Norwegian has made this announcement:

Arctic Aviation Assets, a subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, has signed an agreement for sale of two Airbus 320neo aircraft.

The aircraft are currently leased out and thus not operated by the Company. Delivery will take place during February 2019. The transaction is expected to increase the Company’s liquidity by $26 million after repayment of debt and have a positive equity effect. Sale proceeds will be used to repay debt and to increase the Company’s liquidity.

The sale is in line with the Company’s strategy of capitalizing on the scale built up over the last few years and the changed focus from growth to profitability. This announcement is an extension of the information provided in the stock exchange announcement “Norwegian strengthens its balance sheet through a fully underwritten rights issue of NOK 3 billion” on 29 January, where sale of aircraft was highlighted as a measure to reduce capital expenditures, in addition to postponement of aircraft deliveries.

In other news, Norwegian is continuing to enhance the passenger experience by commencing the rollout of new and improved inflight WiFi connectivity onboard the airline’s Boeing 737-800 fleet.

Norwegian, named Europe’s Best Low-Cost Airline by SkyTrax, was the first airline to offer passengers free in-flight WiFi on all European flights in 2011. The airline became the first to introduce live television over the skies of Europe in 2015 and in 2018 it took delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner equipped with inflight WiFi. Norwegian became the first low-cost airline to offer customers free WiFi for the full duration of intercontinental flights.

Today, Norwegian has launched an upgraded WiFi experience on its Boeing 737-800 aircraft as part of improving the customer experience. Norwegian operates Boeing 737-800 aircraft on intra-European routes, routes connecting Europe with North Africa, Middle East and on flights between the USA and French Caribbean.

Norwegian will gradually roll out the new Premium WiFi service across its Boeing 737-800 fleet and expects to complete the rollout in mid-February 2019.

Three Wi-Fi packages available

Customers travelling on a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with the new Premium Wi-Fi service available will have a selection of three packages – SURF, the free option and two paid options, SOCIAL+SURF and STREAM+SURF, both offering faster speeds.

• SURF – Available for free, delivers web browsing, email and text-based messaging

• SOCIAL+SURF – Provides faster web browsing, access to email and all social media. Available for €5 per device. (Pricing may be subject to change.)
• STREAM+SURF – Offers faster web browsing, email access and social media in addition to the ability to stream TV shows, movies and music content on services such as Netflix, YouTube and Spotify among others. Available for €12 per device. (Pricing may be subject to change.)

Norwegian recently started introducing WiFi to its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and Boeing 737 MAX fleet. Here, customers have two choices – Basic free Wi-Fi for the full duration of long-haul flights and a premium high-speed option, fast enough to stream television shows and movies.

Norwegian expects to have the rollout of WiFi completed on 50 percent of its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft by 2020.

Norwegian operates a young fleet of more than 160 aircraft with an average age of 3.7 years.

Top Copyright Photo (all others by the airline): Norwegian Air Shuttle (Norwegian.com) Boeing 737-8JP WL LN-DYP (msn 39047) (Aksel Sandemose, Norwegian author) ARN (Stefan Sjogren). Image: 945580.

Norwegian aircraft slide show:

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