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Norwegian Air welcomed 2.1 million passengers in August, 2023

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (NAS.OL) had 2,141,613 passengers in August, up 7 per cent from August 2022. The capacity (ASK) was 3,527 million seat kilometres, while actual passenger traffic (RPK) was 3,006 million seat kilometres. In August, Norwegian operated an average of 80 aircraft with a regularity, share of scheduled flights taking place, of 99.6 percent. The impressive results came despite operations being impacted by high winds and floods caused by Storm Hans in Southern Norway, as well as the outage at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) in the UK on 28 August. Punctuality was at 82.4 percent in August, the share of flights departing within 15 minutes of scheduled time. However, 98.0 per cent of all departed flights arrived on schedule or within one hour of scheduled arrival time, the highest level so far this year.

Solid operations and positive booking momentum

The outlook for this autumn continues to be positive. Capacity has been adjusted to meet the seasonal variation in demand for the coming winter. Norwegian is excited to release the summer programme for 2024 next week, with further routes to new destinations being added in November.

About Norwegian

Norwegian is the largest Norwegian airline and one of Europe’s leading low-cost carriers. The company has around 4,500 employees and offers a comprehensive route network between Nordic countries and destinations in Europe. Since 2002, more than 300 million passengers have flown with Norwegian. The most important task has been to offer affordable plane tickets to all and to offer more freedom of choice along the journey.

Norway Panoramic view of Lofoten Islands in Norway with sunset scenic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mesa Air Completes Second Closing On Secured Loan Facility

Mesa Air Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MESA) today announced that it has completed a second closing through its previously disclosed five-year Loan and Guarantee Agreement under the Coronavirus Air, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

The Loan Agreement provided a secured term loan facility of up to $200 million. On October 30, 2020, Mesa borrowed $43 million under the facility and today, completed a second closing to borrow an additional $152 million. These funds may be used for general corporate purposes and operating expenses, to the extent permitted by the CARES Act.

“I’d like to again express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in making this deal happen. Our people have been working very hard to ensure Mesa and its employees are prepared to weather this storm”, said Jonathan Ornstein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “These additional funds will substantially benefit our airline and the communities we serve as we continue to navigate the obstacles created by the pandemic”.

In connection with the additional $152 million drawn under the facility, Mesa issued warrants to the U.S. Treasury to purchase 3,819,095 shares of common stock, no par value. The Warrants have a five-year term from the date issued, were issued pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, and have substantially identical terms to the warrants issued on the initial closing.

Spirit Airlines to Take $25 Million Hit from Hurricane Dorian

FILE PHOTO: A logo of low cost carrier Spirit Airlines is pictured on an Airbus plane in Colomiers near Toulouse

(Reuters) – Spirit Airlines <SAVE> on Friday cut its third-quarter outlook for a key revenue measure as it estimates an about $25 million hit on its sales, hurt by hundreds of flights cancellations due to Hurricane Dorian.

The company now expects third quarter unit revenue to fall between 2.5% and 3.5% compared to its prior estimate of a decline of 1% to 2%.

The hurricane has led airline operators including American Airlines <AAL.O> and Delta Air Lines <DAL.N> to cancel thousands of flights across the United States this week.

Dorian, which briefly made a landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Friday, is expected to bring tropical storm winds to Nantucket Island and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts early on Saturday

https://in.reuters.com/article/us-storm-dorian-usa/hurricane-dorian-hits-north-carolinas-outer-banks-idINKCN1VR0OK.

(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

French Judges Drop Charges Against Air France Over 2009 Crash, Blames Pilots

PARIS, Sept 5 (Reuters) – French judges have dropped charges against Air France and Airbus over a mid-Atlantic plane crash in 2009 that killed all 228 people on board, blaming the pilots for losing control of the plane.

In their conclusions, seen by Reuters, the judges said the pilots of the Airbus A330 had failed to process all the warnings and instrument readings provided by the aircraft.

The plane plunged into the ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris after entering an aerodynamic stall and falling from an altitude of 38,000 feet during a storm, its engines running but its wings losing lift.

“The direct cause of the accident is the crew’s loss of control of the aircraft’s trajectory,” the judges determined.

Other crews, faced with similar situations, had successfully maintained control of their aircraft, their ruling said.

The judges overruled the prosecutors investigating the case, who had recommended that Air France stand trial over the crash in July.

In their 2012 report, French civil accident investigators found the startled crew of AF447 mishandled the loss of airspeed readings from pitot sensors blocked with ice and pushed the jet into a stall by holding the nose too high. The report also cited poor training and the lack of a clear cockpit display for speed problems.

The three-year civil investigation was not designed to cast blame, which was the purpose of the separate judicial probe culminating in the decision on Thursday.

A lawyer representing the families of victims said an appeal against the judges’ decision would be lodged immediately.

“The judges have just written in black and white that the icing of the pitot sensors had nothing to do with the accident. It’s nonsense,” Sebastien Busy told Reuters. “If the pitot sensors hadn’t iced up, there wouldn’t have been an accident.”

The accident was the deadliest in the history of Air France and in the history of the A330.

A decade later, the aviation industry is still implementing lessons learned from the crash. Changes have focused on training, cockpit procedures and the tracking of aircraft in remote zones.

It took salvage teams nearly two years to locate the A330’s flight recorders on the ocean floor.

(Reporting by Sophie Louet and Emmanuel Jarry Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)