The FAA and the US National Transportation Safety Board are investigating an aborted landing in Austin, Texas, on Saturday morning by a FedEx cargo plane that had been set to land on a runway on which a Southwest Airlines jet was also cleared to depart from, the agencies said. The two planes came close to colliding when the FedEx plane was forced to overfly the Southwest plane to avoid a crash, two sources briefed on the matter told Reuters. "Shortly before the FedEx aircraft was due to land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the same runway," the FAA said. The NTSB separately said it was investigating "a possible runway incursion and overflight involving airplanes from Southwest Airlines and FedEx." The incident occurred in poor visibility conditions in Austin. The FAA said FedEx Express Flight 1432, a Boeing 767 cargo plane, which had departed from Memphis, was cleared to land on Runway 18-Left around 6:40 a.m. while the aircraft was several miles from the airport. The Southwest plane had not yet departed when the FedEx plane was nearing the runway. "The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out," the FAA said. It was not clear precisely how close the two airplanes came to colliding, but flight tracking website data suggested they came very close. The Cancun, Mexico-bound Southwest flight, a Boeing 737-700, safely departed and landed at 9:47 a.m. ET.<br/>
general
French train and air services are expected to be heavily disrupted on Tuesday by a nationwide strike against pension reforms, the national railway and civil aviation authorities said on Sunday. Rail operator SNCF said that only around half of the usual number of high-speed rail services on domestic lines would be running, while one out of four on the Eurostar line to London would not operate. Separately the civil aviation authority said delays and disruptions could be expected at airports even though it would activate minimum service guarantees. It said it had asked airlines to reduce flights by 20% out of Paris's Orly airport.<br/>
Finnish airport operator Finavia has announced an investment exceeding E15m to renovate runways at Helsinki, Kuopio and Kuusamo airports. At Helsinki Airport, the operator will refurbish the transverse runway, the northern end of runway 2 (15/33). The revamp will commence in May and conclude by early September. Finavia said that the works will affect the landing directions in May–August. It will also upgrade the electrical systems under the runway and the runway surface apart from improving the stormwater sewer system. The company intends to spend a total of E8m this year in Helsinki Airport. Finavia will also carry out an overhaul of stormwater sewers and taxiways E and F at Kuopio Airport. It will continue to upgrade the electricity networks, which started last year. The operator will invest E5m in Kuopio Airport this year. Works at the airport will begin in May and end at the beginning of September, without disrupting air traffic.<br/>
Turkey's airport ground service provider Havas told Russian and Belarusian airliners that it may stop providing services to their United States-origin aircraft, in line with Western sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. A Havas letter dated Jan. 31 and seen by Reuters, with the subject line of "potential restrictions on Boeing aircraft", was sent days before US officials met Turkish government and private sector officials to urge cooperation with US curbs on Russia. The Havas letter mentioned "some or all flights" of Russian and Belarusian airlines' aircraft that contain more than 25% of US origin technology. Russian forces used Belarus as a launch pad for their abortive attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, at the start of the war nearly a year ago but Belarus has ruled out joining the conflict. Havas said the Turkish aviation industry received warning letters from the US Department of Commerce, and the letter was to respond to US export controls related to the Ukraine war. "In that respect, we are running a due-dilligence process to identify risks and consequences to our business and stakeholders. As a result of this, we may find ourselves unable to serve some or all of your flights," the Havas letter said. As part of sweeping Western sanctions and export controls on Moscow, the United States restricted licensing, parts and services - from new airframes and engines to cupholders and fuel - on planes of US origin like Boeing jets, or that contain up to 25% US materials.<br/>
The return of Chinese tourists to Africa and a full resumption of operations on international routes by African airlines are the latest indicators of a rebounding tourism industry, badly hit by the covid-19 pandemic two years ago. China has picked three African countries—Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa—among 20 across the globe for piloting outbound group tours, nearly a month after lifting travel restrictions.According to a ministerial notice published on Jan. 20, Chinese travel companies will be allowed to provide travelers with airline and hotel packages to selected countries starting Feb. 6. “From now on, travel agencies and online travel companies can carry out preparations for product releases, publicity and promotion,” read the document. A week before this, the Egyptian capital welcomed the first tourists from China since the outbreak of covid-19, following a visit by China’s Foreign Minister, Qin Gang. United Nations World Travel Organisation’s latest World Tourism Barometer confirms the return of Chinese tourists will significantly boost Africa’s international arrival numbers and push them to 2019 levels. “The removal of covid-19 related travel restrictions in China, the world’s largest outbound market in 2019, is a significant and much-welcomed step to the recovery of the tourism sector in Asia and the Pacific and worldwide” according to the report. In a recent speech, China Tourism Academy President Dai Bin said destination Africa needed to optimize its promotion strategy and improve its hospitality system for the Chinese market to unlock its vast growth potential.<br/>
The C919 is a narrow-body passenger jet built by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), a state-owned company based in Shanghai. The Chinese government formed Comac in 2008 to design and build the single-aisle C919. It is designed to compete with Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320. The C919 made its maiden test flight in 2017 and was certified to fly by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in September after 14 years of development. Comac delivered the first C919 jet to China Eastern Airlines in Shanghai in December. The plane is designed to carry between 158 and 192 passengers. China Eastern Airlines ordered four of the aircraft in May at a cost of US$99m each. Comac has said it plans to deliver the rest of the orders within the next two years. At China’s biggest air show in Zhuhai in November, Comac said it had secured orders from seven leasing firms for 300 planes, a little over a month after it was certified to fly. By late 2022, Comac had received 305 orders for the C919 in China, while Boeing had only received 116 for its 737 series, according to a report from the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics), a Berlin-based think tank. Backgrounder has more.<br/>