Passengers landing at UK airports could be in for longer queues after Brexit, airports have warned. The Airport Operators Association (AOA) has said that that stricter passport checks would have knock-on effects on waiting times. Currently, EU nationals are able to use electronic ePassport gates or a separate screening system when they land in Britain, while citizens of other countries face a “hard border” regime, which involves them being quizzed about the purpose of their visit. The AOA said that it would be “highly disruptive” if all passengers arriving from overseas faced the same full border checks. AOA has already raised fears that the Border Force does not have enough resources to properly manage the arrival of passengers at UK airports, noting that its budget has decreased while traveller numbers have increased. <br/>
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London’s Heathrow, which has operated close to the capacity of its 2 runways since the start of the decade, eked out a further 700,000 passengers to extend its lead as Europe’s top travel hub in 2016 as growth in Paris stuttered and Istanbul and Frankfurt fell back. Heathrow’s traveller tally increased 1% to 75.7m, while aircraft movements gained just 0.2%, suggesting that a trend toward the use of bigger jets at the airport continued last year as airlines sought to deploy more seats per flight. Paris Charles de Gaulle remained in second spot with its passenger total rising 0.3% to 65.9m, hurt by a slump in demand for travel to France following a spate of terrorist attacks. Security concerns also saw numbers fall 2% at Istanbul Ataturk, which dropped from third to fifth, swapping places with Amsterdam Schiphol. <br/>
A major acquisition by SpiceJet this week underscored the vast potential of India as the world’s fastest-growing aviation market, but experts say woefully inadequate infrastructure and high operating costs could threaten the industry’s rapid expansion. India’s burgeoning middle classes are taking to the skies in ever greater numbers, with passenger growth of 20% in 2015 according to IATA — nearly double China’s 11% increase over the same period. Experts say the country’s aviation sector holds vast untapped potential, with just 100m of India’s 1.2b people taking to the skies last year. But they warn that India’s rickety infrastructure could hold back future growth, with just 90 of the country’s more than 460 airports currently operational. <br/>
Most of Indonesia's airline accidents have involved pilots who tested positive for drugs, including a Lion Air jet that slammed into the sea 4 years ago while trying to land on Bali, the chief of the national narcotics agency said. Budi Waseso made the comments Thursday at a ceremony on Bali to inaugurate traditional village security guards as anti-drug volunteers. The comments are another blow to the image of the country's airline industry after a video circulated online last month showing an apparently intoxicated pilot in the cockpit of a Citilink plane. News reports this week said 2 pilots of another airline, Susi Air, owned by the country's fisheries minister had recently tested positive for drugs. "Almost all air accidents in Indonesia, whether it was just a skid or whatever, the pilots are indicated to be positive for drugs," Waseso said. <br/>