The crash of LaMia Airlines Flight 2933 near the Colombian city of Medellín will do little to allay the fears of nervous fliers. But, though it will come as no consolation to the friends and families of the 71 who perished this week, 2016 is set to be one of the safest years in aviation history. There has been a remarkably small number of air accidents this year - a testament to the stringent safety standards now in place around the world. Among 2016’s other high-profile tragedies was EgyptAir Flight 804 from Paris to Cairo, which disappeared in the Mediterranean in May, killing all 66 on board, and Flydubai Flight 981, which crashed during an aborted landing in Russia with the loss of 62 lives. According to the Aviation Safety Network, which keeps a database of all air travel incidents, there have been 16 fatal accidents in 2016, resulting in 272 deaths - down from 560 in 2015. Given that this year will see around 3.5b air passengers flown, that’s just one death per 12,867,647 travellers (or one per 128,676 departures). Only one year saw fewer deaths - 2013, with 265. But with 3.048b boarding a plane that year, according to the World Bank’s data, this amounts to more deaths per passenger: one per 11,501,886. By this measurement, though there is a month to go, 2016 could well prove to be the safest ever year for air travel.<br/>
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India has threatened to punish private jet operators that fly to small and remote airports without police clearance as PM Narendra Modi tries to plug loopholes in his campaign against unaccounted money. A group of private jet operators, which counts tycoon Anand Mahindra and the billionaire Poonawalla family's aviation firm as members, said the move came after an "isolated case" of not following procedure, and aircraft owned by its members follow standard rules for security checks. Modi stunned the nation on Nov. 8 by invalidating 500 rupee ($7.3) and 1,000 rupee notes in an effort to force unaccounted cash into the formal economy, setting a Dec. 30 deadline for the money to be deposited with banks. Two weeks later, India Today reported that a private jet was used to transport banned currency to the country's northeast, where residents enjoy certain tax benefits. At least four private jets stuffed with cash reportedly flew to a small town in the northeastern state of Nagaland. "It has been reported that some of the non-scheduled operator permit holders have been engaged to carry demonetised currency from one part of the country to another, particularly from the uncontrolled airfields where there are no arrangements for screening of passenger baggage," the aviation regulator said in a notification on Tuesday. Any private jets operating to or from such airports would need police approval and have to ensure screening of passengers and their baggage "failing which strict action as deemed appropriate shall be initiated," it said.<br/>
Hazardous runway incidents at US airports in fiscal 2016 increased for a third year in a row, significantly exceeding federal safety targets in five of the months and climbing 25% overall from a year earlier. Both the raw numbers and frequency of the most dangerous types of close calls on the ground rose substantially in the federal fiscal year ended Sept. 30, according to preliminary government data that hasn’t yet been widely distributed. The rise came despite stepped-up federal and industry efforts to reverse the trend. FAA officials said in total, there were more than 1,560 instances nationwide when planes came closer than permitted to each other, or to vehicles, on the tarmac. That is up from about 1,450 in fiscal 2015 and roughly 1,250 in 2013 and 2014. For the latest year, the rate of the highest-risk incidents, adjusted for monthly fluctuations in air traffic, barely met the agency’s long-established internal limit of about four “runway incursions” per 10m flights; they substantially exceeded the limit in five of the 12 months. The FAA’s strategic plan calls for compliance with that cap through at least September 2017. The comparable rate for fiscal 2015 came in at roughly three serious events per 10m flights, and hovered well below the rate stretching back to 2013.<br/>
US airlines rejoiced earlier this year when it was announced that commercial flights would resume to Cuba after more than a half century, with one executive at a major carrier calling it almost a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Yet as service begins this week to Havana, the long-awaited travel surge to the island is already in doubt. Citing weak demand, American Airlines trimmed plans for almost a quarter of its trips to Cuba early next year. And in a potentially crippling blow, President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to rescind the relaxation of ties with the communist government, leaving future operations in limbo. Already, Trump’s comments have prompted some tourists to accelerate plans to visit Cuba before his inauguration or to delay them until he makes his policies clear. “People are afraid Trump is going to close the border again, and then it will be impossible to go there,” said Alexandre Chemla, founder of Altour, the largest independently owned US travel agency. “It’s a wait-and-see situation because of Trump and everything he said.” American’s decision isn’t related to Trump’s potential pullback from Cuba, said Matt Miller, an airline spokesman, noting that the carrier implemented its cut the weekend before the presidential election. The uncertainty represents a stark turnaround from March when US airlines sought permission to fly almost 60 daily round trips to Havana, triple the 20 daily frequencies authorized under the agreement between the US and Cuba. They also applied for 10 daily round trips to each of nine other destinations on the island.<br/>
People who fly regularly often sing the praises of TSA PreCheck—the lane where travellers keep their belts, shoes, jackets, and laptops as the masses strip. But it turns out that expanding this much-praised option isn’t all that easy. The TSA has been eager to increase the number of Americans enrolled in PreCheck, which costs $85 for five years. One way to do this is to add additional vendors to review applications, a process the TSA spent the past year doing until it abruptly stopped, citing cybersecurity concerns. The agency said it couldn’t guarantee personal information used in testing proposed systems would be protected. If the process had been completed, as many as three firms would have been selected to collect applications and fingerprints. MorphoTrust USA, currently the sole vendor, was among those bidding, along with Clear, a biometric screening firm in which Delta owns a 5% stake. MorphoTrust is owned by Safran SA, the French aerospace conglomerate. A third bidder wasn’t identified. While the vendor review process was going on, MorphoTrust filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office arguing that the TSA must use a traditional procurement contract for new vendors. In May, the GAO rejected the protest, and the company took its complaint to the US Court of Federal Claims. The TSA’s withdrawal rendered that litigation moot, but one of the reasons cited by MorphoTrust in its objection was data security. The TSA said it still has a goal of getting 25m “trusted travelers” enrolled in PreCheck and three related programs by the end of 2019. Those programs currently have 9.3m people registered, including about 4m who have joined PreCheck. <br/>