Norwegian Air blame game

NorwegiaN air has blamed problems with rolls-royce engines for a hit to its finances.

The low-cost airline said it had suffered technical issues with Trent 1000 engines supplied by the engineer, to power its Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes.

rolls was forced to launch a massive scheme of checks and repairs and redesign some parts after turbine blades in certain versions of the engine were found to be wearing down faster than expected.

The problem has affected several major airlines. Norwegian struck a deal with rolls in December that it said would improve its finances, but has not disclosed details.

rolls has warned investors the overall costs associated with fixing the technical problems could reach £440m.

Norwegian boss Bjorn Kjos also said competition from other airlines and high oil prices had hit performance in 2018.

The carrier failed to hit analyst targets for passenger miles and for the proportion of seats sold during December. it said the number of miles travelled by paying passengers rose just 24pc in the second half of 2018, missing analyst forecasts.

and its load factor, which measures how many seats are sold per flight, fell from 84.6pc in December 2017 to 78.6pc.

Kjos said the firm was seeking to make cost savings.

Norwegian has shaken up the long-haul flights market by offering tickets at knockdown prices.

But its growing popularity has made it the subject of intense takeover speculation, with British airways owner iag among those thought to be interested.