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Garuda, Lion Air and Batik Air achieve top safety rankings

Garuda tops safety ranking

Three major Indonesian airlines, including Garuda Indonesia, have had their safety ranking upgraded to the highest level after Indonesia passed a key international audit.

Garuda Indonesia, Batik Air, and Lion Air have all been upgraded to the top safety tier – seven stars – by global rating agency AirlineRatings.com.

The upgrade is the result of a new audit of Indonesia’s compliance with the eight categories in the International Civil Aviation Organization Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP).

WATCH Slipping into LA at sunrise

These include Operations, Airworthiness, Accident Investigation, Aerodromes, Organization, Legislation, Air Navigation Services and Licensing.

ICAO is the governing body of commercial aviation.

All three airlines have also completed the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), which is conducted every two years.

Airlineratings.com’s  safety rating system, however, does not audit pilot training as this is covered to an extent under the IOSA audit.

In 2017, the all accident rate for airlines on the IOSA registry was nearly four times better than that of non-IOSA airlines (0.56 vs. 2.17) and it was nearly three times better over the 2012-16 period.

All IATA member airlines are required to maintain their IOSA registration. There are currently 423 airlines on the IOSA Registry of which 142 are non-IATA Members.

Over the next few years, IOSA will undergo a digital transformation that will enable IOSA airlines to compare and benchmark their performance. In the long run, the digital transformation will help to focus auditing on areas with the highest level of safety risk.

Garuda Indonesia completed the IOSA audit in 2008 and has not had an accident or serious incident since.

After completing the audit, the European Union lifted its ban on Garuda Indonesia flying to Europe.

The IOSA audit is an internationally recognized and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline.

Many countries have now adopted the audit as the guiding principle for their aviation system.

 

 

 

Aussies bolster Air New Zealand routes to the Americas

Air New Zealand aussies strategy
AirNZ CEO Christopher Luxon. Photo: Steve Creedy

Air New Zealand expects almost a third of passengers on its new Chicago service to be Aussies as it continues to benefit from its strategy of marketing itself as an alternative way of traveling between Australia and the Americas.

The Kiwi carrier over the last five years has expanded its network by 40 percent to include destinations such as Buenos Aries and Houston. It says all its international routes are profitable.

The expansion has been coupled with good growth in Australia in the wake of a strong campaign to convince Australians living in Perth, Adelaide and the eastern seaboard to travel to North and South America via Auckland.

Australians now make up 40 percent of AirNZ’s passengers on the Buenos Aries service and 30 percent to Houston.

“Chicago will work in the same way,’’ chief executive Christopher Luxon told AirlineRatings at the recent International Air transport Association conference in Sydney.

One offshoot of the strategy was the decision to pull out of the trans-Tasman alliance with Virgin Australia from late October and enter a codeshare relationship with Qantas.

READ:  Qantas hops into bed with Air New Zealand.

Luxon said AirNZ’s North American strategy and the growth of the Kiwi airline’s business in Australia had caused tension within the trans-Tasman relationship.

That’s a different strategy to if you’re just running a strategy across the Tasman,’’ he said. “That works at cross purposes to what Virgin might want to do because obviously, they’re  eastern seaboard into North America as well.’’

Luxon also revealed the airline had approached both major Australian airlines about entering into a codeshare deal in domestic Australia after it announced it was ending its trans-Tasman alliance in Australia.

Watch: Air New Zealand’s merry mistake.

He said the airline needed a solution for the 137,000 Air New Zealand customers who travel on from major cities to other destinations in Australia.

“The Qantas deal was just commercially better and just a great customer proposition,’’ he said.  “We get 85 ports, access to all the lounges that we need.

“And obviously it’s a much bigger deal for us in Australia than I’d say for Qantas in New Zealand.’’

Virgin has criticized the deal and has described it as bad news for consumers.

It warned there would be flow-on effects for competition on the Tasman.

More airlines looking at ultra-long-range routes

More airlines looking at ultra-long-range
The Airbus A350-900 ULR. Photo: Airbus.

At least three airlines are interested in the kind of ultra-long-range mission Qantas wants to operate on its Project Sunrise flights, Airbus has revealed.

The Australian carrier has asked both manufacturers to develop a “hub-buster” aircraft capable of flying Sydney-London and Sydney-New York non-stop.

Read all things on the table for Qantas Project Sunrise cabins.

The ultra-long-range flights are outside of the envelopes of even the newest Airbus and Boeing planes but Qantas has said it is confident the manufacturers would be able to meet the technical specifications and it will be able to launch the service by 2022.

But it may not be alone.

“There is an interest from other operators for an ultra-long-range mission to look at these options and to look at these possibilities,’’ Airbus chief salesman Eric Schulz said at the International Air Transport Association conference in Sydney.

Asked if Airbus was talking to other operators, Schulz confirmed it was and said there at least three with networks that could use an ultra-long-range aircraft similar to Project Sunrise.

The European manufacturer is racing against US rival Boeing to come up with an aircraft that can do the job for Qantas. One of the difficulties is that Qantas wants the aircraft to be a 300-seater, so it asking to transport a sizeable payload over a long distance.

Boeing believes it has the better planes. Its Boeing 777-8 and 777-9 have yet to fly but will be coming on stream before Qantas wants to start the service.

Boeing’s website puts the range of the 350-375-seat (in two classes) Boeing 777-8 at 8700 nautical miles (16,110km) and that of the bigger, 400-425 seat 777-9 at 7600nm (14,075km).

Airbus also has two models, the A350-900 which Airbus says seats up to 325 people and has a range of up to 8100nm (15,000km) and the A350-1000, which the company says seats up to 369 people and has a range 7950nm (14,750km).

Airbus also has the A350-900 Ultra-Long-Range which has a modified fuel system that boosts fuel carrying capacity by 24,000 litres. Airbus puts its range at up to 9700nm (18,000km).

The problem with these figures is they do not reflect the day-to-day reality of airline operations.

Singapore Airlines will be flying the A350ULR non-stop between Singapore and Newark, New Jersey, from October — a distance of 15,300kms — but will have just 162 seats on board, although these will be the heavier premium economy and business seats. This compares with Singapore’s standard A350-900 configuration of 253 seats in three classes

Qantas, which is looking for a multi-class 300-seater, will ignore the publicly available specifications  to look specifically at what the planes can do for the missions it wants it to operate,

the payload it requires and the conditions in which it will likely fly.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told reporters at the IATA AGM the project was making good progress with both plane makers a technical evaluation would be finished this year.

his would allow the airline to go through a request for proposal (RFP) process that would allow the airline to place an order for the aircraft in 2019 with delivery slated for 2022.

Schulz noted that Airbus already had aircraft in the market that can be modified for ultra-long-range missions.

“The advantage we have is we have an A350-900ULR  which is already flying with Singapore Airlines,’’ he said. “It is doing Singapore to the US which is quite similar in terms of trip and operational challenges to the one we have.

“The aircraft does a little bit less than what Project Sunrise will require but we know how to drive this. And then we have other developments within Airbus that we will bring to the table at the time.

“it’s actually good news if my competitor believes they have the only product because I am convinced we have at least one, if not two products that could do the mission as well.”

The second option would see the bigger A350-1000 modified to do a ULR flight.

“So basically we are looking at both options,’’ Schulz said. “The clear difference between the two would be what would be economically viable for Qantas, in this particular case, and for other operators.”

Airbus is also offering the option of being able to “demodify” the 900ULR to help maintain its value in the secondary aircraft market.

Schulz noted this offered flexibility to airlines.

On the question of the gap between what the aircraft can do now and the Qantas requirements, Schulz said this would depend on how seat count was balanced against range and this was why Airbus was looking at both the -900 and the -1000.

“Qantas are still maturing their process,’’ he said. “It’s not a straight process because it is so on the extreme of the enveloper, it’s a process where you get there  by iteration.

“So at the beginning, Qantas could have the temptation to put many, many seats but then the reality might be different.’’

Pointing to the London to Sydney route, Schulz said other unknowns included interest in the flight, pricing and yield.

He was also non-committal on suggestions Qantas could look at options such as sleeping berths in the new aircraft, pointing to the potential weight penalty of such a move on a ULR flight.

WATCH: Wing clouds make for stunning video.

Boeing marketing vice president Randy Tinseth said conversations with Qantas on the technical aspects of Project Sunrise were ongoing

He believes Boeing has an advantage with its 777-8 and bigger 777-9 aircraft.

“We know we have the most capable aircraft in the market, so that puts us in a good place,’’ he said “But of course, what they’re asking us to do is actually beyond the capabilities of even the 777-8,  which will be by the far the longest range airplane in the market.

“So we’ve put the challenge in front of our engineers, and you know they love these kinds of projects, and asked ourselves, what could we do with an aircraft in order to meet some of those long-range missions.

“And we’ll just have to see how it goes as we get into the next phase of discussions with the airline.’

Tinseth pointed to the aircraft’s all-new composite wing and new GE9X engines as pluses.

“As it sits today, we have airplanes that have more range and capacity than our competition and not just a little, but significantly,’’ he said.

Tinseth said Boeing was pleased with the progress General Electric was making with engine tests and said the 777 program was generally performing well.

“The program, in general, is on track, if not a little bit early,’’ he said. “We’ve had to do some extra work on the wing and work though some issues there as we go through those first couple of airplanes.

“But in general, the program’s performing well.”

Former Singapore A380s to be sold for parts a decade after entering service

A380

German leasing company Dr Peters has confirmed that two former Singapore Airlines Airbus A380s are to be broken up and their components sold after it was unable to find suitable new lessees.

The news comes just over a decade after the aircraft entered service and as sales of new A380s have flagged.

The decision highlights the lack of a secondary market for the superjumbos as the industry turns to new, more efficient twin-engine aircraft.

READ: A380 faces uncertainty as it marks 10 years in service.

Dr Peters said the decision came after intensive negotiations with airlines such as British Airways, Iran Air and Hi-Fly did not result in lease agreements that would satisfy investors’ requirements.

“The market for the A380-800 aircraft type has not developed positively in recent years,’’ Dr Peters chief executive Anselm Gehling said.

“Some airlines have canceled orders from Airbus, while others have opted for smaller long-haul jets.

“Finally, the ongoing negative discussion about the A380-800 has not led airlines to increasingly rely on this type of aircraft.”

“In light of this development, the concept that has now been finalized is an excellent achievement with a total revenue forecast of around $US80 million per aircraft”.

Singapore handed back the A380s when the leases expired and replaced them with new aircraft.

Dr Peters is working with VAS Aero Services on the sale of the components and expects to generate $US45 million from the sale of components alone over the next two years.

It said VAS had assessed that many airlines currently using the A380-800 would have a high demand for individual replacement components due to upcoming maintenance intervals.

It also plans to continue an existing leasing agreement with manufacturer Rolls-Royce or an airline which is estimated to generate at least $US480,000 a month during the period of high maintenance demand. However, it expects the engines will be sold in 2020.

Main components such as landing gear are tipped to sell quickly and Dr Peters expects to make a first payment to investors in the first quarter of 2019 as it heads towards an overall return of the relevant investment funds of 145 to 155 percent.

The A380 was thrown a lifeline when the world’s biggest operator of the plane, Emirates, signed a deal for up to 36 aircraft to be delivered from 2020.

READ: A380 receives a lifeline with $US16 billion Emirates deal.

The deal for 20 firm orders and 16 options was valued at $US16 million at list prices and allowed Airbus to continue production.

The new order brought Emirates’ commitment to the A380 program to 178 aircraft worth more than $US60 billion.

New Airbus chief salesman Eric Schulz told reporters at the sidelines of this year’s  IATA annual meeting there were still market opportunities for the A380 with existing and new operators.

He said the Emirates order had ensured the aircraft was industrially viable and could remain in production.

He also argued the concept of being able to better service saturated airports had been proven by the aircraft’s popularity at London Heathrow, where 10 percent of flights were on A380s.

However, he conceded there were not as many slot-constrained airports as had been predicted a decade ago

One explanation for this was that the growth in twin-engine aircraft, including smaller twins such as the A321LR, had taken the market outside bigger airports.

“But I still believe that the 380 has its own future and, again, we are talking to airlines that are really interested to add more airplanes,’’ he said.

Asked about whether Airbus was talking to Emirates about a stretch version of the plane, Schulz said the company continued to talk to each of its customers about opportunities for improvements,

 

Cathay passengers see new menus, seats in restructure.

cathay hackers access details 9.4 million passengers
Massive Cathay data breach. Photo: Cathay Pacific.

Expanded business class menus, an aggressive roll-out of inflight wi-fi and new economy seating are among the changes Cathay Pacific passengers are seeing as the airline battles increased competition and restructures its operations.

The Hong Kong-based carrier has a three-year transformation program underway as it moves to recover from two years of losses, including an $HK1.25 billion ($US160 million) net loss for the 2017 financial year.

It has been affected by fundamental changes that saw increased competition in many of its markets, including an aggressive expansion by mainland Chinese carriers. T

The downturn in profitability saw 600 jobs axed and a greater emphasis on productivity nad  accountability as the airline moves to rein in costs and return to profitability.

READ: Cathay, Virgin boost options between Australia and Hong Kong.

It is also seeing the use of digital technology as part of an increased emphasis by the airline on the experiences customers value and want, according to chief executive Rupert Hogg.

Some of this involves the use of big data while some translates research such as customer panels into a more usable electronic form.

“We’ve done a lot of work on the digital side of the business and what we’re doing is we’re embedding the capability within the business to really understand the customer experience and where we can improve,’’ Hogg tells AirlineRatings on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association annual meeting in Sydney.

Among the digitally-inspired changes is a new dining service that offers more choice, a different style of service and greater flexibility such as express breakfasts and quick snacks for late-night departures.

“And That rolls out on long-haul routes from next month … and by the end of the year we’ll have done all of the long-haul destinations,’’ Hogg says.

Hogg says the change is “a real upgrade and complete change in the proposition”. It won’t involve pre-ordered meals but it will give passengers a choice of six entrees, plated delivery, better presentation and bigger portions.

“One of the big pieces of feedback that we got is people don’t want complexity, they just want bigger portions, great quality, great looking presentation,’’ he adds. “And we’ve taken the opportunity with the delivery style to make it a much more interactive experience and personal experience with the flight attendants if you want it to be that.”

Cathay is also investing heavily in inflight wi-fi, something else Hogg says many passengers want.

“All of our A350s so far have got inflight wi-fi and it’s popular,’’ he says. “We start this month to do all of our 777s as well.

“We will finish all of our long-haul fleet by the end of 2020, which is about 100 aircraft. So a lot of aircraft.”

New economy seating is starting to appear in the airline’s Boeing 777s as part of the move from nine-abreast seating to the less popular but more profitable 10-abreast configuration.

The change means seats are not as wide — now down to 17.2 inches compared to more than 18 inches in the old configuration

To soften the blow Cathay is retaining a 32-inch seat pitch and has added bigger, high-definition inflight entertainment screens as well as other extras such as in-seat power, an adjustable headrest and a space to store small items.

cathay dining seats restructure
Photo: Cathay Pacific

“We’re keeping the pitch at 32 inches but with modern composite materials and stronger metals you can have a thinner seat structure and better cushioning,’’ Hogg says.

“We’re significantly upgrading the inflight entertainment systems there, so the screen goes from 9 inches to 11.6 and we’ve got high definition movies on board.

“We’ve taken the time to sweat the details so we have tablet stand and things like that, so it’s good personal space I think.”

The airline is also enjoying good customer feedback from its new lounges.

The latest of these, the Deck, opened recently and Shanghai is due to open by the end of the year.

Hogg says the lounge program has been very well received and “we’re really pleased and proud of it.’’

The improvements are part of a move by Cathay to further differentiate itself from its competitors.

“I think in every class we want to make sure that we are considered the number one choice in preference to the other alternatives that people have,’’ he says.

“We’re not always the cheapest so it’s important that we create what we think a sustainable differentiation.

” So we start from a great place in the sense we’ve got a great hub and a great network, we’ve got a very young fleet that we’re modernizing. “

While the airline spent a lot of time the on inflight hard product and ambience, the airline chief sees the real differentiator as service style.

Cathay has always had a strong service ethos, he says, but it is trying to make it even more effective by having more data on customers and making that available to flight attendants.

Another pillar on the road to long-term financial sustainability is what Hogg terms new sources of revenue.

The first stage of this is expanding the network with new planes such as the Airbus A350-900 and the bigger variant due to be delivered soon, the A350-1000.

Cathay opened up Tel Aviv and Barcelona last year and new destinations this year include Dublin, Brussels, Copenhagen and Washington, DC.

Many of the destinations have not been previously connected to Hong Kong and playing a key role in the expansion is the Airbus A350-900, which is about to be joined by its bigger sister, the A350-1000.

“It’s super-efficient so it has allowed to us to open points in Europe and put second frequencies on to some places and to do that in a way we weren’t able when we only had a 777, which is a slightly bigger aircraft,’’ Hoggs says.

The Hong Kong airline plans to build up its new destinations to the daily services preferred by business customers.

“Some of them we’ve started as seasonal services only,’’ Hogg notes. “We started Barcelona as seasonal, we’ll now keep it year-round and now we’ll start increasing frequencies. The same holds true for Madrid.

“The intention is always to get to daily and we can do that as more aircraft come along.

“So we’ve just taken a decision to build a bridgehead at each place and build our presence, build sales and then as the new aircraft come in, to increase frequencies.”

Photo shows hail-shattered nose of American plane

American Airlines hail damage
The damaged radome on the American Airlines A319. Photo: Holly Rush/Facebook.

This dramatic photo shows the damage done to an American Airlines Airbus A319  after it flew through a hailstorm on Sunday.

American Airlines Flight 1897 with 130 passengers and five crew was flying from San Antonio, Texas, to Phoenix, Arizona, when it flew into a massive thunderstorm.

It diverted to El Paso, Texas, after encountering hail on June 3 that shattered the windscreen and crushed the nose of the plane. The nose, or radome, houses the aircraft’s radar equipment.

The plane was flying at 34,000ft and about 115 nautical miles northeast of El Paso when it ran into the severe turbulence and hail, according to The Aviation Herald.

“The crew decided to divert to El Paso initiating a normal descent, entered a hold at 9000 feet to burn off fuel and landed safely in El Paso about 70 minutes after leaving FL340,’’ the website said.

Watch Reach for the sick bag!

US meteorologists suggested the hail could have been 1.5 inches in diameter but there was at least one suggestion it could have could have been bigger.

Passengers reported seeing lightning and hearing the hail pelt the aircraft.

A passenger on the flight told ABC15 in Arizona that things started going wrong about half an hour into the flight as turbulence started to increase.

There were no injuries but the passenger described cell phones flying in the air, drinks splashing on the ceiling, and people sharing airsick bags.

“I could see people starting to panic and crying and I couldn’t breathe,” she said.

American confirmed that the incident and commended “the great work of our pilots, along with our flight attendants, who safely landed the Airbus A319 “.

Passengers were sent on to Phoenix in a replacement aircraft.

American is fixing the damage to the nose, windshield and a side window but a spokesman told the Associated Press that the engines, including the fan blades, were not damaged.

Trouble in paradise as WestJet aircraft within 40ft of sea

WestJet 737-800  Picture: Westjet
Photo: WestJet

Reduced visibility and inadequate flight path monitoring allowed a WestJet aircraft to dip within 40ft of the sea as it approached the famous Princess Juliana International Airport on the Carribean island of St Maarten in 2017, an investigation has found.

A Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB)  report found that Boeing 737-800, flying from Toronto with 158 passengers and six crew on board,  encountered an unexpected rain shower shortly after passing the missed approach point on March 17.

The aircraft had deviated to the left and was on a steeper than normal angle of descent that the crew did not notice until a ground proximity warning sounded.

They initiated a missed approach 0.30 nautical miles (555m)  from the runway threshold when the aircraft was 40 feet above the water. The aircraft landed safely after a second approach.

The report found the runway lights and visual guidance system had been set at a low intensity and the shower had obscured the view of the airport, limiting the visual references available to the crew.

It said the aircraft emerged from the shower about 1nm (1.85km)  from the runway and the crew realized had been tracking toward an incorrect visual reference, a hotel situated to the left of the runway.

At this point, the aircraft was 190 feet above the water and descending at 940 feet per minute rather than 320 feet above the water on a standard three-degree angle of descent.

Now able to see the actual runway, the crew recognized that the aircraft had deviated to the left of the inbound final approach course, but they were not immediately able to assess their height above water.

The pilot flying advanced the throttles and began to correct the course but the aircraft continued to descend.

It was 63 feet above the water when the aircraft’s enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) issued an aural alert of “Too low, terrain”. A second alert sounded as it passed from 54 feet to 49 feet.

The crew started the go-around at 40ft, with the lowest recorded altitude at 39 ft.

“The sudden and unexpected poor visibility during the final approach increased the flight crew’s visual workload and led to inadequate altitude monitoring,’’ the report said. “The crew did not notice that the aircraft had descended below the normal angle of descent to the runway threshold until the enhanced ground proximity warning system issued an alert.”

As a result of the incident, WestJet made changes that included a corrective action plan with information for pilots regarding possible challenges and threats on approaching and landing at Princess Juliana International Airport.

READ: Video shows how close Air Canada came to disaster.

The St Maarten event occurred a few months before a high-profile July 7 incident in which an Air Canada Airbus A320 lined up on a crowded taxiway at San Francisco International Airport. The A320 dropped down to 59ft before it started to climb during a go-around.

 

Airline carbon scheme in crucial phase.

carbon offset airlines crucial

A global aviation carbon offset scheme crucial to airline plans to tackle climate change is reaching a critical stage and any delay could undermine it, an industry expert has warned.

The flow of nations joining the voluntary phase of the Carbon Offsetting Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) has slowed to a trickle with only one additional nation joining the scheme since October.

That brings the number set to join the voluntary scheme in 2021 to 73 but they still represent more than 80 percent of the world ’s airline traffic.

Signatories include heavy hitters such as China and the US as well as about 30 developing nations, including 10 that would have qualified for an exemption.

Abstainers include Russia and India.

Airlines want to achieve carbon-neutral growth from 2020 and have set themselves an ambitious target of halving CO2 emissions by 2050 compared with 2005 levels.

CORSIA was agreed in 2016 by member states of the International Civil Aviation Organisation and aimed to avoid a patchwork of national carbon trading schemes.

The world’s first global industry pollution agreement will start as a voluntary scheme in  2021 and will stay that way until 2026, when it will become mandatory across the aviation industry.

Airlines will have to buy carbon credits to offset growth in emissions, a move that is expected to account for less than 2 percent of revenues but has raised concerns in some states about costs.

IATA has been encouraging states to volunteer for CORSIA  and hopes more will step up to the plate as more details of how the scheme will operate are revealed.

“We want to see as many of the world’s governments participating in CORSIA from day one,’’ IATA aviation environment director Michael Gill said at IATA’s Sydney AGM on Tuesday.

Gill said the development of technical standards to implement the scheme were well underway, including the detailed regulations for the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of emissions by airlines.

“We believe some very good progress has been made on that topic,’’ he said. “The timetable is extremely short because as of January 1, 2019, — just about seven months away – all operators with international flights will be subject to mandatory C02 monitoring and reporting obligations.

“So time really is of the essence.’’

CORSIA is on the agenda of the ICAO council in the next few weeks and Gill said it was crucial the standards were adopted without further delay. IATA also has concerns about the readiness of some governments in some regions to administer the scheme.

“We’re urging governments to do that, to adopt the package of MRV elements which have been put forward,’’ he said.

“I believe that any further political negotiation could jeopardize the implementation of this scheme on a timely basis and undermine the whole credibility of what we’re trying to achieve through CORSIA.”

ICAO has been conducting regional workshops to make sure governments are prepared for the scheme and IATA participated in that process while conducting 20 workshops of its own with operators.

“We believe that industry will be ready for CORSIA implementation,’’ Gill said. “Most large airlines operating internationally already have experience of detailed MRV systems and many airlines are already managing their own voluntary carbon offsetting programs.’’

IATA is also working on an enhanced version of its fuel reporting and emissions database to ensure the CORSIA requirements are easily met.

Scrap onerous visa system: IATA

IATA scrap visa system

International airlines want to end the aggravation of onerous visa applications and make travel between countries easier as part of a push to remove barriers to traveling.

Two-thirds of the world’s population needs to obtain a traditional visa before heading off to the airport and some advanced economies are worse offenders than their emerging counterparts.

The most restrictive regions are North America, Central Africa and North Africa, according to the International Air Transport Association.

The most open areas are South-East Asia, East Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania.

With airline passenger numbers expected to grow to 6.9 billion by 2037, IATA  sees the removal of onerous travel barriers and the free movement of people across borders as essential to the spread of the economic and social benefits of aviation.

WATCH: slipping into LAX at sunrise.

It also worries whether airports will be able to keep up with increasing passenger numbers, arguing only four of the 100 biggest airports by passenger volume are undertaking upgrades over the next decade are undertaking upgrades to keep pace with the growth.

It believes both issues will need to be addressed simultaneously if the increase is to be accommodated.

In the case of visas, it supports an “Open Borders” strategy that urges states to reconsider the practice and remove unnecessary restrictions. It also wants travel restrictions to be viewed in the same way as a tariff and be included in bilateral and regional trade negotiations.

“Visa processes can be cumbersome, they can be expensive, they are fragmented,’’ IATA senior vice president airport, passenger, cargo and security Nick Careen said at the association’s Sydney conference.

Careen said visa requirements impeded the ability to travel, particularly for nationals of emerging economies in areas such as Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

He said the emerging economies tended to be more open in terms of travel restrictions but the ”flip side of the coin” was that their nationals required visas to travel elsewhere.

One way to address the situation is to allow governments to access information through a trusted framework that Careen likened to the credit card system’s ability to validate information across different countries.

There is already a variety of trusted traveler programs across the world and the IATA expert said linking these would be a big help. He pointed to the co-operation between the US and Canada as a good example.

READ: cabin crew deal with an ancient evil.

“First of all, it would be a key component in terms of risk-based security measures, so you can reduce the level of screening required because you have information,’’ he said.

“And also if you  can you use cross-border travel programs, it also improves the actually use and efficiency of your systems.”

IATA’s global passenger survey found 75 percent of travelers were comfortable with using information for this purpose.

Careen said costly advanced passenger information (API) airlines are required by governments to collect was not always used in the right way.

IATA wanted to move to a more interactive API environment so the decision whether to allow a passenger to fly or not fly can be made before boarding instead of when passengers arrive, he said.

 

Passengers ignore device fire danger

Mobiles on Planes

Travelers are continuing to pack portable electronic devices in checked baggage despite warnings about the danger of fire from the lithium batteries.

Although the number of incidents stemming from PEDs is low, the risk exposure is high and the International Air Transport Association is developing an awareness campaign to help airlines communicate the fire danger to passengers.

READ: mobile phone smoke causes KLM diversion.

IATA has been working with the UN-backed International Civil Aviation Organisation to understand how airlines and the traveling public are reacting to warnings about batteries and portable electronic devices.

The organizations conducted two surveys: one focused on airlines and the other on passengers.

“A very large number of items prohibited from being placed in checked baggage are being placed there anyway by the traveling public,’’ said IATA safety and flight operations senior vice president Gilberto Lopez Meyer. “It isn’t clear as to why the non-compliance is so high but it may be due to lack of awareness of regulations or lack of awareness of the consequences of not following safety (matters).”

Lopez Meyer said the higher risk items were power banks and spare batteries, which had been known to fail even when not in use.

He said IATA’s awareness campaign would help airlines communicate to passengers the importance of following safety rules when preparing to travel.

It would also look to educate the traveling public on the correct use of their devices in use or when charging.

Aviation safety hit new levels in  2017 with no fatal accidents involving commercial jets and an overall fatal accident rate that was the equivalent of one for every 6.7 million flights.

But there have already been five commercial fatal accidents so far in 2018, involving three jets and two turboprops, but the six-year trend remains good.

IATA members continue to perform well with an accident rate below the overall industry.

This is to a big extent due to the IATA Operational Safety Audit, which this year celebrates its 15th anniversary, had 431 airlines on its registry as of May 31.

IOSA creates a global standard to assess operational management and control systems of an airline and is compulsory for IATA members.

Ten new airlines had joined the safety program with Western Europe leading the way with six new carriers.

Lopez Meyer said Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority and European regulator EASA had said they would endorse IOSA to compliment oversight activities for safety audits in their regions.

The focus in 2018 would be on the IOSA digital transformation project which aimed to optimize and digitize internal audit processes and promote the use of advanced analytics.

It also seeks to deploy a collaborative platform for industry stakeholders.

The IATA safety chief said the important project would facilitate effective and efficient and benchmarking and would lead to a further reduction of redundant audits.

“The increasing reliability of audits will, in turn, engender faith and trust in IOSA worldwide,’’ he said.

IATA’s ground operations audit program, ISAGO, is also enjoying steady growth with 452 registrations and 231 ground service providers at 306 airports worldwide.

Since 2013, ground damage incidents have fallen by 20 percent among ISAGO participants.

IATA director-general Alexandre de Juniac said safety was the priority of every airline.

“We are developing a lot of tools – IOSA being one of them and ISAGO another — and we work with civil aviation and all our members to maintain the level of safety and to improve it,” he said.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said air transportation was still the safest form of travel.

 

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