Was surprised by the "after only 17 months" in the paper yesterday.
When I worked with vulture capitalists I always worked on the basis that they would want a return on investment within 3 years - often via a sale after restructuring etc. So starting to look at off loading now is perfectly normal.
Sale to Norwegian would work well for them- gives them good access to Gatwick- what they want to nibble away at Easy and for long haul, BA and Virgin. They could consolidate at Birmingham, establish at Manchester and doubt they would bother with Luton - where Vueling would expand or Easy consolidate or Leeds.