HispanicBusiness

Norwegian Air Shuttle on Thursday said it would lease planes for long-haul flights due to commence at the end of next month, while the delivery its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets is pending.

US regulators have grounded the planes due to concerns that batteries that could catch fire, resulting in delivery delays.

Norwegian has ordered eight Dreamliners, of which five are to be leased. The company said no delivery date has been set.

"We have signed a deal to lease Airbus A340-300 long-haul jets for Norwegian's flights (from Scandinavia) to New York and Bangkok until the Dreamliners are ready," chief executive Bjorn Kjos was quoted as saying in a report by the NTB news agency.

In first-quarter results posted Thursday the low-cost carrier said it lowered its net loss to 117 million kroner (20 million dollars). Norwegian posted a loss of 285 million kroner in the corresponding period in 2012.

Turnover rose 23 per cent to 2.9 billion kroner, and the carrier said it flew 3.93 million passengers in the quarter, up 12 per cent year-on-year.