Affected by its lack of fuel hedging contracts, Norwegian posted a net loss of NOK43.1 million ($6.9 million) for the quarter ended March 31 compared to a net loss of NOK34.3 million in the year-ago period.The jet fuel bill more than doubled from NOK56.7 million to NOK123.3 million and now represents 21% of the carrier's total operating costs against only 15% in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue for the quarter rose 69% to NOK539.1 million on an 86% gain in RPKs to 718 million. The Oslo-based LCC boosted capacity 64% to 933 million ASKs. Actual yield was not provided, but Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos did say it fell 10%, "mainly as a consequence of increased international traffic with a lower yield and the incorporation of increased production in northern Norway."

Operating cost including leasing and excluding deprecation and writedown was NOK581.4 million, up 59.8% from NOK363.9 million last year. Average operating cost per ASK was NOK0.63, similar to the NOK0.64 a year earlier.

Norwegian operated 14 737-300s in the quarter compared to 12 in the same period last year. Utilization improved 41.2% to 9.6 block hr. a day from 6.8 hr. Passenger numbers increased 86% to 1.01 million and load factor gained 9 points to 77%. The carrier, which leases virtually all of its aircraft, bought one 737 in the quarter and acquired a second dash 300 at the beginning of April. The fleet will grow further to 20 (19 operating) by year end.

"The market demand for traveling with Norwegian has been good entering the second quarter of 2006, and advanced bookings are relatively better than in the same period last year," said Kjos, warning that if fuel price stays at today's level, the company will have "substantially" higher operating costs. Initiatives to cut costs are underway.

In July, Norwegian will open a base in Warsaw. It is the first non-Central and East European LCC to do so (ATWOnline, April 7).