Norwegian is benefiting from Boeing’s higher 737 Max production levels and even took delivery of two aircraft early during the second quarter, in a sign that the airframer is emerging from a challenging period of constrained and unpredictable output.
Speaking during a second-quarter earnings briefing on 11 July, Norwegian chief executive Geir Karlsen said the Scandinavian low-cost carrier has seen Boeing “significantly ramp up” its production to aircraft in “the 30s” per month, “which is very promising”.
Indeed, Karlsen notes that Norwegian received its two most recent deliveries of leased aircraft earlier than expected, “which shows the visibility when it comes to deliveries from Boeing is increasing massively”.
He describes that as “nice to see” and a “big compliment” to Boeing.
Those improvements come as Norwegian prepares to take delivery of the first Max jets from its own order for 50 of the CFM International Leap-1B-powered type, which is due to happen by the end of this year.
At the same time, Karlsen notes, Norwegian faces a “big decision” soon on what to do with the 30 options the carrier has for further orders – which he previously hinted may include commitments for the larger Max 10.
“We have very attractive terms… as we see it, the pricing for these aircraft is somewhere between 10% and 15% below the market,” Karlsen says of those options.
Despite Boeing’s improvements, however, the Norwegian chief still highlights the “huge backlog” of aircraft orders at Boeing and Airbus. Alongside the grounding of dozens of Airbus A320s for inspections of their Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofans, this will limited capacity growth in Europe for a few years yet, Karlsen predicts, helping to support load factors and yields.
Karlsen made the comments as Norwegian announced that it has emerged from the business reconstruction that began in 2021, with debt repaid and plans in place for the business to pay its first dividend to shareholders in August this year.
“We have laid the basis for a sustainable, profitable airline,” says Norwegian chairman Svein Harald Oygard.
Norwegian Group – which includes recent acquisition Wideroe – saw its revenue rise 10% year on year in the quarter ending 30 June 2025, to NKr10.3 billion ($1.02 billion).
Its operating profit almost doubled to NKr1.25 billion, while its net profit also nearly doubled, to NKr932 million.
The group is seeing higher yields offsetting cost pressures caused by factors including lower capacity growth this year – expected to be 3% versus double-digits in recent years – the weakness of the Norwegian Krone and industry-specific inflation.
Norwegian ended the second quarter with 90 mainline aircraft in its fleet, including 28 737 Max 8s and 62 737-800s. It is aiming to operate 96 aircraft in summer 2026.
