Norwegian Air raises full-year 2023 profit forecast

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Norwegian Air said on Wednesday it had raised its earnings forecast for 2023 on the back of strong demand in the final two months of the year, sending its share price up 5% in early trade to a 21-month high.

The carrier now expects a full-year operating profit of about 2.2 billion Norwegian crowns ($209.65 million), up from an earlier guided range between 1.8 billion and 2 billion crowns.

The guidance hike primarily follows stronger than expected traffic demand in November and December, Norwegian said, as well as the settlement of a trademark dispute with Bank Norwegian and compensation related to aircraft delivery delays.

"Favourable development in the price of jet fuel and foreign exchange rates have also had a positive impact on the results outlook," Norwegian said.

Shares in Norwegian were up 3.6% at 0808 GMT.

The company said its 2023 unit cost excluding fuel per available seat kilometre was now seen at about 0.48 Norwegian crowns for the year, at the high end of its earlier 0.47-0.48 crowns range.

Norwegian will publish its results for the fourth quarter on Feb. 16.

Scandinavian rival SAS, which in 2022 filed for bankruptcy protection after years of struggling with high costs and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, on Tuesday said it expected to complete the Chapter 11 process by the end of June.

SAS in a statement forecast its revenue to exceed 48 billion Swedish crowns in 2024.

($1 = 10.4935 Norwegian crowns)

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Louise Heavens)