OSLO (Reuters) -Norwegian Air reported on Friday a full-year profit for 2021 in a turnaround from losses suffered the previous year, and said booking trends point to busier travel ahead for Europe as COVID lockdown restrictions are lifted.
The budget carrier’s net result swung to a profit of 1.88 billion Norwegian crowns ($211.4 million) last year from a loss of 23 billion crowns in 2020.
Fourth-quarter revenue rose almost fourfold to 2.55 billion crowns from 670 million the year before even as the Omicron outbreak affected business in late 2021.
“We are looking forward to welcoming more customers on board heading into the busier spring and summer seasons,” Norwegian Air Chief Executive Officer Geir Karlsen said in a statement.
“Booking trends show customers are planning and booking earlier in anticipation that the positive recent developments in regards to COVID-19 vaccinations and restrictions will continue in the long term,” the company said in its earnings report.
The pandemic sent the indebted airline into bankruptcy proceedings from which it emerged in a slimmed-down version in May of last year with no long-distance network and a decimated fleet.
This year, the company plans to increase the number of aircraft in its fleet to 70 from 51 at the end of 2021. At its pre-pandemic peak, Norwegian Air had more than 160 planes.
In the fourth quarter, 3.1 million passengers travelled with Norwegian Air, up from 2.5 million in the third and far more than the 600,000 that flew with the airline in the final quarter of 2020.
Cash and cash equivalents rose to 7.7 billion crowns by the end of the fourth quarter from 7.6 billion three months earlier, Norwegian Air said.
As part of its court-ordered restructuring process, Norwegian Air converted almost all its debt to equity and struck deals with leasing firms to only pay for aircraft when they were actually in use, a so-called power-by-the-hour arrangement.
The company’s shares have rise 9.6% so far this year.
($1 = 8.8931 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Victoria Klesty and Terje Solsvik, Editing by Nerijus Adomaitis and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
