Travellers passing through NY JFK this week witnessed a show of force following the Brussels airport attack: US Army soldiers in khaki camouflage, police officers in black bullet-proof vests and private security guards directing traffic in neon-yellow vests. The variety of uniforms is a sign of the overlapping jurisdictions that determine which federal, state or local agency - or even airline - is responsible for security on any particular patch of turf. The show of force may reassure travellers, but the patchwork of agencies could be a barrier to changes in security procedures, such as making airline terminals a single security zone. “It’s gotten a lot worse. There are a lot more law enforcement agencies involved now than there used to be," said an aviation industry consultant. <br/>
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Oman's Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) will raise fees charged for air traffic through the sultanate, the authority's CE Mohammed al-Zaabi said. The decision is part of a series of steps by Oman to strengthen state finances as it grapples with a big budget deficit caused by low oil prices. In January it cut domestic gasoline price subsidies; earlier this month it raised prices of water for state, commercial and industrial users, and it is about to cut liquefied petroleum gas subsidies for such users. The new aviation tariff is expected to increase PACA's revenues by more than 25%, improving the sector's contribution to the state budget, Zaabi said. "This year we were expecting revenues of OMR50m (US$130m). With the new tariff we expect to add around 30% more. We expect another OMR15m ($39m)." <br/>
The Malaysian govt is looking to boost the number of seats available to airlines flying between Malaysia and India. Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said the air services agreement between the two countries—some 20,000 seats per week—is being fully utilised, and it is time for a review. “As our airlines have fully utilised this [existing] seat allocation, we have commenced discussions with India to expand the current allocation by 20,000 seats a week,” Liow said. The minister said that, although Malaysian airlines offer some 24 destinations in India—with 6 of those being metro centres--he is keen to see more secondary cities. “We hope Malaysian airlines will be able to extend operations to destinations including Coimbatore, Madurai, Pune, Vijayawada, Mangalore, Chandigarh and Srinagar,” he added. <br/>
Korea's 5 domestic LCCs cancel 63 out of 100,000 flights, on average, compared with 15 by the 2 national flag carriers, industry sources say. LCC cancelations totaled 148 last year, nearly double the 77 of 2014. Despite the rapid growth of budget carriers, experts continue to raise issues with their safety. "The Korean LCC's cancellation figure is approaching 66 per 100,000 flights, the average of airlines on the blacklist of the EU" said an official at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure. Govt and business officials commonly attribute these problems to the lack of aircraft maintenance facilities. "The domestic LCCs depend on Singapore and other foreign shops for most maintenance jobs, except for some simple repairs," said Professor Huh Heui-young of Korea Aerospace University. <br/>