Norse Atlantic Airways Cuts Flights as Fuel Costs Stay High

Norse Atlantic Airways, a low-cost airline based in Norway, is flying with fewer planes than usual because jet fuel prices are very high. The airline shared this news on a Wednesday in October. Even though Norse brought in more money from ticket sales than it did a year ago, the cost of fuel is making it hard to stay profitable. The airline has lost about 92% of its value in the stock market this year, which means investors are very worried about its future.

Norse Atlantic was founded in 2021 with a simple goal: offer cheap flights across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and the United States. But things have gotten much harder this year. Since the start of the Iran war, jet fuel prices have more than doubled, squeezing budgets for airlines everywhere. Smaller airlines like Norse feel the squeeze much more than bigger ones.

One big reason Norse is struggling is that it does not 'hedge' its fuel costs. Hedging is when a company locks in a lower fuel price ahead of time so it is protected if prices go up. Because Norse does not do this, it has to pay full price for fuel no matter how expensive it gets. This puts the airline at a big disadvantage compared to larger carriers that plan ahead.

In September, Norse carried 109,202 passengers — down by nearly one-third compared to the same month in 2025. However, the airline's unit revenue, or the money it earns per seat, rose 35% from a year ago. Its load factor, which measures how full its planes were, reached 96.9%, meaning almost every seat was taken on the flights it did operate. These numbers show a mixed picture: more money per seat, but far fewer flights overall.

Norse CEO Eivind Roald said the airline is working hard to make the best of a tough situation. He said the airline is focusing more on flights to destinations in the Far East, hoping that new routes will help earn more money. Roald also confirmed that Norse is cutting back on its U.S. routes. If you visit the Norse website, you can only book flights to Orlando, Florida, starting in November.

Norse launched a formal process in July to find a possible buyer or merger partner. A merger is when two companies join together to become one stronger company. The airline is also in talks to lease some Boeing 787 planes being returned by another airline called IndiGo at the end of October. Leasing the planes to other airlines could bring in some extra income while Norse figures out its next steps.

An analyst named Marcus Gavelli from Pareto Securities said the airline's fuel situation is very serious. 'There is no way around the fact that the current fuel environment is highly unsustainable for Norse, but we would expect a new ACMI (wet leasing) deal to follow shortly,' he said. A wet lease is when one airline rents out its planes, crew, and services to another airline. This kind of deal could give Norse some breathing room as it searches for a path forward.