Last checked at 
* Budget airline has struggled to shore up finances
* Latest monthly traffic report released a day early
* Overall passenger traffic fell for first time
(Adds context, detail, bullet points)
By Gwladys Fouche and Terje Solsvik
OSLO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Norwegian Air plans to
raise up to $316 million through its third share sale in two
years and a bond issue to meet the struggling airline's
financial needs through 2020 and beyond, it said on Tuesday.
With mounting debts and suffering from the grounding of its
18 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, Norwegian has replaced
breakneck expansion with cost cutting to regain profitability.
It also announced a deal with a Chinese firm in October to
offload 27 new Airbus planes to ease pressure on its
finances and avoid becoming the latest airline to collapse.
But the new share issue shows Europe's third-largest budget
airline by passenger numbers still needs more cash.
"After the completion of the transactions, Norwegian is
fully funded through 2020 and beyond based on the current
business plan," Norwegian said in a statement, issued after the
stock market closed.
It said it was considering a private placement of up to
27.25 million new shares and a bond issue of up to $175 million.
Together the deals could raise close to 2.9 billion crowns
($316 million) if the shares are sold at current market prices,
a Reuters calculation showed. But it might have to sell at a
discount.
"The proceeds ... will secure required financing of working
capital during the winter season and create headroom to
financial covenants while completing the strategic
transformation of the company," it said.
The airline also reported monthly figures showing passenger
traffic declined in October from a year ago, the first such fall
on record as the carrier cut loss-making routes from its
network. The data had been scheduled for release on Wednesday.
Overall traffic, a measure of distance flown and the number
of people carried (RPK), fell 3% year on year in October, the
company said. Analysts in a Reuters poll on average had expected
a fall of 12.1%.
Norwegian's RPK had until now risen every month since it was
first listed on the Oslo Bourse in 2003, its records show.
Trimming capacity at a rate of 5% year on year helped it
fill each aircraft, raising the so-called load factor to 87.1%
from 85.0% in October 2018, in line with a Reuters poll.
Its yield, or income per passenger carried and kilometre
flown, rose to 0.40 crown in October from 0.38 crown a year ago,
also in line with expectations.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche; Editing by
Edmund Blair)
