Norwegian carried more than 1.6 million passengers in December, with the month characterised by solid passenger and capacity growth, as well as a higher load factor.

The airline carried 1,604,937 passengers during the month, an increase of 338,131 passengers, or 27 per cent, when compared to the same month in 2012.

The traffic growth this month by far surpasses the capacity growth.

Total capacity increased by 48 per cent, while passenger traffic increased by 52 per cent.

The load factor at the airline was 78 per cent, up 1.9 percentage points from December 2012.

“I am pleased that despite our strong capacity growth in December, we are capable of filling the aircraft even more than the same month previous year.

“This proves that Norwegian offers a competitive product both in terms of price and quality,” said Norwegian chief executive Bjørn Kjos.

The company operated 98.2 per cent of its scheduled flights in December, whereof 73.3 per cent departed on time.

The on-time performance was affected by bad weather in Northern Europe in the beginning of the month.