The US could downgrade the country's aviation safety rating because of irregularities that may have contributed to this week's crash of a chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team, Bolivia's Defense Minister said Saturday. As investigators probe what caused the crash that killed all but six of the 77 people on board, a string of human mistakes and irregularities have emerged, leading experts to conclude that one of the worst disasters in sports history could have been prevented. Attention has focused on why the British-built regional jet was allowed to attempt the flight between Santa Cruz, Bolivia and the Colombian city of Medellin with barely enough fuel to cover the route. According to a flight plan obtained by Bolivian media, the total flying time was set at 4 hours and 22 minutes — the same amount of time of fuel the aircraft had on board. "I've never seen a flight plan like this. The fuel on board should never, never match the estimated flight time," said John Cox, a retired airline pilot and CEO of Florida-based Safety Operating Systems, who reviewed the internationally standardized flight plan. "In a lot of countries this flight plan would not have been accepted." Questions have also been raised about how the charter airline LaMia, which was licensed earlier this year, was able to quickly amass an impressive list of clients from South America's top soccer clubs as well as the national teams of Argentina and Brazil. One of the airline's owners died in the crash while another, Gustavo Vargas, is a retired air force general who once served as Bolivian President Evo Morales' pilot. On Friday authorities revealed that Vargas' son headed the office responsible for aircraft registration at the civil aviation authority. He was immediately suspended along with several other aviation officials as authorities look into whether LaMia received favorable treatment. Defense Minister Reymi Ferreri said it was possible Bolivia could be sanctioned with a downgrade by US aviation authorities. "All the information points to the airplane having crashed because of a lack of fuel, no mechanical errors," Ferreri said. "One of the dangers from the investigations are sanctions for civil aviation."<br/>
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After losing more than $50b in the decade following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, US airlines have been enjoying some financially robust times of late. On the front lines, airline employees are reaping billions of dollars in wage and benefit increases, plus profit-sharing plans that spell record payouts amid record income. At almost $81,000, average airline worker salaries last year were 38% above other US private sector jobs, according to the airlines’ trade group, Airlines for America. Carriers’ wages rose 29% between 2010 and 2015, more than double the national average. Yet this largesse hasn’t been spread equally. If your job is to push a wheelchair through a United terminal, or to check boarding passes for travelers headed to a Delta flight, your pay has been generally unaffected by the industry’s cash boom. “If we really want to make America great again, our airports are a good place to start,” Oliwia Pac, a wheelchair attendant at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, said in an allusion to the president-elect’s campaign slogan. “These jobs used to be good ones that supported a family, but now they’re closer to what you’d find at McDonald’s.” Pac and thousands of others protested at several large US airports this week in a national “Fight for $15” campaign to boost service workers’ hourly wages—and to advance unionization efforts for a variety of fields where low pay is common. Beyond airports, the demonstrations included fast-food restaurant employees, Uber drivers, home health care workers, and college teaching assistants. At airports, these low-paid positions include baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, skycaps, and aircraft cabin cleaners. Such contract laborers perform work that ostensibly serves the airlines, but they’re employed by companies the carriers hire amid bidding contests that typically hinge on which vendor offers the lowest price.<br/>
Chinese airlines will have unrestricted capacity into Australia after the federal government announced it had reached an agreement with China for an “open aviation market” between the two countries. The agreement, announced on Sunday, paves the way for China-based carriers to maintain the furious pace of growth into this country in recent times, catering for the increasing number of Chinese tourists travelling overseas. Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said opening up aviation capacity in the Australia-China air services agreement had been a top priority since he took up the portfolio. “These new arrangements will remove all capacity restrictions between Australia and China for each country’s airline which is an important enabler for increased trade and tourism,” Chester said. While the most obvious benefit will be for Chinese carriers, who are now free to continue their rapid expansion into this country, Chester noted the new agreement also contained some benefits for Australian flag carriers. “We have also liberalised traffic rights and code share arrangements, which are important for Australian airlines,” Chester said. “This will enable Australian and Chinese airlines to service destinations between and beyond both countries, and will allow them to take full advantage of their cooperative arrangements with their commercial alliance partners."<br/>
Frankfurt Airport will be permitted to increase fees to airlines after operator Fraport’s proposal was approved by the German state of Hesse. Fees will be increased for most airlines but incentives will be given to new entrants, a change that major user Lufthansa is critical of. “The new fee structure not only involves an unreasonable increase in fees overall but also lowers fees for those airlines that are new to flying out of Frankfurt,” Lufthansa said in a statement. “The only requirement to qualify for the lower site costs is to have plans for a significant level of growth.” The new fee structure will increase Lufthansa’s charges by 1.9% it said. Ryanair will add Frankfurt to its schedules next year as it ramps up moves to serve main airports rather than smaller less popular locations some distance from the cities they serve. Ryanair’s current base is at Frankfurt Hahn, 120 km from the city. Frankfurt Airport, by contrast, is just 12 km from central Frankfurt. “We feel that we have been put at a disadvantage in comparison with airlines that are new to flying out of Frankfurt. It can’t be possible for two airlines to fly the same route but pay different fees,” Lufthansa’s Harry Hohmeister said.<br/>