Aviation Daily Roundup: Feb. 15, 2023

Routine cold-weather engine run-up procedures may have played a role in putting a departing Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 in the path of an arriving FedEx Express 767-300 at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), resulting in a near-collision between the two aircraft, sources familiar with the NTSB’s investigation tell Aviation Week.

Boeing has more than doubled its purchase of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to support commercial operations in the U.S., including production and delivery flights, as well as flights of its ecoDemonstrator technology testbed and the Dreamlifter outsize transport fleet supporting 787 production.

Colombian ULCC Viva has yet another suitor after LATAM Airlines Colombia declared it wants to start negotiations to acquire Viva. 

JetBlue Airways alleges Dutch authorities are in violation of the Open Skies agreement in a U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) filing that requests government intervention in the airline’s bid to launch daily flights to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) from Boston Logan International (BOS) and New York John F Kennedy (JFK). 

The massive Air India order for 470 new aircraft announced Feb. 14 has been in the works since even before the carrier was privatized and taken over by Tata Group.

Eswatini Air, the new national carrier of the eponymous Southern African nation, plans to launch services within the next few weeks, having received its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) from the country’s regulator. 

Finnair is seeing a return to normal seasonality and expects to operate 80-85% of 2019 capacity on average in 2023 as it posted its first quarterly net profit since before the coronavirus pandemic.  

Ethiopian Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo are increasing freighter capacity to China in response to demand.

Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings and Spanish LCC Volotea have signed a memorandum of understanding for a sales partnership on over 140 routes and did not rule out more opportunities if the cooperation is successful.

Lufthansa has blamed an IT outage for halting all of its arrivals and departures from Frankfurt Airport on Feb. 15 and advised passengers to not travel to its largest hub.  

IndiGo is looking to bolster its international network and further solidify its domestic operations as it awaits the delivery of its first Airbus A321XLR before the end of 2024. 

Finnair is seeking to re-establish itself in the Chinese market as it gradually rebuilds an Asian network that has been severely constrained by travel restrictions and the closure of Russian air space.

The bigger the fan and bypass ratio of a turbofan, the quieter and more efficient the engine. But these benefits diminish as increased nacelle weight and drag degrade the fuel-burn advantages of the larger bypass.