Norwegian Air Expects Reduced Airbus A321neo Deliveries Next Year

   By Robert Wall

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (NAS.OS) will continue to feel the pinch from turmoil among aircraft and engine suppliers, the airline's head of strategy said Friday.

Norwegian Air's long-haul service has been hit by problems Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (RR.LN) has had with its Trent 1000 engines powering some Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The airline was able to mitigate the effect and leased planes to minimize disruptions to passengers, but the situation won't be resolved for another year or two, strategy head Tore Ostby said.

Norwegian has had two planes grounded awaiting repairs as parts suffer excessive wear-and-tear, fewer than it first feared would be affected.

Rolls-Royce has said it could take until about 2021 to get its Trent 1000 engine fleet fixed.

Norwegian Air also is now expected to get only four Airbus A321neo planes next year, half the number originally expected. Airbus SE (AIR.FR) has been struggling to build its new single-aisle planes amid supplier bottlenecks.

Norwegian Air started selling tickets for its domestic Argentinian service this year. It was hoping to use Airbus single-aisle planes for the service, but it will be operating Boeing 737s first because of delays in getting those planes. The fleet in Argentina should grow from one plane now to four by year-end, Mr. Ostby said.

The fleet in Argentina should grow by a further four to six planes next year. Growth plans beyond then will depend on how demand develops as the country faces a deep economic crisis and high inflation. Mr. Ostby said the company pressed ahead to launch sales this week to take advantage of the high-demand period in Argentina in the coming weeks.

The Argentine service is still due to transition to an Airbus single-aisle fleet once Norwegian Air can get its hands on those planes, Mr. Ostby said.

Norwegian continues to add planes, including five Dreamliners next year, though it is transitioning to a slower growth period starting in 2019. The airline also is selling some of its Boeing planes and has announced plans to dispose of some Airbus narrowbodies.

Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 07, 2018 11:38 ET (15:38 GMT)

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