The group has reduced monthly capacity for the coming winter season by between 25% and 40% compared with October 2026, while forecasting marginal production growth for the winter compared with the same period last year.
For full-year 2026, the group forecasts capacity growth of 2% at both Norwegian and Widerøe.
Norwegian expects unit costs excluding fuel to remain unchanged from 2025. Its Program X initiatives are on track to deliver more than 1.25 billion crowns in annual recurring underlying profit improvements by the end of 2026.
The group operated 148 aircraft at quarter-end, including 98 in the Norwegian fleet and 50 at Widerøe. Three new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft were delivered during the quarter. Its planned acquisition of Nordic Leisure Travel Group remains targeted to close by year-end, subject to EU competition clearance.
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