Norwegian Air Shuttle: 2014's heavy losses and record debt place the focus on growth and costs

Norwegian's 2014 losses marked a dramatic slump after seven years of net profits (five years of operating profit). There had been some warning signals in 2013, when Norwegian's profits declined versus 2012, due to rapid capacity expansion, the launch of its first long-haul routes, delays to Boeing 787 deliveries and a very price competitive market place.

In 2014, most of these factors continued to weigh on Norwegian, for whom the weakening of the NOK was an additional challenge. A difficult year always seemed likely. Nevertheless, the size of its loss was worse than expected. Unit cost reduction failed to keep pace with the drop in unit revenues.

After another year of debt-fuelled fast capacity growth in 2014, Norwegian will take something of a breather in 2015, when its growth will be much more cautious. This should help unit revenues, but its 2015 CASK target suggests that it does not expect significant cost efficiency improvements other than from lower fuel prices.