The afternoon of April 10 saw the arrival of a freshly painted Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft for Norwegian. The aircraft, registered LN-FGJ, was previously with the now defunct low-cost carrier Flyr, which went bankrupt on January 31 of this year.
The aircraft becomes the first of six to receive the Norwegian livery, and at the time of writing, the second one has entered the paint shop at Norwich.
The “delivery”
The Norwegian low-cost carrier, Norwegian, has now received the first of six repainted Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft which they have taken over from the bankrupt airline Flyr.
Norwegian was quick to come to an agreement with global lessor ALC after Flyr went bankrupt on January 31 this year. It had left the aircraft on the ground until now, as one of the six MAX aircraft has returned from the paint-shop in Norwich (NWI).
LN-FGJ was delivered to Flyr in August of 2022, making it a roughly 8 month old airframe, according to data from Planespotters.net.
The aircraft will now serve under the Norwegian Air Shuttle AOC and keep the old Flyr registration due to AOC regulations. Operations with the ex-Flyr airframes are speculated to begin later this month.
Next up in the paint shop
[monsterinsights_popular_posts_inline]
With LN-FGJ now being back on Norwegian soil carrying the Norwegian livery, the second 737 MAX aircraft to be painted has made its way into the paint shop. LN-FGI was ferried to Norwich (NWI) in the early hours of the afternoon on April 9.
As for LN-FGI, the airframe was delivered to Flyr in July of last year, coming in at just shy of 9 months old, according to Planespotters.net‘ published data.
LN-FGI will also operate under the Norwegian Air Shuttle AOC, further keeping the registration it had with the previous operator.
A hectic summer ahead?
Norwegian were quick to announce their Summer 2023 schedule, as they formally announced it in September of last year.
The company saw great numbers for the summer 2022 season as travel picked up, and has since then showed great numbers in the time after, with the latest known being the February numbers.
The company has shown a great route map for the Summer 2023 season and saw the handling of 1.2 million passengers in February 2023 as the airline’s rekindled growth continues.
1.2 million passengers were handled in February 2023, which was an increase of 83% compared to the same period last year.
The load factor was recorded at 84%, which represents strong demand for flights within the Norwegian network.
Capacity on the network was 1,826 million seat kilometers, while actual passenger traffic was 1,530 million seat kilometers.
99.4% of its scheduled flights were completed, with punctuality at 85.4%.
Geir Karlsen, the CEO of Norwegian, was very enthusiastic about February’s numbers: “We are satisfied with the traffic figures this past month, and we are particularly pleased with a load factor of 84 percent.”
“This demonstrates Norwegian’s ability to offer an attractive product to passengers throughout the year, even during the seasonally slower winter months.”
“High load factors also increase our fuel efficiency, an important parameter from a sustainability perspective”.
With the summer season shortly knocking on the door and travel rates estimated to be even higher, this puts light on the possibility of Norwegian looking at a beyond fantastic summer season.
