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Norse Aims For Wet-Lease, Charter Contracts To Improve 787 Utilization

Kurt Hofmann January 11, 2023

Credit: Norse Atlantic Airways

Long-haul LCC Norse Atlantic is securing longer-term agreements for charter and wet-lease operations for its Boeing 787 fleet and will announce more U.S. routes soon.

“We have continued to deliver on our business plan to reduce costs and diversify the utilization of our fleet during the winter,” CEO Bjorn Tore Larsen said in the company’s operational update on Jan. 11.

Norse said additional wet-lease and charter business should provide more revenue stream during this winter season and in winter 2023/2024 for its fleet of 14 long-term leased 787-9s.

Norse will have ten 787s in its fleet for its own summer 2023 operations. “We have 15 aircraft in our fleet, however, five are subleased on a fixed term to another carrier,” SVP Communications Philip Allport told Aviation Daily Jan. 11. “We are not currently considering a separate business unit for charter operations.” 

During Summer 2023, Norse will be operating the ten aircraft in its fleet across its network. “Therefore, there will be less opportunity for wet-leases and charters compared to the winter months,” Allport said. “However, we would of course consider any opportunities if we are able to fulfill them.” 

For its current winter operations, Norse is operating 14 aircraft on full power by the hour arrangements. In total, the carrier plans to operate 15 787-9s in a two-class configuration.

Aviation Daily understands, like many other European carriers, Norse Atlantic must deal with an oversupply of widebody aircraft during the traditional time of lower demand in the Northern European winter season.

During the winter period, the LCC is operating nine charter and wet-lease flights. “As a new entrant to this market we have clearly displayed that Norse has both the technical ability, high standard of crew and flexibility required to satisfy our customers in this segment,” Larsen said. Under some of these agreements, Norse operated its first flights to the Far East and the Caribbean from Europe.

Norse recently reached several milestones in both ticket sales and revenue recorded in a single day. “The company has begun 2023 with strong forward bookings across our key markets,” the CEO said. “We will be announcing further summer routes from London to the U.S. soon, and I confirm that we will launch a new destination from the EU to the U.S. as well.”

Norse Atlantic has continued to gain momentum since its first flight in June 2022. “Our passenger, charter, wet-lease and cargo operations have all displayed positive growth as our brand, operations and route network have matured,” Allport said. “We are looking forward to ramping up for our summer 2023 operations and welcoming onboard both new and returning passengers.” 

As of the start of 2023, the new Norwegian airline has surpassed 300,000 flown passengers so far. The fleet has now logged more than 10,000 flight hours and completed over 1,500 commercial flights. In December 2022, Norse Atlantic Airways operated a total of 228 flights (including wet-lease and charter) and carried 44,172 passengers, an increase on the preceding month of 48%, due to an increase in load factor and ASK.

Norse was founded by CEO and major shareholder Larsen in March 2021.