09/02/12, 20:06:29 EST

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Airline Norwegian orders 42 new Boeing 737-800 airliners, option for 42 more

iht.com

OSLO, Norway: Norwegian Air Shuttle AS on Thursday announced a deal to buy 42 new Boeing 737-800 airliners worth US$3.1 billion dollars (€2.3 billion), with an option to buy 42 more.

The low-cost airline, which operates under the name Norwegian, said the order is the biggest for 737 aircraft received by Boeing Corp. in Europe this year.

"These new aircraft will strengthen Norwegian's position in the Norwegian, Nordic and European markets," said the airline's managing director Bjoern Kjos. "These aircraft are also significantly more environmentally friendly than the ones we use today."

The aircraft have 189 seats and Norwegian said they cut fuel consumption by 33 percent compared to the oldest aircraft in the airline's fleet.

A news release said the planes will be delivered at the rate of up to 10 per year between 2009 and 2014, and that it had organized financing from a variety of sources, without releasing details.

With these planes, we can fly longer distances, and thus look at new and interesting routes," said Kjos.

Norwegian's shares rose 0.85 percent to 119 kroner (US$20.17, €14.87) in early trading on the Oslo stock exchange following the announcement.

Norwegian has rapidly expanded after changing its business model in 2002 from being a domestic commuter airline to a low-cost airline with destinations in Norway and abroad, challenging the Norwegian branch of the Scandinavian Airlines System, which then operated as SAS Braathens. Last year, Norwegian carried 5.1 million passengers.

"When we started in 2002, we wouldn't even have dreamed of this," said Kjos. "We have come much farther than we ever thought."

The new order comes in addition to 11 leased 737-800s Norwegian ordered in May, the news release said.

 Printable Version  | published Aug 30, 2007