Norwegian Air Shuttle May traffic rose 24 pct

OSLO, June 5 (Reuters) - Budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle (NWC.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) carried 24 percent more passengers in May than a year earlier, and its yield, an indicator of average fare levels, stayed unchanged from May last year, the company said.

Norwegian Air, a rival of Scandinavian airline SAS (SAS.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) (SAS.CO: Quote, Profile, Research) (SASNOK.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), said on Friday it carried 946,082 passengers in May, up from 764,822 a year earlier.

Total passenger traffic (RPK), a measure of the number of passengers and kilometres flown, rose by 19 percent in May from the same month last year, the airline said.

"The increase in passenger traffic, production and passengers is related to the group's expansion in established markets and to the introduction of new routes from June 2008 to May 2009, as well as adjustments in production capacity," Norwegian said in a statement.

The yield -- the average revenue per passenger carried and kilometre flown -- was estimated at 0.59 Norwegian crowns ($0.093) in May, down from 0.63 crowns in April but unchanged from May last year, it said.

The load factor, an indicator of seats sold as a percentage of capacity, fell in May by 2 percentage points from a year ago to 77 percent, the airline said.

"Compared to the same period last year the group has shifted capacity toward new routes in the Norwegian domestic market, and has opened a new base in Copenhagen," Norwegian said.

"The route portfolio out of Sweden has been changed with new routes and significantly longer average flying distance," it said. (Reporting by Aasa Christine Stoltz)