Norwegian Air has confirmed it will operate around 25% less capacity this winter.

It stated booking trends ‘remain encouraging’ but said demand for travel may be impacted by the current high inflation and increasing interest rates.

“For the upcoming winter months, Norwegian will utilise the flexible lease agreements by reducing capacity by approximately 25%,” said CEO Geir Karlsen. 

Geir added that ‘current macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainty’ could affect demand.

Norwegian, which focuses on its core Nordic market, said business travellers were flying again after the summer and the airline was now back to pre-pandemic levels on ‘the most popular domestic routes’ in Norway.

In July, the airline recorded a load factor of close to 95%, the highest in years, the company revealed.

Smaller Norway-based rival Flyr earlier this month also said it would implement heavy spending cuts to preserve cash during the winter season and would reduce the number of flights due to weak demand.