Norwegian forced to cut March capacity by 70% in just a week

The budget carrier said government-imposed travel restrictions arising from the Covid-19 pandemic had resulted in a “dramatic drop” in flight demand.

In the space of a week, Norwegian went from cutting 15% of planned capacity starting 10 March to 85% starting 16 March, with most cancellations starting from 25 March.

Flights, meanwhile, operated at a load factor of 72%, down 13.8 percentage points compared to the same month last year.

Total March capacity in available seat kilometres decreased 53% year-on-year and total passenger numbers 61%, falling to 1.15 million.

Norwegian operated 77% of scheduled flights in total, as well as multiple rescue flights and services to maintain “critical regional flying infrastructure”.