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An international team of investigators is combing through the wreckage of the two aircraft that collided at Tokyo Haneda airport on Jan. 2 as they seek to establish what caused the runway incursion, with the voice and data recorders set to provide vital readouts of the fateful final moments before impact. The cockpit voice recorder from the smaller De Havilland Canada Dash 8 was recovered a day after the accident, and local media reported the flight recorder of the much larger Airbus SE A350 operated by Japan Airlines was retrieved Thursday. The JAL plane will be cleared from the runway Friday morning so that operations can resume. Airbus has dispatched experts to Japan to aid the investigation, and the teams have begun working on the mangled remains of the aircraft, which was almost entirely destroyed by a fire following the collision. Pressure is building to find out exactly what led to two aircraft ending up on the same runway strip at one of the world’s busiest commercial airports, and who should be held accountable. Initial readouts from conversations with air traffic control suggest the coast-guard plane didn’t have clearance for takeoff, while the Airbus A350 had permission to land. Yet the pilot of the smaller plane, the only person of a crew of six to survive the impact, has maintained he was cleared to depart. Airbus said after the crash that it had sent a team of specialists to assist the investigation. The French BEA accident investigation team is also involved, given the aircraft was manufactured in France, alongside the Japan Transport Safety Board. It’s not unusual for the black boxes — which are in fact painted bright orange — to remain undiscovered for a while after a crash. While the Airbus A350 was largely intact even after impact with the coast-guard plane, the aircraft subsequently burnt out entirely, with the fire raging for more than six hours. That, in turn, may complicate any search effort inside the charred wreck, said Darren Straker, the former head of aircraft accident investigations for the United Arab Emirates. “Finding it will not be immediate,” Straker said of the black-box devices. “They will know roughly where it is, but they will have to sift through it. When you’re going though a debris field everything looks the same, there’s evidence preservation issues.” Story has more.<br/>

Passengers on Japan Airlines Flight 516 were buckled up and ready to land at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport as their pilot made a final approach. “Cleared to land,” the pilot repeated after receiving an instruction from air traffic control to put the jet down on a specific runway. About two minutes later, the Airbus A350 that had traveled from New Chitose Airport near Sapporo was engulfed in an orange fireball on the ground, spewing gray smoke from the side. Manabu Kotake, a Sapporo resident visiting Tokyo, felt a strong bang and initially thought the airliner had made a rough touchdown. He looked out the window and observed flames, then noticed a burning smell. Seated near the engine, Kotake saw it falling apart. “I panicked and thought I may not be able to survive,” he told Japanese news agency Jiji Press. The A350 had collided with a much smaller coast guard plane that had received permission to approach the same runway but no takeoff clearance, according to a transcript of traffic control communications from the minutes before Tuesday’s crash. Experts say neither the JAL pilot nor air traffic controllers may have realized the Bombardier Dash-8 already had entered the runway by the time the airliner came in. With investigators focused on how traffic control communicated with the two planes during the busy holiday travel period, the big question to have emerged so far is why the coast guard plane was there. The pilot of the coast guard plane, which was leaving on a mission to deliver relief goods to earthquake survivors in central Japan, evacuated with serious burns, but five crew members were killed. All 379 passengers and crew members of Flight 516 survived after an evacuation that took 18 minutes. After their safe escape down emergency chutes, some passengers have shared details of their harrowing ordeal with the media. Television footage of a survivor’s video captured flight attendants repeatedly urging passengers to stay calm and to leave their belongings behind while making their way toward the closest of three frontward emergency exits that were usable. At first, passengers remained seated while waiting for attendants’ directions, some lowering their heads to avoid the smoke filling the cabin.<br/>

The swift and safe evacuation of a Japan Airlines jet that caught fire after hitting a Coast Guard aircraft while it was landing Tuesday at Tokyo’s Haneda airport reflects a dogged dedication to safety and training by the airline, and hard experience from past disasters. JAL set up a Safety Promotion Center at the airport in 2006 to reflect lessons learned from the Aug. 12, 1985, crash of Flight 123 into a mountain north of Tokyo. It was the world’s worst single-aircraft disaster, killing 520 people with only four survivors. JAL staff maintain a memorial at the site at Otsuka Ridge and new employees climb to it to pay their respects. “In the face of the pain and grief of the bereaved families and public distrust in airline safety, we pledged we would never again allow such a tragic accident to occur,” the airline says on its website. Only 17 people suffered slight injuries when fleeing the Airbus 350 via evacuation slides and running for their lives Tuesday evening as the plane blazed. Five people on the Japan Coast Guard’s Bombardier Dash-8 plane were killed and the pilot survived with serious injuries. International aviation safety organizations use a 90-second benchmark for evacuating all passengers during emergency drills. Such drills must be done once a year and all crew members and flight attendants must pass the test, JAL spokesperson Keiko Miyoshi said. Airline safety analysts credited the rapid evacuation of Tuesday’s flight to stringent training and passengers who heeded instructions and left their belongings behind.<br/>

Neither the Japan Airlines crew nor air traffic control noticed in time that the Japan Coast Guard plane had taxied onto the runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport before the deadly collision on Tuesday, the latest information on the accident shows. The captain of the coast guard plane, the lone survivor among a crew of six, told the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department that "the back [of the aircraft] suddenly went up in flames," according to a source connected to the investigation. Tokyo police have begun questioning injured passengers. Investigators have finished inspecting the runway and continue to look into both aircraft. The lead pilot of the JAL passenger jet reported not seeing the coast guard plane upon touching down on the runway, according to the airline. "I spotted something right before the collision," another pilot on the JAL flight said, according to the company. "I felt something didn't feel right." Air traffic control did not know that the coast guard plane had taxied onto the runway, and the JAL jet did not receive instructions from air traffic control to delay its landing. Neither the JAL crew nor air traffic control appear to have known of the potential for a collision. According to communication records released Wednesday, air traffic control had instructed the coast guard plane to approach the runway but did not instruct it to enter the runway. However, the captain of the coast guard transport plane said the craft was cleared to enter the runway. This suggests human error brought on by a misunderstanding. The coast guard plane is believed to have stopped on the runway for about 40 seconds, according to a source. The Japan Transport Safety Board will investigate the circumstances leading up to the crash. To avoid accidents caused by miscommunication, plane crews worldwide routinely recite back and confirm every instruction given by air traffic control. The Japan Coast Guard transport aircraft did so, yet the accident still occurred. The biggest turning point in reforming communication procedures traces back to the 1977 accident at an airport on Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. Garbled transmission from air traffic control led to two passenger planes crashing into each other, claiming 583 lives. Although scrupulous communication has become a must for safety, human error can still occur.<br/>

American Airlines' pilots union has formed a committee to consider whether to bring aviators from the group's regional carriers like Envoy Air onto its mainline pilots' seniority list, according to a union memo seen by Reuters. The Allied Pilots Association union (APA) committee will also investigate the impact of a potential change in pilots' retirement age to 67 from 65 to minimize any adverse impact such a change could have on its pilots, the memo quoted union President CA Ed Sicher as saying. Several unions, such as the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), have opposed a bill in the U.S. Congress that seeks to raise the retirement age for commercial pilots, arguing it will "introduce new risk" into the aviation system as no safety agency has studied its implications. The bill, however, has been estimated by the Regional Airline Association (RAA) to provide 5,000 pilots the option to continue working over the next two years. American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<br/>

Alaska Airlines has received its first Boeing 737 Max 8, an aircraft with sufficient range to enable the carrier to launch new transcontinental routes. Seattle-based Alaska said on 4 January it had received the first of the type, though Cirium’s fleet database shows Boeing delivered the aircraft – registration N801AK– to Alaska on 27 December. The airline already operates the larger 737 Max 9 and holds unfilled orders for another 79 Max jets – a mix of Max 8s, Max 9s and Max 10s, according to Cirium. Alaska anticipates receiving its first Max 10 in 2025. The FAA has yet to certificate that variant. “The addition of the 737-8 and eventually the 737-10 to our fleet creates new opportunities for us to fly longer nonstop routes and maximise our revenue,” says Alaska senior vice-president of fleet, finance and alliances Nat Pieper. Boeing’s 737 Max 8 has 3,500nm (6,482km) of range, compared to the Max 9’s 3,300nm range and the Max 10’s 3,100nm range. Alaska’s Max 8s will have 159 seats, while its Max 9s will have 178 seats and its Max 10s will have 190 seats. The company will use its incoming Max 8s to launch new, longer-distance routes, including the 2,942nm run between Anchorage and New York’s John F Kennedy International airport, which it intends to begin operating on 13 June. “Anchorage-JFK… will become the longest flight Alaska operates, creating nonstop convenience between two of the most popular cities in our network,” Alaska says. The airline became an all-737 operator last year after removing the last of its Airbus A320-family jets from service. Alaska had acquired those aircraft via its 2016 purchase of now-defunct Virgin America. Alaska’s fleet now stands at 231 in-service jets, including 165 737NGs, 65 737 Max 9s and the single Max 8. The carrier holds outstanding orders with Boeing for nine Max 8s, 27 Max 9s and 43 Max 10s, Cirium shows. Alaska also holds options and purchase rights with Boeing to order another 105 of the narrowbodies. The airline expects to receive another seven 737 Max 8s this year. It anticipates receiving 15-25 Max of all variants annually though 2027.<br/>

Ground staff at IAG-owned Iberia airlines will stage a three-day strike at Spanish airports from Friday, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights, after talks between unions and the company failed at a last-ditch meeting, the airline said. Ground staff including baggage handlers are protesting against contracts signed with new providers at Spanish airports. Spain's two main unions UGT and CCOO plan a walkout from Jan. 5 until Jan. 8, disrupting travel over the country's traditional Epiphany holiday. A member of Iberia's press office said Madrid airport would not be affected, but airports in Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Malaga, Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Alicante would. Spain's flagship airline Iberia, Iberia Express and Air Nostrum had cancelled 400 flights and other IAG partner airlines an additional 300, she added. Other airlines outside the IAG group that use Iberia Airport Services could be affected, she added, though minimum service legislation meant disruption should be limited. Paloma Gallardo, the Iberia representative for union CCOO, said the union expected the strike to be observed at all airports, including Madrid. "We hope it will be as much as possible," she said. "The conflict is very serious." With the strike trailed for weeks amid discussions between the company and unions, "more than 90% of customers have already obtained a solution to the cancellation of their flight," the company added in an earlier statement.<br/>