Norwegian Air reported third-quarter profit above expectations on Thursday and said current ticket sales were "slightly reduced" in accordance with seasonality.

July-September profit before interest, tax, depreciation (EBIT) rose to 2.17 billion crowns ($195.06 million) from 1.03 billion in the year-ago period, above the 2.02 billion seen by analysts in a company-provided consensus poll.

The third quarter spans much of the key holiday travel season in Europe.

"While many consumers are impacted by the current high inflation and interest rates, our customers continue to prioritise air travel," Norwegian Air CEO Geir Karlsen said in a statement.

"Current ticket sales are slightly reduced as expected in accordance with seasonality," he added. ($1 = 11.1245 Norwegian crowns) (Reporting by Victoria Klesty, editing by Terje Solsvik)