Indonesia’s transport ministry ordered the nation’s airlines to inspect their older, so-called classic Boeing 737 aircraft following Saturday’s crash of a Sriwijaya Air passenger jet with 62 people on board. The cause of the crash isn’t yet known -- divers are still trying to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage in the Java Sea. The flight-data recorder was recovered Tuesday. Rescue workers have been bringing in bags of human remains for identification, along with parts of the Boeing 737-500 plane, which was nearly 27 years old. “This is a preventive action on similar types of aircraft that operate in Indonesia,” Adita Irawati, a spokeswoman for the transport ministry, wrote in a text message. “It is a common practice in other countries.” Boeing 737-300, 400 and 500 jets all fall under the classic series. Indonesian airlines that fly those include Citilink, Nam Air, Deraya Air Taxi, Xpress Air, Jayawijaya Dirgantara, My Indo Airlines, Trigana Air and Tri-MG Intra Asia Airlines, according to data from planespotters.net. The retrieved flight-data recorder is “in relatively good shape,” Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee Chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono said Wednesday. The box is being dried out and the contents should be downloaded within five days, he said.<br/>
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Norwegian Air Shuttle will abandon its attempt to crack the long-haul air market as the low-cost carrier laid out plans to exit bankruptcy protection by all but wiping out its existing shareholders, reducing debt significantly, and raising fresh capital. The low-cost airline will focus on short-haul flights in Europe after concluding that its long-haul flights to the US and Asia were no longer viable as “future demand remains highly uncertain”. About 2,000 employees will lose their jobs - 1,100 at Gatwick - as Norwegian’s subsidiaries employing long-haul staff in the UK, US, Italy and France face bankruptcy. In November, Norwegian became the highest-profile casualty of the worst crisis in the aviation industry when it filed for protection from creditors in Ireland after an ill-fated and rapid expansion into long haul left it with one of the highest debt burdens among all carriers. “Our short-haul network has always been the backbone of Norwegian and will form the basis of a future resilient business model,” said CE Jacob Schram on Thursday. Schram warned that existing shareholders would only be left with about 5% of the new company, the second time in under a year that it has wiped out its current investor base. Norwegian’s debt load would be reduced from about NKr48b ($6b) at the end of September to about NKr20b under the plans, leaving impaired creditors with about a quarter of the equity. <br/>
Emirates said on Thursday it would temporarily suspend all flights to and from South Africa from Saturday due to operational reasons, without elaborating. “Emirates flights to/from South Africa will temporarily be suspended from Saturday 16 January to 28 January 2021 due to operational reasons,” the largest carrier in the United Arab Emirates said. Inbound travel to South Africa for leisure and business has dropped since mid December when the country identified a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus, forcing countries such as England, Germany, Switzerland and several in Asia to cancel flights to and from the country. The new variant is said to be behind a major spike in daily infections and rising deaths for the last month, with total cases currently standing at close to 1.3 million and over 35,000 deaths. “Customers holding tickets with final destinations in South Africa from 16 January to 28 January will not be accepted for travel at their point of origin,” Emirates said.<br/>
Most of AirAsia X Bhd’s lessors support a restructuring plan, and the Malaysian airline has received interest from potential investors for fundraising after reorganization, court documents filed this month show. In emails attached to the court filings, supportive lessors said they wanted to continue discussions with the budget airline and potential new investors, seeking more equitable terms and new commercial arrangements. The affidavits come after more than a dozen creditors filed to intervene with its proposed court-supervised restructuring, with lessor BOC Aviation Ltd and airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd arguing that AAX is “hopelessly insolvent”. Airbus also filed an affidavit last month saying it could lose more than $5b worth of aircraft orders if the low-cost, long-haul carrier proceeded with the plan. AAX’s senior legal counsel, Shereen Ee, said in court documents that 15 out of 20 aircraft lessors were not in favour of AAX liquidating, while Rolls-Royce Group and interveners - Airbus, and BNP Paribas - were “not objecting” to the restructuring plan. Lessors in favour of a restructuring include Macquarie Aircraft Leasing Services and Aircastle, according to the documents. Aircastle did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Macquarie, Rolls-Royce and AAX declined to comment.<br/>
Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet Aviation plans to expand its investment in new aircraft and technical facilities this year after reporting a small profit in 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic, its chief executive officer said. “In 2021, we expect to continue to receive new modern planes and will invest in maintenance and training facilities, and the investment will be higher than in 2020,” VietJet President and CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao said. VietJet said separately on Wednesday it raised $28m via a bond issuance last month to fund its development plans in 2021. It did not provide further details about the bond sale. Vietnam has been successful in containing the coronavirus with a series of quarantine and tracking measures. With just over 1,500 infections and 35 deaths in total, it has resumed economic activities earlier than much of Asia. While all international commercial flights have been suspended since late March, domestic air travel has been subjected to few restrictions.<br/>