Norwegian Group carried 2.8 million passengers in September 2026, the company said on 6 October, with Norwegian Air Shuttle flying 2.4 million of them and its regional subsidiary WiderΓΈe carrying 394,000. Norwegian also took delivery of two new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft on the last day of the month, which it said marked the 200th and 201st aircraft deliveries in the airline's history.
Fuller flights at Norwegian
Norwegian grew capacity and traffic at the same time in September. Capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, was 3,833 million, up 6% compared with September 2025. Passenger traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, rose 7% to 3,339 million. Because traffic grew faster than capacity, the load factor improved by 0.6 percentage points to 87.1%.
Regularity, the share of scheduled flights that actually operated, was 99.4%, and punctuality, the share of flights leaving within 15 minutes of schedule, was 84.3%. Norwegian operated an average of 94 aircraft during the month.
"I am pleased that we have delivered a higher load factor while also increasing capacity, as we did in August," said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian. "The autumn holidays in all the Nordic countries are showing high demand, and we are experiencing many full flights across our core markets. Looking ahead, the winter period is also showing promising booking numbers."
Two new 737 MAX 8s and a milestone
On 30 September, Norwegian took delivery of two brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft from Boeing's facilities in Seattle. Karlsen said the pair marked aircraft deliveries number 200 and 201 in Norwegian's history. The airline flies an all-Boeing 737 fleet of 737-800s and 737 MAX 8s; in 2025 it had a fleet of 95 aircraft and carried 23 million passengers.
Karlsen also pointed to fuel costs as a challenge. "The current fuel price levels are creating headwinds, but we are managing this with seasonally optimised capacity as well as our hedge positions in the coming months," he said.
Winter demand: sun, cities and the Arctic
For the coming winter, Norwegian said warm-weather destinations such as Egypt and the Canary Islands and city breaks such as London and Berlin are performing well. Demand is also coming the other way: Karlsen said tourists travelling into the Nordics look promising, with Rovaniemi and TromsΓΈ popular alongside the Nordic capitals.
WiderΓΈe: smaller gain, top punctuality
WiderΓΈe, which Norwegian acquired in 2024, increased capacity by 3% to 208 million available seat kilometres in September, while passenger traffic rose 1% to 149 million revenue passenger kilometres. Its load factor fell 1.6 percentage points to 71.8%.
The regional airline again stood out on reliability. Punctuality reached 94.5%, up 0.5 points from a year earlier, and regularity was 98.2%. "We are continuing to deliver world class punctuality thanks to all our great colleagues and their hard work," said WiderΓΈe CEO Tore Jenssen. WiderΓΈe mainly serves short-runway airports in rural Norway, including routes operated under state contracts, and flew 4.1 million passengers in 2025 with a fleet of 51 aircraft, including 48 Dash 8 turboprops and three Embraer E190-E2s.
Why it matters
The September figures show Norwegian still filling its aircraft well as it adds capacity, at a time when higher fuel prices are pushing several European airlines to trim flying. The new 737 MAX 8 deliveries continue the gradual renewal of its fleet, and the company is presenting winter bookings, both outbound sun traffic and inbound Arctic tourism, as a positive sign heading into the colder months.
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