Norse Atlantic secures two-aircraft PIA lease as IndiGo deal ends

Norwegian airline Norse Atlantic said on October 9 it would lease two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners to Pakistan International Airlines, with operations for Pakistan’s flag carrier scheduled to begin in November 2026, Reuters reported. The agreement brings new contract flying as Norse’s larger arrangement with India’s IndiGo approaches its end, although the announcement does not establish how much lost business the PIA deal will replace.

The deal comes as Norse seeks to strengthen its finances amid soaring jet-fuel costs. According to Reuters, the airline has been reducing its exposure to low-cost transatlantic services and putting greater emphasis on supplying aircraft and crews to other carriers for a fee.

What the PIA wet lease covers

The arrangement is described as ACMI, meaning aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance. It therefore involves Norse supplying more than the two aircraft themselves. Reuters reports that flight operations for PIA are scheduled for November; that timetable is a planned start, rather than confirmation that services under the agreement have begun.

Norse says long-term ACMI agreements with major international airlines help shield it from swings in passenger demand and fuel prices. That is the company’s stated rationale for pursuing this business. The reported PIA announcement does not quantify the protection this particular contract would provide or demonstrate an improvement in profitability.

Two PIA aircraft compared with six for IndiGo

The timing places the PIA agreement close to the end of another significant customer contract. Reuters reports that IndiGo said in July it would terminate its wet-lease arrangement with Norse. In an October 7 report, Aviation Week correspondent Alan Dron put the ending date at October 31.

Aviation Week reported that the IndiGo arrangement covered half of Norse’s 12-aircraft fleet. Measured only by aircraft count, the two aircraft announced for PIA equal one-third of that six-aircraft arrangement. This comparison does not establish equivalent revenue, aircraft utilization or profitability, which cannot be calculated from the disclosed numbers alone.

The larger IndiGo commitment had been assembled in stages. In its May 8, 2025 announcement, Norse said an agreement for two additional Boeing 787-9s completed the six-aircraft scope of a letter of intent published on November 29, 2024. That disclosure provides the historical scale of the partnership now nearing its end.

At the time, Norse said the first IndiGo aircraft had been delivered in March 2025 and was already serving Delhi–Bangkok. The additional two aircraft were then expected to begin operations by early 2026. These were milestones and expectations reported in the earlier announcement, rather than a current account of individual aircraft deployment.

For those additional two IndiGo aircraft, the May 2025 disclosure specified an initial six-month term, extendable up to 18 months subject to regulatory approvals. Those were terms of the IndiGo agreement; the duration and extension provisions of the newly announced PIA contract have not been established by the Reuters report.

Norse’s financial strategy remains in transition

The emphasis on contract revenue predates the PIA announcement. In May 2025, Norse described its IndiGo agreement as securing fixed long-term revenues and reducing market risk. Its stated strategy combined ACMI business with its own scheduled network to increase aircraft utilization.

Speaking about the six-aircraft IndiGo agreement in that historical disclosure, chief executive and founder Bjørn Tore Larsen said it would “further strengthen our strategic and financial position in a volatile market”. That comment concerned the earlier partnership, whose approaching end now forms part of the context for the PIA deal.

Reuters also reports that Norse began a formal process for a possible sale or merger in July 2026. Alongside the new PIA agreement, the airline says it is discussing potential ACMI contracts with other carriers. Those discussions are prospective business, not additional completed agreements.

The next scheduled operational step for PIA is the November start. The announced aircraft commitment establishes new work for Norse, but undisclosed commercial terms leave its contribution to revenue and liquidity unresolved. Neither the PIA announcement nor the reported talks establish that the airline has achieved a financial turnaround.