Indonesia has given the green light for Lion Air to operate its three Boeing 737 Max 9s again after grounding them following the Alaska Airlines door-plug blowout accident on 5 January. The country’s transport ministry grounded the jets on 6 January but lifted it on 11 January after checks by Lion confirmed that emergency doors installed on the three jets were not affected by US Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive, its Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. The carrier is the only operator of the type in the southeast Asian country. Lion had said previously that its Max 9s have operational mid-cabin emergency exit doors, unlike the aircraft involved in the Alaska accident, which uses a mid-cabin door plug. Fleets data shows it has two 737 Max 9s stored – PK-LRF (MSN 42989) and PK-LRG (MSN 42991) – and one – PK-LRI (MSN 42987) – in service. Since the grounding was lifted on 11 January, one jet (PK-LRI) has been deployed on a domestic flight between Jakarta and Makassar on 14 and 15 January.

Lufthansa Group is looking to hire around 13,000 new employees this year for a wide range of roles. The German group says it will recruit cockpit and cabin crew, technicians and people in IT roles apart from other areas such as ground staff at the Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. More than 3,500 cabin crew and around 1,000 pilots are expected to be hired. In addition, around 2,000 technicians, roughly 800 trainees and approximately 900 IT experts will join the company. Lufthansa recruited more than 13,000 new employees in 2023, having shed staff during the pandemic.

Norwegian has secured a position in energy firm Norsk e-Fuel, a move that it says will guarantee long-term and early access to sustainable aviation fuel. In 2023, Norwegian and Norsk e-Fuel agreed a strategic partnership to build a large-scale electrofuel production facility in Norway's Mosjoen. Norwegian says it has invested more than NKr12 million ($1.14 million) in the first phase and will invest a further NKr45-50 million at the next project milestone. This investment secures Norwegian more than 7,000 metric tonnes of fuel per year from the first factory, and volumes could increase to 29,000 metric tonnes annually if the next two planned factories become operational, it adds. "This agreement marks the start of a pioneering partnership that will accelerate the transition to fossil-free fuels in aviation and give us access to a product that will be available in limited quantities," states Norwegian chief executive Geir Karlsen. "The partnership with Norsk e-Fuel is fully in line with our ambitions of cutting emissions, and electrofuel can be a change of pace for our entire industry," he adds. By 2030, Norwegian intends to reduce its emission by 45%.