Norwegian carried 1,996,221 passengers in August, up from 790,220 a year ago, driven by demand during the final weeks of the summer. However, load factor was 85.5%, down nearly 10% from 94.5% in July which Norwegian last month hailed as its highest load factor "in many years".

Nonetheless, Norwegian chief executive Geir Karlsen said the figures came as further signs of recovery, with "encouraging" autumn bookings and a return of business travellers.

Norwegian launched a new direct Trondheim-Manchester route in August, as well as an autumn and winter sale to mark its 20th anniversary.

The airline operated an average of 69 aircraft in August, down from an average of 70 in July, and completed 99.7% of scheduled flights – level with July.

Norwegian’s punctuality – its proportion of flights departing within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure time – improved marginally in August, up from 62.2% to 63%, while 96.5% of all scheduled August flights arrived on schedule or no more than an hour late, up from 93% in July.

"August marks the end of summer and the month marked another strong performance for Norwegian," said Karlsen. "We operated our planned programme and flew close to all scheduled flights.

"The congestion at European airports has begun to improve, which is positive for our operations but also, importantly, to the travel experience of our customers.

"It is uplifting for the industry in general that we are continuing to return to normal operations after these extraordinary years for aviation."