Norwegian Air CEO Uses Annual Report to Attack Critics and Alliances

In his remarks for the Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA 2013 Annual Report, Bjørn Kjos CEO, blames an unseasonably warm winter and "teething problems with the Dreamliner," for the 30% dip in profits. Says the consistently confident CEO in his opening remarks to stockholders: "Amid growth and change, we marked our seventh consecutive year of net profit. However, given the eight percent reduction in unit cost we had hoped to report better margins. Profit was set back by teething problems with our Dreamliner aircraft, while a warm and sunny Nordic summer reduced bookings in the important months of July and August. Similarly, profits were hampered by capacity investment and increased competitive pressure during the second half of 2013." Kjos takes on all arguments against the airline from the press, competitors and governments head-on; ribbing local competition by stating: "Big is not necessarily beautiful," and pointing out Norwegian's "significant expansion" in existing markets across the board in Nordic countries, with the highest growth, at 56%, in Finland. He also points out that "though Scandinavians are statistically among the most fr