The budget airline saw losses in January, February and March climb from last year’s -£72 million to -£135 million. The airline carried 6.7 million passengers, an increase of 14% year on year.

Norwegian’s chief executive Bjørn Kjos said: “In this quarter, we particularly see the effects of higher fuel costs combined with a strengthened krone against the British pound, euro and Swedish krone, which accounts for almost half of our sales.

“In addition, the figures are affected by the fact that Easter was not in the first quarter, like last year.”

The carrier was also hit by the cost of launching 39 new routes in the first quarter, including transatlantic services, which saw capacity grow 24%. Despite this, the carrier reported a healthy load factor in the traditionally quiet travel period of 84%, down less than one percentage point.

Norwegian said it had seen strongest growth in the US, Spain and France. It also took delivery of seven short-haul Boeing 737s and one long-haul Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner during the quarter.

The carrier derives its greatest number of passengers – around 35% - from Norway, with Spain next at around 14%. The UK is the airline’s fifth biggest market, making up around 9% of its business.

Looking ahead, Norwegian said second quarter advance bookings were ‘satisfactory’ and said it would expand capacity by 30% this year with 21 Boeing 787s in the long-haul fleet by the end of 2017, an increase of nine. Another 34 short-haul aircraft will also join the fleet this year.