Norwegian Group has entered into a preliminary agreement to acquire Nordic Leisure Travel Group Holding (NLTG), including its Denmark-certified airline Sunclass Airlines (DK, Copenhagen Kastrup), for a total consideration of SEK7.95 billion kronor (USD845 million), including SEK3.5 billion (USD375 million) in cash and the remainder in Norwegian's shares.

"This is a milestone in Nordic travel history. Norwegian and Widerøe will still be dedicated to offering competitive air travel for our customers. By adding NLTG’s leading position in leisure travel to the Norwegian Group’s comprehensive route network, we are building a better and more flexible customer offering. We see a significant opportunity to grow hotel and holiday sales across our existing customer base, turning every flight into a potential gateway to a full holiday experience and unlocking meaningful additional revenue per passenger," chief executive officer Geir Karlsen said.

The group said it expected the transaction to increase its operating revenues by around 50%, and improve its operating margin by 2 points already in 2027, with more growth to be unlocked from 2028.

NLTG's current owners, Strawberry, Altor, and TDR, will become significant shareholders in Norwegian after receiving payment in 300 million consideration shares and up to 30 million newly issued shares. The three companies will own approximately 8.9%, 8.9%, and 4.4% in post-transaction Norwegian, respectively.

The deal will have to be approved during an extraordinary general meeting of Norwegian's shareholders, due to take place in early July, and is expected to close in the second half of 2026.

Besides Sunclass Airlines, NLTG owns four tour operator brands (Spies, Ving, Tjäreborg, and Globetrotter), operates a portfolio of 26 branded hotels, and, through the airline, runs travel retail shop Airshoppen.com. For the last 12 months toMarch 31, 2026, the company had SEK17 billion (USD1.8 billion) in revenues and SEK1 billion (USD106 million) in adjusted EBITDA.

Norwegian intends to retain the NTLG brands, including Sunclass Airlines. The group underlined that the Danish airline had a largely non-overlapping, leisure-focused network, which would be incremental to the existing network of Norwegian and Widerøe.

"Norwegian also expects to create significant value by leveraging its broader network to reach new leisure destinations, such as mainland Spain, and by connecting its flights with Widerøe’s to offer a seamless travel experience for holiday guests. Further value will be created by offering package holidays to Norwegian’s extensive customer base. The shared loyalty points, Spenn, already used by Norwegian and Strawberry, are planned to be extended to NLTG’s brands and concept hotels," the group said.

Norwegian currently operates a fleet of 95 aircraft, comprising thirty-six B737-8s and fifty-nine B737-800s through its two AOCs (Norwegian Air Shuttle AOC and Norwegian Air Sweden AOC), while Widerøe operates 51 aircraft, comprising nineteen DHC-8-100s, four DHC-8-Q100s, four DHC-8-Q200s, three DHC-8-Q300s, eighteen DHC-8-Q400s, and three E190-E2s. Sunclass Airlines operates six A321-200s, three A321-200NX, and three A330-900Ns.