Norwegian Air plans to expand its fleet for summer 2024 with routes to new destinations to be confirmed later this month.
The Scandinavian budget carrier plans to operate 90 aircraft against 85 this summer, with an initial schedule on sale for next year.
The growth plans came as the airline reported the second-best quarterly result in its 21 years during the summer peak travel period.
A pre-tax profit of NOK2 billion (£147 million) was reported together with highest operating profit in the company’s history after the third quarter of pre-pandemic 2019 when the fleet was about twice as large.
Passenger carryings rose by 400,000 year-on-year to reach 6.5 million as capacity was ramped up by 20%.
Norwegian Air was ranked as one of the top three most punctual airlines in Europe in the quarter by aviation data firm Cirium.
The anticipated acquisition of regional carrier Widerøe will lead to the launch of a joint platform for loyalty programmes.
Chief executive Geir Karlsen said: “Thanks to the outstanding effort of the entire Norwegian team, we can look back at one of the best quarters in our 21-year history.
“I am very satisfied that our financial results are strong. We have also delivered an operational performance as one of the absolute top airlines in Europe with a remarkably low number of cancellations and strong on-time performance.
“Positive feedback from customers shows that Norwegian is the airline they can trust, which is something everyone at Norwegian has worked towards.
“I am confident that we are well prepared to enter into the quieter winter trading period with reduced capacity among other actions.”
He added: “While many consumers are impacted by the current high inflation and interest rates, our customers continue to prioritise air travel.
“Current ticket sales are slightly reduced as expected in accordance with seasonality. Nevertheless, we continue to attract an increasing number of Nordic travellers who wish to fly with Norwegian, both for leisure and corporate purposes.”