Norwegian has joined Wizz Air and Ryanair in reporting disappointing traffic figures for January.

Like its rivals, the carrier said traffic figures for the month were heavily influenced by lower demand caused by continued travel restrictions across Europe.

In January, 74,224 customers flew with Norwegian, a decrease of 96 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The capacity (measured in available seat kilometres) was down 98 per cent, and the total passenger traffic was down by 99 per cent.

The load factor was 36 per cent, down 45 percentage points.

Jacob Schram, chief executive of Norwegian, said: “The pandemic continues to have a negative impact on our business as travel restrictions remain.

“We are doing everything in our power to come out of the examinership as a stronger, more competitive airline and we look forward to welcoming more customers on board as travel restrictions are lifted.”

Norwegian operated eight aircraft on average in January, mainly on domestic routes in Norway.

Norwegian was founded in 1993 but began operating as a low-cost carrier with Boeing 737 aircraft in 2002.