The number of fatalities due to air accidents rose in 2016, but continue to show a long term decline, IATA said in its annual safety report. The IATA’s annual Airline Safety Performance review reported 65 accidents during 2016, down from the 68 seen the previous year. Of those, 10 included fatalities as opposed to four in 2015. A total of 268 people lost their lives in those air accidents, up from 136 in 2015. This was still significantly lower than the five-year average of 371 per year. “The number of total accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities all declined versus the five-year average,” IATA DG Alexandre de Juniac said, but “We did take a step back on some key parameters from the exceptional performance of 2015.” The major jet accident rate, measured in hull losses per 1m flights, was 0.39 in 2016, or the equivalent of one major accident for every 2.56m flights, IATA said. That was a slight deterioration from 0.32 in 2015, and was above the five-year rate of 0.36. The number of jet hull losses also increased to 13, from 10 in 2016, and the five-year average (2011-2015) of 10.6. Turboprop hull losses of 8, matched the previous year’s total, but greatly improved from the five-year average of 19.6. Regionally, sub-Saharan Africa had its best performance of the last decade, with no passenger fatalities and no jet hull losses. “Sub-Saharan airlines delivered a very strong performance in 2016,” de Juniac said. “The lesson in Africa’s improvement is that global standards like the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) make a difference.”<br/>
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An Airbus A330 airliner arrived in Tehran Saturday, the second of 200 Western-built passenger aircraft ordered by IranAir following the lifting of sanctions on Iran last year. The long-haul aircraft, carrying IranAir Chairman Farhad Parvaresh and other officials, landed at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, the official news agency IRNA reported. The A330 was handed over in Toulouse, France on Friday and joins a smaller A321 delivered to Iran earlier this year. Iran has ordered 100 airliners from European planemaker Airbus and 80 from Boeing and is in talks to finalise a deal to buy 20 turboprop aircraft from ATR, jointly owned by Airbus and Italy's Leonardo Finmeccanica. The country has not directly purchased a Western-built plane in nearly 40 years, the one exception being the sale of an Airbus to replace one shot down by the US Navy in 1988. The A330 is expected to be used initially on European routes and on flights to Beijing and Kuala Lumpur.<br/>
Airlines have preemptively canceled more than 725 flights for Monday and another 815 for Tuesday as a late-season snowstorm threatened to make a mess of air travel this week. Unfortunately for fliers, those tallies were likely to soar. Already, Southwest said it expected to ground nearly all of its flights in the Northeast on Tuesday. Other airlines may make similar decisions with blizzard conditions forecast to hit New York City's airports and heavy snow expected across much of the region. All big US airlines have waived change fees to customers ticketed to fly to airports in the storm’s path. The details varied by carrier, though they generally allowed customers to make one change to their tickets without paying change fees that typically cost $200 or more. The preemptive cancellations and weather waivers come as the storm was expected to hit its peak in the Northeast on Tuesday. Snow was also forecast in Chicago, where flights were already being disrupted. But the worst weather-related problems were expected at airports serving New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and Baltimore. All were likely to see major schedule disruptions if forecasts are accurate. Dozens of smaller airports in the region also could be affected, with some possibly struggling to remain open if snowfall totals of 12 to 18 inches pile up across the region. Nationwide, carriers had grounded 665 flights for Monday as of 8:45p.m. ET on Sunday, according to FlightAware. For Tuesday, 815 flights had already been scrapped by Sunday evening.<br/>
Most flights at Berlin’s Tegel and Schönefeld airports will be cancelled Friday as ground handling staff strike in support of a pay claim. Ground staff will walk off the job from 04:00 on Friday until 05:00 on Saturday, the Verdi union said after a ballot of members voted 98.6 percent for industrial action. Lufthansa said it has cancelled all flights between Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin on Friday. Eurowings said its flights will be disrupted and passengers should check online or contact the airline about cancellations. Air Berlin said the strike will have a considerable impact on air traffic to and from Berlin and passengers should expect delays, flight cancellations and significant disruption to baggage handling. easyJet said it was its operating its full schedule to and from German airports but was expecting some cancellations and potential delays. Ryanair said it had been forced to cancel a number of flights to and from Berlin and that it would update customers booked on affected services. Verdi is pursuing an increase in hourly rates of one euro, with workers currently receiving about E11 an hour, it said.<br/>
As Berlin hosts the world's largest annual travel fair, the ITB, much talk at the show this year has been over the city's long-delayed new airport and a strike that paralyzed air travel Friday. The German capital is currently served by two cold war airports - Tegel in the northwest and Schoenefeld to the southeast. Berlin Brandenburg airport was due to open in 2011, but several opening dates have been postponed as the project faced red tape and technical problems with smoke ventilation systems, cabling and doors. This week CE Karsten Muehlenfeld, who in January scrapped plans to open the airport at the end of 2017, was replaced by Engelbert Luetke Daldrup after a row over the firing of the project's construction head. No new opening date has been set. "It's such an embarrassment, they produce wonderful cars, their engineering is world class, the economy is strong, but they've got an airport they can't seem to build," said Tim Clark, the president of Emirates airline. The city of Berlin hopes the new airport will bring more visitors from overseas, both for business and tourism. Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said it would be too small when it opens. Berlin's two airports served 33m passengers last year while the new international hub, due to replace both Tegel and Schoenefeld, is set for initial capacity of 27m. "London has six airports and capacity for 130m, Paris has four airports and 110m capacity and Berlin is saying we'll be ok with capacity of 27 million and one airport?" asked Jacobs.<br/>
Munich airport is not planning to follow the example of Frankfurt by launching special discounts to attract low-cost carriers, but wants to instead focus on higher-yield international traffic, the hub's CE said Friday. Munich airport is Germany's second-largest and expects to increase passengers numbers 4% to 44m this year, Michael Kerkloh said. "We want to focus on our role as a major hub in Europe, that brings new profit opportunities," Kerkloh said. Frankfurt airport is seeking to make up for falling passenger numbers by attracting low-cost carriers, but big incentives it is offering for new routes to lure Ryanair have irked its main customer, Lufthansa. Kerkloh said Munich airport, which gets 55% of its traffic from Lufthansa, was not planning any new discounts to attract budget carriers. "We have normal incentives to help support new routes. We want competition between airlines but it must be fair," he said. He said the federal state of Bavaria's strong economy meant locals had more money to spend on travel, while Munich could serve as a gateway to Germany and Europe for passengers coming from Asia. Still, the number of low-cost routes operated from Munich is set to rise as budget flying becomes more prevalent in Germany and Europe. Lufthansa's budget unit Eurowings is starting flights from Munich and said earlier this week that bookings there had been above expectations. "The proportion of low-cost carriers will rise. It's currently at about 4 to 5%, while it's at 20% for similar airports like Amsterdam," Munich Airport's Kerkloh said.<br/>
One month before spring break, JetBlue became the third US carrier to announce cuts in service to the island. No one is pulling out, but the travel industry's new mandate is adjusting to the reality beyond the Cuba hype. Pricey cabs, so-so infrastructure, limited internet and scalper-level hotel room rates, which reached $650 last year according to the Economist Intelligent Unit, have put off travellers. There's still plenty of charm in the streets of La Habana Vieja and on all those unblemished beaches that necklace the Caribbean island. But tapping it will depend on the ability of Havana's floundering regime not just to adapt to the disruptive global economy, but also to write a new narrative that promotes the island's future as much as its past. This is not the first time Cuba has tried soft power to rescue the revolution. Fidel Castro warmed to tourism, in part as a lifeline after the Soviet Union collapsed and left the island's accounts bereft. He talked up the country's natural beauties and its crime-free streets. Still, he was determined to control not just the levers of the industry but also the behavior of its visitors, abhorring the "tourism of casinos and prostitution." Instead, the island's dysfunctional economy beckoned sex tourists, while prostitution and black market dollars offered desperate Cubans a bridge to escape. Talk of tourism was revived as Cuba's latest underwriter, Venezuela, slid into disarray. Now the normalization of ties with the US (assuming Donald Trump won't rebuild that wall) has seemingly turbocharged that prospect. So how will the new Cuba flog its wonders to the world, and can the reform-minded Raul Castro do what his brother could not -- leverage the revolution and have it, too? A lot depends on the tourists. For years, Europeans and Canadians flocked to the island for a frugal equatorial getaway, with a dollop of communist realism. Many Latin Americans went in for ideological tourism, pulled by the historical aura of an island nation that played the tropical David to the gringo Goliath. For the moment, pioneering US travelers seem enchanted less by a new venue for spring break than by the allure of a once blacklisted nation with last century's automobiles and last century's politics.<br/>
South African taxi drivers blocked roads to Johannesburg's airport on Friday, holding up thousands of travellers in the latest protest against ride-hailing app Uber. Uber Technologies Inc's service has triggered protests by taxi drivers from London to Hungary and New Delhi as it upends traditional business models that require professional drivers to pay steep licensing fees to drive cabs. Hundreds of drivers blocked the main highway to Africa's busiest airport, O.R. Tambo International, causing long traffic jams on Friday. "Uber is illegal," Reuben Mzayiya, a spokesman for the metered taxi business in Gauteng province, told broadcaster 702 Talk Radio. "If you want to operate, you must register with the department of transport and fulfil all the requirements. Uber doesn't do all those things. It just operates a parallel structure with a fraction of what we are charging." The protests have prompted the South African airports operator, ACSA, to begin talks with airlines about possible flight delays, spokeswoman Refentse Shinners said. "We are currently negotiating with our airline partners to see how we can accommodate them," Shinners said. "We cannot as yet make any guarantees in terms of those arrangements." South African Airways urged its customers to arrive at the airport early to avoid delays.<br/>
Police and the management of Suvarnabhumi airport are stepping up measures to protect the luggage of passengers following complaints about luggage being damaged and possible dodgy handling of baggage. The move comes after a passenger identified as Montakan Tangsanga warned other passengers on Facebook not to put valuable items in checked-in luggage out of concerns about luggage theft. Officials, however, insist Montakan's luggage remained intact during the baggage-handling process at Suvarnabhumi airport. Montakan claimed she had had a padlock on her travel bag broken during a recent trip from Suvarnabhumi airport to Okinawa. She and her friends were travelling with Peach Aviation on MM990 on the night of Feb 26. She said while nothing was missing from her baggage, she found a watch that did not belong to her in the bag. She lodged a complaint with various parties including police at the airport. Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn, commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said officials met to discuss growing concerns about luggage theft following Montakan's charge. He said the meeting has come up with guidelines that could help solve the problem, while some 100 plainclothes inspectors will be deployed to improve security. <br/>