Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (OSL:NAS)
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Apr 27, 2026, 4:25 PM CET
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Earnings Call: Q1 2023

May 12, 2023

Jesper Hatletveit
VP of Investor Relations, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Good morning, and welcome to the Q1 presentation of Norwegian Air Shuttle. My name is Jesper Hatletveit, and I am the VP of Investor Relations here at Norwegian. Today's presentation will be held by our CEO, Geir Karlsen, and our CFO, Hans-Jørgen Wibstad. It will be followed by a Q&A from the audience and the web. Please go ahead, Geir.

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Thank you, Jesper. Welcome to all of you guys. Good to see you. We are very glad that we are kind of done with the low season, at least for this year in Norwegian. Going through the highlights for the quarter and looking a little bit into the summer season, 3.8 million passengers for the quarter, close to 81% load factor, which is okay. We think it's okay. You have been seeing this winter probably for the first time in Norwegian that we have been reducing capacity through the low season in a way that we haven't been doing before.

If you look at, as you can see on the page here, we reduced the capacity with 13% in kilometers going into Q1. Looking at Q3 last year, we are actually flying more than 30% less capacity in 1st quarter compared to the 3rd quarter last year. That is something you will probably see as well going forward in Norwegian, where we are adjusting the capacity in the low season in line with the demand. And, you know, by doing that, we have actually reduced our losses in the area of NOK 500 million-NOK 600 million compared to us flying with more full capacity over the same season. That led us to come out of the 1st quarter with NOK 992 million EBT.

To lose NOK 1 billion in a quarter is never good, but we are relatively happy with the numbers, taking the situation into consideration. We have been doing cash management relatively well over a long period. This is no exception. Even if we have a loss in the quarter, we have increased our cash position from NOK 7.7 billion to NOK 8.6 billion. Today, the cash position is higher than the NOK 8.6 as well. Looking into the summer, it is looking good. We all know, we have inflation, we have increased interest rates, and we have a weak local currency in Norway.

Even with those kind of issues, we are still seeing a very strong momentum on the bookings into summer season this year. We have, as we all know, slight delays from Boeing. We were supposed to get 15 new aircraft during the first half this year. We will, from Boeing, get five aircraft only. We secured six MAXs in addition to that, so that's why we are happy with the fleet that we are now going into the summer with. We are only missing now one delivery from Boeing that will take place during the next couple of weeks. By that, we can say that we are planning to fly this summer only with Norwegian aircrafts. We are very happy that we don't have to take in wet leases.

That is disruption in the operation as we see it, what you also saw partly we us doing in 2022. We are very happy. We have also been using the last months to bring in and to welcome more than 700 new co-colleagues into Norwegian. This time it's very well-planned, in my opinion. We don't have any concerns of these cabin crew and pilots not being ready for the summer season. They're all employed, they're all trained, they're ready for the summer operation. We have also in accordance to plan, been insourcing ground handling at Gardermoen. That has been an important thing for us.

We have taken what we call front of house, which is the customer-facing part of the ground handling, meaning that the people that you will actually meet going to Gardermoen. We did that 22nd, 23rd of March, as per today, it has been a huge success. We are seeing that the punctuality is even higher, you know, after the fact that we insourced it. We are seeing that this is more organized boarding. We have more control over the different boarding classes. Not at least, we are seeing an increased revenue as well, at gate especially, after onboarding more than 150 people into Norwegian. We have during into the summer, we have 300 routes for sail to more than 110, 115 destinations.

The network is all set. It's actually looking pretty well. I'll come back to the details a little bit later. On sustainability as well, we have taken action. We have been talking a lot about sustainability over the last months and quarters. Now we're actually doing something about it by investing into Norsk e-Fuel, both as an equity investor and also making an agreement on an offtake agreement for the years to come. I'll get back to the details on that. Going into, you know, the capacity yield and loads, this is showing, you know, the reduction we are doing in capacity. By doing that, you can see on the red line and the blue-black line that we are keeping a relatively constant load and yield. The load is between 78 and 86.

en 0.72 and 0.84. This is what we are doing in order to keep the loads, keep the yields in a season where the demand is lower. As I said, this has probably reduced the losses, you know, between NOK 500 million and NOK 600 million. Now we are in the process where we are ramping up again. Just think about it, guys. In January, we had approximately 1.6 million seats for sale. In May, we have close to 2.5 million seats for sale. That's how we are adjusting the capacity

To be able to do that, we are very happy that we have the flexibility on the fleet, and we are also very happy that we have been negotiating good agreements with all our unions, making us able actually to adjust capacity through the seasons. That's a good thing. Going into the booking, as you can see on the right, top corner there, you are seeing that, you know, the bookings throughout the winter has been relatively stable. You can also see that the yield is spreading out already back in February, and it has been stable over the last months. Looking at how we are booking compared to last year, for example, we are booking now at an average increase in fares of approximately 25% compared to 2022.

As you remember, 2022, we're also booking relatively strong compared to 2019. If you look at the load factors compared to 2022, we are massively above as per today, but we are not back to 2019 levels yet. One part of the reason for not being back is that we have a completely different discipline now when it comes to pricing, when it comes to revenue management throughout the winter, and we are much more patient as per today than what we have been before to call it like that. That's why we are also seeing a higher yield into the summer also as a result of that. On the bottom right side, we are kind of giving you some kind of a guidance on the revenue side.

The, you know, the mid-midline there is 2019. That is capacity adjusted. The bottom line is 2022, and then you can see 2023, how we are doing on revenues. It's a massive increase compared to what we have been seeing before, and this is why we are quite optimistic, I would say very optimistic, into the coming, into the coming summer. We do expect as well that this kind of development will continue. We don't really see any signs of this, coming off, and, it certainly looks good. On the brand side, we have a target to be the most loved and trusted airline in the Nordics. We are on our way to actually becoming it.

We are certainly that in Norway, and we are also working on the 3 other Nordic countries to get into that position. The Widerøe cooperationship is developing further. As per today, Widerøe is selling Norwegian on their home network, and there is more to come. We will aim to also be able to sell Widerøe tickets through our own websites during 2024 when we have the IT stack in place in order to be able to do that. We are working extremely hard on the punctuality. We are by far the most punctual airline in the Nordics. We have a kind of established a different difference as per today compared to our main shareholders in the 10 percentage points area. We intend to keep that difference.

This is also why, and a very important factor why we're actually taking market shares also on the corporate side of the business. Those numbers are also very promising. We are continuing to receive awards, and the last one was the Freddie Awards that we got for just, I think it was last week. It just shows that, and that was on the loyalty side, and it just shows that we are all the way up there on these ratings as such. Before I go further, maybe Hans Jørgen can go through the figures for the quarter. Hans Jørgen?

Hans-Jørgen Wibstad
CFO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Thank you, Geir. Good morning, everyone. I will, as usual, go through the Q1 numbers for Norwegian for 2023. Starting with before I go into the P&L in more detail, just to go through some key numbers on the revenue side. Very happy to see that their unit revenue came up at 31% compared with the same quarter last year to NOK 0.63 in the quarter. We're also seeing that the passenger traffic is up significantly 64% to 4.9 billion passenger kilometers. That's a good development, and it's driven by our increased capacity compared with the same quarter last year.

Seasonally, of course, as Geir said, we've taken down capacity, but we're seeing that we've been able to finally balance our capacity, but while at the same time keeping up, our offering. Looking at the profit, we are of course not very happy to report a negative figure close to NOK 1 billion. As also Geir said, we are relatively happy with the quarter. We were preparing for a quarter, which is seasonally low, but we have been delivering a result overall, which is in line with our expectations or even slightly better. The EBITDAR is as also reflected in the figures.

The EBITDAR, it has improved from the same quarter last year, from minus NOK 290 million to minus NOK 124 million, which of course is still a negative figure, but relative to where we are in the season, it's a quite a strong improvement. Also taking into account that we have increased our capacity and thus having a higher fixed cost level. On the CASK side, on the cost side, the unit cost per kilometer is at 0.55, the same level as last year, which also taking into account that our fixed cost base and also taking down capacity is okay on a comparable basis.

Having said that, we're not, you know, you know, we are struggling a little bit of course like many players in the industry and generally with both inflation and also the higher US dollar rate. That is of course impacting our CASK, and also the fact that we've taken down capacity also with a higher fixed cost base. That is of course, relatively speaking, driving CASK up, but it's improving the result. It's a good decision, but actually it will impact the CASK slightly and negative. Overall, you know, as I said, not very happy to report a negative figure, but at the same time, relatively happy with the quarter overall from a financial point of view and as we're getting ready for two more very exciting quarters, Q2 and Q3.

On the balance sheet side, also a good development. We've increased our cash balance from NOK 7.8 billion to NOK 8.6 billion in the quarter, despite the operating losses. Also taking into account that we have made two extraordinary payments in the quarter. One is the fine that we have actually paid, which is a disputed amount that we have recorded as receivable in our balance sheet, but we had to pay for it before it's taken to court or judged, a final decision in court. The other thing we have also done is to repurchase bonds, the Retained Claim Bonds. That is the sum of the fine and the repayment of the bond is NOK 750 million.

That actually is reducing the cash, but still we're have successfully increased the cash balance by $8.6, or to $8.6 billion. I would also like to say when talking about the balance sheet, very happy to report that we have just signed a loan facility for the 500 million loan facility for the financing of up to 10 of the new aircrafts coming into the fleet for the 2025 deliveries at attractive terms, and which gives a good basis for the financing of that fleet renewal. It's also kind of a stamp of quality from the credit institutions that has provided this loan facility of $500 million.

Digging a little bit more into the P&L, operating revenues is strongly up by 107% to NOK 3.975 billion. Other revenues is impacted by CashPoints, which we have reported in the report itself. We've taken some of the void on the CashPoints of that which is maturing in 2023. That is somewhat impacting the revenue side. Otherwise, to note on the P&L side, just kind of normal operating expenses. Of course there is an elevated fuel price, which is also impacting us in the Q1. Of course, the Q1 in 2022 still had relatively low fuel prices, that is a factor.

Also the strong US dollars is impacting the fuel price. Overall, you know, according to plan. I did make a quick note on the we have done a reclassification of heavy maintenance expenses, which we have pushed from technical maintenance expenses to depreciation. That's very technical, and that's well described in the, in the report itself. I will not go into any detail, but it does not have any impact on the EBIT, but it does have an impact on the EBITDAR, and that is to align our the treatment of our leased aircraft with our owned aircraft. That is an just an important technical adjustment. net financial items is significantly down. That's driven by actually the repurchase of NOK 475 million of the Retained Claim Bonds.

We recorded a small profit also on the repurchase, which we did at 72.5% of par. We have somewhat higher interest income, and also a foreign exchange impact on that line, which is helpful for the net financial items. Which brings us down to a net result before tax of -NOK 992 million. This is just for kind of reading for those that are very interested in our reclassification. There is further information on that in the report itself. The important thing, it doesn't impact the EBIT. It's just a reclassification between, so we treat leased and owned aircraft the same way. Talked a little bit about the balance sheet.

The balance sheet is increasing by 25% in the quarter. That's driven by an increase in number of aircrafts by 9 from the end of last year to this year, to the end of this quarter. You can see that the tangible fixed assets is up from NOK 10 billion to NOK 13.2 billion. The cash is up, the receivables is up naturally seasonally, and which is then the main drivers for the increase in the balance sheet. Equity is down naturally as a result of the loss in the quarter. We're very happy to see that the holdback from the acquirers is down to 32%.

As some of you may recall, it was above 100% at the end of 2021, and it has gradually come down, which is a key driver for our ability to actually generate cash in the quarter. As we see that the air traffic liability has increased from NOK 2.5 billion at the end of last year to NOK 6.1 billion or NOK 6.2 billion at the end of this quarter. Overall, a very, very, I would say a good development on the balance sheet side, a natural increase in the size of the balance sheet as our e-fleet increases, and we get more of these kind of right of use assets.

Looking at our net interest-bearing debt as a consequence of that is going up from NOK 2.3 billion to NOK 4.1 billion, naturally driven by aircraft financing and right of use assets, IFRS 16 adjustments. However, looking at our net interest-bearing debt excluding IFRS 16, or excluding the right of use assets, it's actually our net interest-bearing debt is coming down by nearly NOK 1 billion as we have repaid some of our bond that I've mentioned a few times, and we've also increased our cash balance.

It's important to look at, I think, the net interest-bearing debt both as reported here, but also kind of taking out the leased aircrafts, which is driving kind of the increase in the debt level on this chart. Right. This is kind of to summarize on the cash flow side. A strong cash development in the quarter despite the losses of nearly NOK 1 billion, driven by the forward bookings and reduced holdback from the acquirers down to 32%. We've done some investments, including a spare engine. We paid for the aircraft leases, and in total, that brings our cash balance to NOK 8.6 billion. Again, to repeat, very happy to announce that we have secured the $500 million loan facility from a reputable financial, international and financial institution at attractive terms. That is, of course, together with what we've already paid in as prepayment for the aircraft, more than $3 billion provides a solid foundation for the financing of this fleet renewal that will be kicked off in 2025.

Jesper Hatletveit
VP of Investor Relations, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Okay.

Hans-Jørgen Wibstad
CFO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Thank you.

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Okay.

Hans-Jørgen Wibstad
CFO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Yeah.

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

The way forward, I just want to add a comment, Hans Jørgen. I think, you know, some of you might be a little bit disappointed on the high CASK for the quarter. I think that is, you know, I think going forward, I think we will have to accept that in low season, we will have a slightly higher CASK than in the high season. That is because we are taking out the capacity. It is, it is, you know, making the bottom line massively better by doing that. That is kind of just a very planned strategy and something you will have to accept also going forward. All in all, it's good for the profitability. I'm gonna spend a couple of minutes on sustainability. We have been talking a lot about sustainability over the last quarters. We have now taken action in a way where we are actually investing into a company called Norsk eFuel.

That is a company that is going to build a facility up in Mosjøen, where they're going to produce e-fuel. The company is supported by very solid shareholders and also technology providers. Sunfire, a German company, will provide the technology. This is a tested technology, so this is all about scaling it up for production of SAF. Then you have Paul Wurth, which is also a huge company situated in Luxembourg, but you know, mainly in Germany, that will actually, you know, build this facility. We have been agreeing on an offtake agreement with Norsk eFuel, and we have also invested approximately NOK 50 million into it. Why have we been doing that? Well, because we think it's a good investment, we would like to take a part of the upside going forward. All going well, the first liter of SAF, sustainable aviation fuel, will come out of this facility in 2026. All going well, we will be able then to secure 20% of the SAF we need when we look at the targets of a 30%-45% reduction in emissions in 2030.

We think that this is a great project. You know, why are you doing it in Mosjøen? Well, you have a, you have an, you know, community that is extremely supportive. Historically, this community has very cheap electricity, compared to, you know, almost wherever in Europe. It's the perfect place to build a facility like that. That is something that we are doing. Then we will continue to explore other alternatives. Before we decided on Norsk e-Fuel, I think we considered 15 other projects. This is the one we feel most comfortable with. We think it's absolutely great that this is also taking place in Norway, creating jobs as well in Mosjøen.

We are also continuing on the ESG commitment. We have, as we have said many times, been setting a target of 45% reduction. The only way we can achieve that is to get going on the production of SAF. SAF today costs approximately 4 times normal fossil fuel. Obviously this is an issue, and that's why we are pushing as well towards the government in order to get a partnership in place, not only for Norwegian, but for the industry, where we mean that the taxes we are paying into the government should be turned around and then incentivizing production of this type, this type of fuel. We have ordered new aircraft burning less fuel. That's also part of the same strategy. We have been implementing different kind of tools.

One is something we call SkyBreathe, which is something the pilots are using, and we are measuring how efficient they are when they are flying on a day-to-day basis, and by that trying then to reduce the consumption of fuel. 2022, we took out 17,000 tons only on that small little app in itself. It just shows that we are doing whatever we can to reduce. We have another tool which, you know, gives the, you know, the aircraft, you know, very sophisticated weather forecasts, meaning that they can then fly in on the right altitude, meaning burning less fuel, et cetera. We are also continuing the long-lasting relationship with UNICEF. That is a kind of a partnership between us and our passengers.

The passengers was contributing more than NOK 5 million in 2022, which is a great thing. We also had this Fill a Plane project this year, where we were flying a brand-new 737 MAX down to Ethiopia, where the whole aircraft was filled up mostly with medicine to children in Ethiopia. A very good project and definitely a project we will continue to support also for the years to come. That's on sustainability. To the corporate market. The corporate market, as we see it today, is approximately 70%-75% back compared to 2019. If we look at the revenues that we are having in 2023, we are actually above 2019.

We have a higher yield on these passengers compared to 2019, but we are also definitely taking market share on this area. That's why we are putting more efforts into actually into this area in order then to be more attractive for these, for this segment. I think, you know, part of the reason we are gaining market share is the punctuality and the regularity that we have in Norwegian. 99.4% regularity, and we have by far the best punctuality as well in the Nordics. We have been promising our customers that, you know, the network that we have for sale is the network that we're going to fly, and that promise continues as well for the year and for the years to come.

We have also been running a campaign on the smaller to mid-size companies. We are very happy to see that we have more than 900 companies that has signed up during the Q1. We are always trying to get information out of the big corporates. Many of these guys are now saying that they're actually flying more than 50% Norwegian on a daily basis. That's why we are also saying that, you know, the market, the portion of the revenue coming from this segment has increased by 6 percentage points compared to 2019.

On the loyalty side, we've also kind of relaunched the Norwegian Reward, where we have, you know, made it a little bit more easy to understand, and we are also implementing a new tier called Norwegian Reward Priority. This is mostly, this is for the people traveling the most, and if you fly 32 flights on a 12 months rolling basis with Norwegian today, we will throw in all the benefits, including new benefits. That is then creating, you know, a travel experience where you are kind of, you know, it's very smooth. You have priority on customer care, you have priority on check-in, always fast track, you can come first on board, you can bring your luggage, and so on.

That we are creating a product that is actually, you know, in particular, you know, meant for the people that travels the most. We are also seeing that, you know, the number of members in this group at this t-tier level has increased by 35% just in 2023. It certainly shows that it is as attractive and probably something that a portion of the passengers has been looking forward to. I mentioned earlier the Freddie Awards, and this is just another award that we have been winning this year, and it's great. Absolutely great. Just to summarize, things are looking good into the summer. We have been through the booking figures.

We are, when it comes to kind of, not guiding, but you know, the way we look at it, we are now guiding 32.5 billion kilometers for 2023. We mentioned CASK a little bit. We have an aim to reduce CASK by up to 5%, compared to 2022. The hedge positions, we are 40% hedged, for 2023, and we have also put on a portion in 2024. I have been looking at the consensus numbers. I think it's approximately NOK 1.1 billion for 2023 as a whole. Looking at the fuel prices that have come down from, let's say, mid-NOK 900s to, the spot price today, which is, you know, shy of NOK 750. Looking at the booking momentum that we're seeing for Norwegian, I might wonder whether, you know, I think the analysts around, I can see a few of them here, I think you have to look at the numbers one more time. That's all. Thank you guys.

Jesper Hatletveit
VP of Investor Relations, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Thank you, Geir. We then open up for questions. We'll start with the audience. Please raise your hand and introduce yourself. Start with Hans-Erik.

Hans-Erik Jacobsen
Senior Equity Research Analyst, Nordea

Hans-Erik Jacobsen at Nordea. It seems like traffic is picking up quite significantly during the summer, not only for Norwegian, but for the entire market. Could you comment a little bit on how you view the market balance in Europe now, which is important in order for you to continue to increase the yield and fill up the planes? Also, comment on the competitive situation compared to what you experienced before COVID-19.

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

I think if you look at, if you look at the markets we are flying, I think, and you, you know, what we have been mostly concerned about over the last couple of months is the city segments, you know, the big cities. That, and that is, from, I would say, at least from Norway, Denmark and Sweden. That market has come up. That's probably what we are most satisfied with over the last, let's say, two months. Going down to, from the Nordics down to the Mediterranean, first of all, Spain is working great, I have to say. You could say that, you know, the market performing, you know, on the negative side, compared to what we would like it to be, is probably domestic. Domestic Norway, partly. Domestic Sweden, even more.

If you look at Finland, for example, we have reduced capacity in Finland, especially on the domestic side. That has actually, you know, increased the performance in Finland. Finland today for us is actually okay. It's not great, but it's okay. I should say that, you know, the market that has probably come back the most is actually the city segment over the last couple of months. If you look at the competitive side, we are seeing that, you know, our main competitor, SAS, is flying with more capacity than what we have been doing through the winter. That is putting a pressure actually on the yield, even if the yield are, you know, is good, actually.

Other than that, if you look at the competitive situation, let's say from September last year until now, it's relatively unchanged, I would say. I mean, what we're actually seeing now, for example, is that if you look at Eurowings out of Arlanda, for example, it seems like they are actually reducing capacity into the winter season. Ryanair is relatively active domestically in Sweden, maybe putting in an extra tail from four to five, which is, you know, something that we just have to handle. I think, you know, if I should move capacity today from one part of the market to another one, I will probably fly more south from all the Nordic countries. I don't know if that was an answer.

Hans-Erik Jacobsen
Senior Equity Research Analyst, Nordea

Yes. Thank you very much.

Christian Nordby
Head of Equity Research, Kepler Cheuvreux

Thank you, Jesper. It Christian Nordby. Three questions from me. Start with the first one here. How do you see the risk of, call it, any operational issues entering now the peak season, which then obviously could hit your profitability? You know, aircraft crew issues resulting in potential wet lease, you mentioned it previously. Any challenges on different airports? How do you see that?

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

There will definitely be challenges into the summer, as it is every year. As I mentioned earlier, I think on the crew side, we're very comfortable. We have the crew we need in place. If we have any issues on the crew side, Oh, sorry, I, we are just comfortable on the crew side. On the wet lease, we are not planning to do any wet leases. Why are we saying that? Well, it is because we are now, we are lacking one aircraft only that is coming directly from Boeing. It will be delivered in May. We have the aircraft we need as well.

We don't anticipate any ID issues as we had last year on more than 150 crew. That is all taken care of. There is no issues there either. On the airport side, though, we have issues. One is in Paris as we speak. That is a mess, and is the eruption, I'll say is a stress factor and for all of us. How long will that continue? I don't know. That is one factor. Another airport that is an issue today is Copenhagen, where you have an issue with the air traffic control with Naviair. And that is a concern that might actually last throughout the summer season.

We have delays there now, you know, in general at the airport. We are kind of looking into what we can do to mitigate. We are discussing internally, just to be very open about it, should we consider to fly to Malmö instead for part of the production in case this escalates. Right now, we can handle it, but the capacity is increasing in general in Copenhagen into the next month. That's probably the biggest concern.

Christian Nordby
Head of Equity Research, Kepler Cheuvreux

Perfect. Thank you. The next question. You're guiding unit cost down up to 5%. Will you be able to deliver on that already in Q2, or is this something that we should see as more back-ended loaded?

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

I think if you look at, if you look at Q2 and Q3, or let's say if you look at the absolutely peak, which is typically July, we should have a cost below NOK 0.40. If you look at Q2 and Q3, that's the target, as you mentioned.

Christian Nordby
Head of Equity Research, Kepler Cheuvreux

Finally on the holdbacks, down to 32%, how much more are you able to push this down?

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

I think we. You know, we've been through a very positive journey of building trust, you know, based on our performance, and getting trust from the acquirers, which are financial institutions. This has been gradually coming down to, as you said, to the 32% level. We will continue to work on that. We have, you know, established very strong relationship with these acquirers that we're working on. The objective is clearly to drive that down further, but it will not go as fast as we've seen in the last 12 months. Our objective is to drive it further down.

Christian Nordby
Head of Equity Research, Kepler Cheuvreux

Is there a limit there, how far you can get it down?

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Zero is of course the limit. If we were absolutely, you know, top-notch triple-A credit level or maybe 5% kind of on average. Yeah, we could. Our objective may be to drive it slowly further towards a 2 figure first, you know, to 25%, maybe down to 20%. Yeah. It's something we have some goals to achieve.

Christian Nordby
Head of Equity Research, Kepler Cheuvreux

Thank you.

Jesper Hatletveit
VP of Investor Relations, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Hans-Jørgen.

Hans Jørgen Elnæs
Founder and Aviation Analyst, Winair

Hans Jørgen Elnæs, Winair. Can you put some color on the booking pattern that you see today compared to last year? 2 things. Advanced booking, how much earlier are the passenger booking today? Do you see any changes in the travel pattern, and particularly in the mid-weekdays that pattern is declining? Something we see, in United States and some parts of Europe too.

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

If you look at the. I think this applies to all the markets we are flying in. I think if you look at the booking pattern, let's say you compare 2019 to 2022, for example, you know, in 2022, the booking curve was much shorter. If you look at 2023, it's approximately in the middle between 2019 and 2022. it's getting closer to 2019, meaning that the booking curve is actually spreading out a little bit. I think it applies to all markets. When it comes to weekdays, weekends or when, you know, as we have been saying before, you know, the weekends has been stretched out because probably because, you know, our ability to work from home and all that. a weekend is not Friday to Sunday anymore.

It's Thursday to Sunday. It could be Friday to Tuesday. That is definitely an effect we are seeing. I think you should say that, you know, yes, the booking curve is spreading out a little bit back to closer to 2019. At the same time, we don't have, as I said earlier, we don't have the load today for the summer season as we had in 2019. Why is that? Because I just said it has been spreading out. I think we have a better discipline now where we are more patient and where we are not that aggressive trying to push out tickets through the winter at a low yield, as a too low yield. That's kind of the balance that we have, we are trying to find.

Jesper Hatletveit
VP of Investor Relations, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Okay. We open up for a couple of questions from the web. We'll start with Kenneth Sivertsen from Pareto Securities. Unit cost, assume this is impacted by lower capacity and FX. Any indications for 2024 targets?

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

On the first one, yes. It's impacted by, you know, you know, weaker currency and definitely, you know, a lower capacity. No, we are not guiding anything for 2024.

Jesper Hatletveit
VP of Investor Relations, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Okay. I actually think we'll stop there.

Geir Karlsen
CEO, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Yes.

Jesper Hatletveit
VP of Investor Relations, Norwegian Air Shuttle

Thank you for coming, and have a lovely day.

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