Components of the crashed Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 including the flight-control computer, autothrottle computer, and autothrottle actuator assembly are undergoing examination, a Indonesian parliamentary commission has heard. The commission held a session on Wednesday during which various representatives involved in the inquiry provided preliminary information on the flight and updated parliamentarians on progress with the investigation. Investigation authority KNKT informed the commission that the aircraft – operating Jakarta-Pontianak on 9 January – took off at around 14:36 on 9 January, initially heading west-northwest before turning north, whereupon there was a communication request for a heading of 075° at 14:38:51. But although aircraft continued to turn to the right as it climbed it does not appear to have reached this heading, according to a flightpath diagram presented to the commission. About 10s after the heading exchange the crew was instructed to hold altitude at 11,000ft. KNKT states that, having received the air traffic control instruction to stay at this altitude, the pilot changed the autopilot from the pre-programmed strategic mode – using LNAV and VNAV, lateral and vertical navigation – to the tactical mode, enabling pilot-selectable heading and vertical speed. “Then the aircraft began to slowly turn left until it finally dived down and hit the sea surface,” it says. Story has more details.<br/>
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Ryanair's spat with the Civil Aviation Authority escalated on Wednesday night as plans emerged to axe all domestic routes and all services from Britain to non-EU countries. The budget carrier will only operate out of London Stansted airport and will cull 13 routes to Morocco, Ukraine, Montenegro, and Norway. A row erupted in December between Ryanair and the CAA over pre-Brexit rule changes. At the centre of the dispute is Ryanair’s use of so-called “wet-leasing”, where airlines hire aircraft and crew to operate services on their behalf. Ryanair only has one UK-registered aircraft. The CAA wanted less than half of Ryanair’s UK services to be run by “wet leased” aircraft. Ryanair is believed to have planned to increase its number of UK registered aircraft to three by April 2021 and offered a pool of aircraft under a “white list” approach. This was rejected by the CAA on Jan 22, according to industry sources. The CAA’s Paul Smith said at the time: “A UK airline with a significant presence in the UK, should not rely heavily on using wet-leased, foreign-registered aircraft.”<br/>
Restructuring low-cost carrier Norwegian operated an average of just eight aircraft in January as a result of services curtailed by travel restrictions. Traffic figures released by the airline show it carried just under 75,000 passengers for the month – a drop of 96% on the same month in 2020. It is an even sharper fall than the near 130,000 it flew in December, itself 94% down on the corresponding month in 2019. The drop in traffic, as measured in RPKs, was even sharper – down 99%. The heavier fall in part reflects that it operated predominantly domestic routes in January, while at the same point last year it was still flying some long-haul services. Norwegian, which has entered a formal restructuring process, in January said it would scrap long-haul operations to focus on its short-haul network as it strives for viability. The airline’s capacity was down 98% and load factor tumbled 45 percentage points to just 35.9% in January. <br/>
Law firms representing Norwegian’s lessors and creditors have raised concerns over the airline’s bid to repudiate 36 aircraft leases under its restructuring process. In a hearing on 4 February at the Dublin High Court, as part of Norwegian’s Irish examinership process, Lisa Smyth from McCann Fitzgerald – representing companies including SMBC Aviation Capital and FPG Amentum – raised concerns over the “deluge” of paperwork that had “bombarded” creditors as part of the repudiation process. She cites multiple applications received from Norwegian and its subsidiaries in relation to the return of 36 aircraft to their owners, the most recent being submitted on 3 February, leaving little time to respond. Lessors, she argues, must not be “blindsided” in relation to the repudiation applications and “funnelled into an unworkable timetable”. Smyth says lessors are not asking for time for no reason, but are dealing with “extremely complex assets”, in combination with challenges such as closed borders. Smyth suggests there area “real practical issues” with how the aircraft under question could be returned, and questions whether the E163m ($192m) Norwegian will have at the end of March is sufficient to ensure the safe redelivery of those aircraft if a repudiation order were made by the court.<br/>
Wizz Air is to close its recently opened Tronheim base as Covid-19 continues to disrupt air travel in Norway. The carrier will consolidate its Norwegian operations to its main base at Oslo Gardermoen, a decision that will have “no effect on the routes, the capacity or the number of weekly departures”, it highlights. Wizz adds that opposition from the country’s labour unions played no role in the move, which was based upon “the current domestic and international situation”. The carrier has faced calls for a boycott from Norwegian unions and even criticism from Prime Minister Erna Solberg over its employment practices. Wizz began operating on several Norwegian domestic routes last November but almost immediately pared back its operations in the country. Ryanair Group CE Michael O’Leary referenced Wizz’s decision to close Trondheim base on the carrier’s results call on 1 February, saying the decision – which at that point had not been announced – meant that Wizz “can’t even compete with Norwegian, which is a pretty low bar”.<br/>