Norwegian is to end all flights between Ireland and the USA from 15 September as it looks to cut loss-making routes. "As the airline moves from growth to profitability, we have conducted a comprehensive review of our transatlantic operations between Ireland and North America and considering the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, we have concluded that these routes are no longer commercially viable," says Matthew Wood, senior vice-president long-haul commercial at Norwegian. The airline began operating six routes from Dublin, Cork and Shannon to the USA in July 2017. Norwegian's operations from Ireland have been hit by the ongoing grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, which has seen it wet-lease aircraft in order to maintain its schedules. However, the continued uncertainty over when the aircraft will be able to return to the skies means that "this solution is unsustainable". The airline says it will ensure passengers are still able to travel to their destinations after 15 September by re-routing them onto other Norwegian services, as well as offering a full refund to those who no longer wish to fly with the carrier. "We are proactively engaging with our pilots and cabin crew at our Dublin base, including their respective unions, to ensure that redundancies remain a last resort," Wood explains. Norwegian will continue to offer scheduled services from Dublin to Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen and the airline's 80 Dublin-based administrative staff at Norwegian Air International and Norwegian Group's asset company, Arctic Aviation Assets, will not be affected by the route closures.

Source: FlightGlobal

Czech investigators believe the crew of a Let Aircraft Industries L-410 did not apply sufficient rudder to counter yaw, after a propeller pitch reversal, before the aircraft fatally rolled into the ground on final approach to Nelkan. Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee, which led the inquiry, states that the pitch setting of the blades dropped to minus 1.8°, significantly below the minimum in-flight setting of 13.5°, while the Khabarovsk Airlines aircraft was just 170m above ground. The inquiry says it suffered an "extremely improbable" uncommanded shift of the right-hand propeller into the 'beta' range – effectively reversing its thrust – and the crew had been unprepared to respond to this unlikely scenario. While the Russian probe says the pitch reversal and the forward setting of the throttle levers caused the aircraft to enter a "significant" roll to the right, Czech authorities have formally requested an amended interpretation. The Czech side says the crew increased power on the left-hand engine, leading to a developing yaw which – combined with low airspeed and "only small rudder deflection" – resulted in a roll that could not be compensated by aileron deflection alone.

Source: FlightGlobal

Hong Kong International airport’s operations are gradually getting back on track, a day after anti-government protesters occupied large swathes of the airport, causing all flights to be cancelled. In a notice posted on 13 August, the airport authority says that it will “implement flight rescheduling…with flight movements expected to be affected”. It urged passengers to check with their airlines, as well as on its website, on the latest flight information. On the afternoon of 12 August, the authority cancelled all flights on the grounds that its operations had been “seriously disrupted”. Flights scheduled to depart at 18:00 local time on 12 August, or later, had been cancelled. The cancellation was reported to last till the next morning. As of 11:00 local time, the airport's website shows that for the whole of 13 August, 345 flights in and out of the city have been cancelled, with a further 22 flights delayed. Cathay Pacific and its unit Cathay Dragon have cancelled nearly 200 flights in and out of Hong Kong, mostly to points within Asia. The unprecedented shutdown of Hong Kong International airport comes a week after a similar episode of flight cancellations. On 5 August, the Cathay Pacific group cancelled hundreds of flights in and out of Hong Kong, most of them flights to Asian destinations, while other Asian carriers had also cancelled flights to the city. Hong Kong has been rocked by protests for the past two months over the government's decision to introduce an unpopular extradition bill. It was later shelved, but protesters have demanded the full withdrawal of the bill and an investigation into the way the political crisis has been handled.

Source: FlightGlobal