Norwegian, the brash airline that grew like a mushroom from Scandinavian regional low-cost carrier to global status in a very short time and crashed back to bankruptcy and regional status in an even shorter time, is having a better time, now, thanks.
The airline announced that its December 2021 passenger levels were over 900,000 passengers, more than seven times the same month the previous year, flying routes among 17 cities in Norway and three in Denmark, including Copenhagen. Its current plans include more routes, but not a return to its heyday. Norse Atlantic, a new airline led by some former Norwegian executives, plans to try that out later this year.
Trimmed of its trans-Atlantic fleet of 787s and its bases in several European and American cities, Norwegian emerged from bankruptcy last May, with most of its $10 billion debt wiped out, largely by convincing creditors to convert their loans into shareholdings. To satisfy the courts the company could continue, it raised about $721 million in new investments; the Irish and Norwegian bankruptcy courts had set $536 million as the minimum to prove it could now stand on its own.
