Budget long-haul carrier Norse Atlantic saw passenger numbers rise by 36 per cent year-on-year to 553,000 during the second quarter of this year, despite ¡°softness¡± in the transatlantic market.

The Norway-based airline, which operates a network of long-haul flights from European airports, said that revenue rose by 23 per cent year-on-year to $202.6 million for the three months to 30 June.

Norse Atlantic also made an operating profit of $4.4 million for Q2, compared with a loss of $22.3 million in the same quarter of 2024. Although the airline still made a pre-tax loss of $5.5 million for the quarter due to financial expenses.

Bj?rn Tore Larsen, who is the airline¡¯s CEO and founder,?said: ¡°The positive momentum from the start of the year has continued into the summer with record load factor and strong passenger growth, yielding a 27 per cent increase in passenger revenue and our first-ever second-quarter operating profit.?

¡°Going into the 2025 summer season, there has been some softness in the transatlantic market. At the same time, we see strong demand for our Asia and Africa fall/winter programme.

¡°Momentum into the third-quarter high season is good with bookings to date confirming the positive trend in load factor and passenger revenues.¡±

Norse Atlantic has been following a new strategy of chartering more of its fleet of 12 Boeing 787 Dreamliners to other operators. It plans to use just six of these aircraft for its own scheduled services from early 2026, with the other six aircraft leased to Indian airline IndiGo.

This winter, the airline is switching capacity away from the transatlantic market to add routes between Europe and Thailand, including new flights to Bangkok from London Gatwick, Manchester and Stockholm. It also flies from Gatwick to Cape Town in South Africa.