US Federal aviation regulators have issued a safety directive warning pilots flying Boeing's 787 jetliners to avoid abrupt flight-control commands in the event of unreliable airspeed indications. Following nonbinding recommendations that Boeing issued earlier in March to 787 operators world-wide, the FAA Thursday alerted cockpit crews that excessive pilot inputs under some circumstances amount to a safety hazard because they "could exceed the structural capability of the airplane." The agency ordered changes to the aircraft's flight manual by the end of April, as an interim step while Boeing works on permanent modifications to the "crew alerting system, flight control system and air data system that will address the unsafe condition." <br/>
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EU aviation security experts have agreed that police and intelligence agencies should share more information with transport authorities and operators to help prevent attacks like the bombings in Brussels. The strikes on Zaventem reignited a debate about how to secure Europe's airports without creating too much disruption for passengers. At an emergency meeting of the Committee for Civil Aviation Security, experts reviewed existing security measures in landside areas of EU airports. EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc said they agreed on the need for better intelligence-sharing in order to be "even more proactive and even more efficient in safety". However, any additional security measures must be proportionate and risk-based, she added. "This is a matter for national authorities." <br/>
Brussels airport said it will partially reopen for passenger flights Friday evening, following the March 22 bomb attacks. Casting doubt on those plans however, airport police warned of a planned strike Sunday in protest over what they said were lax security measures planned by authorities. "The measures proposed by the authorities are insufficient," Belgian broadcaster RTBF cited the police union as saying. The strike would delay plans to allow some flights to resume, a spokeswoman for the airport said. "As long as there is no agreement, the airport will not reopen," Florence Muls said. Belgian police, the fire service and the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority have been checking the airport, whose departure hall was badly damaged by 2 blasts, to see if it was ready to resume service. <br/>
Russian experts will carry out checks at Egypt’s airports of Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, deputy Russian transport minister Valery Okulov said Thursday. Russia will take a decision if more demands have to be made to ensure security at Egypt’s airports after the investigation into this week’s incident with the hijacking of the A320 passenger plane, he said. Russia suspended the flights to Egypt after the Oct 31 crash of Russian passenger jet over the Sinai Peninsula that killed 224 people. The crash was caused by a bomb with up to 1 kg in TNT equivalent planted on the plane, the Federal Security Service chief said. Moscow called on Egypt to step up security measures at the country’s airports and a commission from Russia is planning to check this April how these demands are fulfilled. <br/>
The recent data presented by DGCA shows that February is the fifth consecutive month where domestic passenger traffic grew over 20% on a year-on-year basis. In February, Indian airlines flew 7.4m passengers as against 6m passengers in the corresponding month of the last year, indicating a jump of 24.7%. The firm trend in traffic and lower fuel prices are expected to support valuation of aviation stocks in the short and medium term. There are a few factors which have contributed to the growth in passenger traffic. First, airlines have been passing on the benefit of lower crude oil prices to travellers. Second, as rail fares have increased in the recent months, the difference in fares of rail and airlines has narrowed for key routes such as Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Bengaluru, and Mumbai-Chennai. <br/>