Austrian Airlines has received its fifth Airbus A320neo from the airframer. The wholly owned Lufthansa subsidiary says the single-aisle (OE-LZR) was delivered from Airbus's assembly line in Toulouse on 29 December and will operate in a neutral white livery until it will be painted in Austrian's colour scheme in spring. Fleets data shows the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-powered twinjet was the final A320neo-family jet Austrian had on order. Its previous four A320neos were added to the fleet between August 2022 and July 2023. Austrian has 40 A320-family jets, six Boeing 777-200ERs, three 767-300ERs and 17 Embraer 195s. The 777s and 767s are scheduled to be replaced by 787-9s between 2024 and 2028. "In the coming years, Austrian Airlines will modernise its short- and medium-haul fleet as well as its long-haul fleet," states operating chief Francesco Sciortino. "In addition to the use of sustainable fuels, the use of modern and fuel-efficient aircraft is the greatest lever for achieving our ambitious climate targets," he says.

Brussels airport will use state subsidies to provide up to €200,000 ($220,000) to airlines that use low carbon jet fuels at the facility this year. The gateway is seeking to cover up to 80% of the additional costs of using the fuel for airlines that take part, with the money coming from a €2 million sustainability scheme launched by the Belgian government in 2022. “The SAF incentive programme is one of the measures that Brussels Airport Company wanted to take to accelerate the sustainable development of aviation and promote the use of sustainable aviation fuels,” states Arnaud Feist, chief executive of Brussels Airport Company. “As an airport, within the framework of our European Stargate programme, we have expressed the ambition to aim for 5% SAF on total kerosene use by airlines at Brussels airport by 2026. That is faster than the European target, but we want to fully commit to this together with our airline partners.” The incentive scheme is open to all passenger and cargo airlines, offering short and long-haul services departing from Brussels airport in 2024. Brussels airport notes that it first received SAF via its NATO fuel pipeline in December 2022.

Airbus is sending specialists to assist investigators probing the 2 January collision between a Japan Airlines A350-900 and a Japanese Coast Guard De Havilland Canada Dash 8 at Tokyo Haneda International airport as the airliner was landing. The investigation will be led by the Japan Transport Safety Bureau and involve France's accident investigator, BEA, as per international conventions. The A350, registered JA13XJ (MSN 538), was operating flight 516 from Sapporo’s New Chitose airport at 16:15 (local time) and landed at Tokyo Haneda at 17:47 on 2 January, carrying 367 passengers, including eight infants, and 12 crew members, JAL states. The aircraft burst into flames after colliding with the Dash 8 immediately after landing, however all crew and passengers were evacuated from the A350 with no fatalities. Five crewmembers of the Dash 8 were killed in the accident, and the captain sustained severe injuries. JAL says in a statement that the A350 is a "total loss", with daytime pictures on social media appearing to show that much of the fuselage was consumed by the subsequent fire. A large part of the investigation is likely to focus on the actions of air traffic controllers and the crew of the two aircraft involved. JAL says that based on interviews with the crew operating the A350 "they acknowledged and repeated the landing permission from air traffic control, and then proceeded with the approach and landing procedures". It also notes that the “aircraft did not experience any issues or irregularities during its departure from New Chitose Airport or throughout the flight.” The carrier adds that “detailed information and the cause of the accident are under investigation, and full cooperation with the investigation will be provided.” All Haneda’s four runways were temporarily closed following the accident, and all runways but the affected one were reopened at "around 21:30" the same day, Kyodo News agency reported citing the transport ministry. Schedules data shows that more than 40 airlines have scheduled 218 departures and 216 arrivals at Haneda on 3 January. ANA and its subsidiary ANA Wings together about 37% of the total number of departures and arrivals while JAL accounts for about 26%. About one-third the total number of arrivals and departures on 3 January have been cancelled outright, according to flight status data on Haneda’s website as of 12:49. On the international front, eight departures and six arrivals have been cancelled, while on the domestic front, 71 departures and 45 arrivals were axed. JAL said that it had cancelled a total of 50 domestic and three international flights for the day but has “not decided” further schedules changes from tomorrow.