Ryanair is seeking a licence from British regulators to safeguard against a hard Brexit amid little apparent progress on a new aviation deal between the UK and Europe. Ryanair tabled an application to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) shortly before Christmas for a UK Air Operator's Certificate (AOC). Securing such a licence from British authorities may be required for the Irish carrier to continue operating its domestic UK business in the event of no deal being struck between ministers and their EU counterparts. Although Ryanair's domestic UK traffic involves just three routes and accounts for less than 2% of total revenues, the AOC application underlines the ongoing contingency planning taking place at both British and EU-based airlines. Ryanair's move follows a similar one by Wizz Air, the Central and Eastern European-focused airline, in October, to secure an AOC and operating licence from the CAA. Some UK-headquartered airlines have been forced to take the opposite measure by applying for AOCs elsewhere to enable them to continue flights between EU countries after 2019. EasyJet is seeking a licence from Austrian regulators to establish a new airline in the country. It is unclear whether Ryanair would be required to relocate a significant number of aircraft or employees to the UK in order to persuade the watchdog to grant the new AOC. The airline currently operates a number of flights between London Stansted, and Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports.<br/>
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Southwest delayed orders for 23 of Boeing’s 737 Max 7 aircraft, casting doubt on the future of the smallest Max variant as it adds 40 Max 8 deliveries valued at nearly $4.5b. Pushing most of its Max 7 orders out until 2023 and 2024 probably means that the carrier is trying to decide whether it wants to keep any of its pending orders for the plane, said George Ferguson, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. It also could eventually convert the orders to another version of the Max, said George Hamlin of Hamlin Transportation Consulting. “When your most important customer, and the one you probably built the airplane for, doesn’t want it anymore, it’s a bad day,” Ferguson said in an interview. “When they defer the 7 out that far, it means they are trying to figure out if they ever want the 7.” Converting options on the 40 Max 8s to firm orders gives life to CEO Gary Kelly’s statements last month that the airline would invest benefits from the recent corporate tax rate reduction into buying more planes. Taking the additional Max 8s in 2019 and 2020 means Southwest will receive some of that model every year through 2025, based on an order schedule from the carrier, Boeing’s largest 737 customer. “We’re excited that Southwest is adding 40 more Maxs to its fleet, bringing its total Max orders to 240,” said a Boeing spokesman. The first Max 7 test airplane is being assembled, and Southwest’s changes don’t affect the program, he said.<br/>
A rat discovered in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight at Oakland International Airport on Tuesday grounded the aircraft and left passengers scrambling for alternative travel plans. Flight 915 was scheduled to depart Oakland at 9:15 a.m. local time for Portland, however the 110 passengers were pulled off the plane due to the rodent problem, said airport spokeswoman Keonnis Taylor. "An Alaska Airlines aircraft departing Oakland International Airport was cancelled today due to reports of a mouse in the cockpit of the aircraft," Taylor said. "The flight's 110 passengers are being accommodated as appropriate by Alaska Airlines flights from San Francisco and San Jose airports." Alaska Airlines released a statement calling the stowaway rodent a rat, saying it was spotted as passengers were boarding the plane around 8:30 a.m. "That's when a rat was spotted jumping from the jet way to inside the aircraft," the airline said. "Any passengers onboard the aircraft were deplaned." Most passengers found new flights Tuesday, with some having to wait until Wednesday morning.<br/>
HK Express carried 3.79m passengers in 2017, up 30% increase from the year before, and is targeting to carry 4.35m passengers this year. The carrier adds that it carried about 345,000 passengers in December, a record monthly high for the airline. "Flying forward into 2018, HK Express will face fierce competition in Hong Kong's air transport industry, but we can expect more opportunities for the aviation industry due to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail link," says its president Li Dianchun. "HK Express will take this opportunity to ensure superlative service by focusing on passengers' needs." In November, Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department banned the airline from expanding its fleet and launching new services following multiple flight cancellations during the 'Golden Week' peak travel period in early October. The ban runs until 30 April, with the carrier only allowed to operate new destinations and flights when the regulator is satisfied that it has implemented measures to mitigate cancellations more effectively.<br/>
Recently created Norwegian regional airline FlyViking will halt all operations Jan. 12 following a series of technical and other problems. The Tromsø-based carrier began operations March 27, 2017 with services connecting Tromsø, Hammerfest and Bodø in the north of the country. It had a fleet of four Bombardier Dash 8-100 regional turboprops. Chairman Ola Olsen said it was “not economically viable to move on with the material we have today. Further, a controlled winding up will allow us to suspend operations in FlyViking within a reasonable time, while neither customers, suppliers, employees or hired personnel will be injured.” Passengers with tickets for flights after that date will be reimbursed, the company said. MD Heine Richardsen said there were several underlying reasons that had made it difficult to achieve profitability. These included “major technical challenges with the first three Dash 8-100” aircraft, which had led to many cancellations and subsequent loss of customers. Additionally, the airline’s fourth aircraft, which had been scheduled to go into operation in November, had a problem that he said made it impossible to use on the company’s routes.<br/>
The final report into the fatal crash of a Trigana Air ATR 42-300 in 2015 has highlighted crew, equipment, and organisational issues. The disaster occurred when the aircraft (PT-YRN) flew into Tanggo Mountain at an elevation of 8,300ft on 16 August 2015, killing all 49 passengers and five crew on board. The aircraft was operating a Sentani-Oksibil service in the Indonesian province of Papua, and Oksibil was experiencing cloudy conditions the day of the crash. In its final report, Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) highlighted two direct contributory factors: deviation from visual approach guidance and visual flight rules without regard to the weather and terrain; and the absence of enhanced ground proximity warning system alerts. A factor underlining both immediate causes was the safety culture at the airline. The report's findings were based purely on the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) as the flight data recorder was damaged in the crash and had a long and problematic maintenance history. Neither Indonesian nor French officials were able to glean useful data from the device. Complacency may have played a role in the crash. The crew had already conducted a service on the same route that day when they had flown directly to a base leg to runway 11. The CVR indicated that a similar approach was planned before the crash, although weather conditions had apparently deteriorated between the two flights.<br/>