Norse to wet lease six 787s as it reports strong growth
November 29, 2024
Norse Atlantic Airways has signed a letter of intent with an as-yet-undisclosed international airline for the wet lease of six Boeing 787 aircraft.
Under the proposed agreement, two aircraft are set to be operational by February 2025, with the remaining four joining in September 2025.
Each aircraft will be guaranteed 350 block hours per month, with the potential for additional payments if utilisation exceeds this threshold.
The announcement comes alongside Norse’s strong Q3 performance, with revenue up 8% year-on-year to $222 million and passenger numbers climbing 18% to over 514,000.
The airline achieved a record load factor of 86%, reflecting its growing operational efficiency. Cost per available seat kilometre (CASK) excluding fuel dropped to an all-time low of $3.55.
The wet lease deal underscores Norse’s strategic pivot to longer-term ACMI contracts, signaling a shift toward greater financial stability while supporting robust growth.
“The third quarter brought Norse to record heights on revenue, production and load factors. Available Seat Kilometres was up 20%, the number of flights increased 17% and passengers were up 18%, all compared to the third quarter of 2023, while load factor increased by three percentage points to 86%, being the highest level achieved in any quarter of the company’s history,” said Bjorn Tore Larsen, CEO and Founder of Norse Atlantic Airways.
“From an operational perspective, we are happy to see that the company’s organisation continues to take on growth in a great manner. The company’s fleet held in own operations grew by two aircraft and hence 20% into the summer season, being well reflected in ASK growing by 20%. Operational performance was strong as 99.3% of all planned flights were completed during the quarter.
“Over the last few months, we have been working on a revised business plan developing ACMI and charter as more of a separate business area, side-by-side with, and complementary to the operations in our own scheduled network.”
