Commercial airlines flew 3.8b passengers in 2016, a 7% increase approximately equivalent to 242m additional air trips -- over the previous year, according to IATA’s 2017 World Air Transport Statistics report, released Oct 9. Asia-Pacific carriers transported the largest portion (35%) of the world’s commercial passengers, 1.3b, which in 2016 was an 11.3% year-over-year increase, or approximately 132m additional passengers in one year. European airlines carried 26% of the world’s passengers (992.4m in 2016, up 6.1% YOY, or approximately 57m passengers), followed by North American airlines, which carried 24% of the market (911.5m in 2016, up 3% YOY, or about 27m additional passengers). All of the world’s top 5 most highly-travelled international-regional routes were in Asia. <br/>
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The common practice of boarding airline passengers by classes is the worst way to avoid spreading infectious diseases, according to a study from Arizona State University. The study found that infection rates increased when passengers were crowded together — as they often are while trying to board a plane. In the case of an Ebola outbreak, the study said that the current boarding practice used by most airlines would lead to a 67% chance of 20 air-travel-related cases a month. Furthermore, the study found that bigger planes with more passengers can also lead to higher infection rates. The study recommends a few fixes to reduce the infection rate, such as dividing the plane into 2 lengthwise sections and loading passengers randomly to cut down on bottlenecks. <br/>
Iridium Communications has launched 10 next-generation satellites that will be used for real-time flight tracking, giving air traffic controllers radar-like position data across 100% of their airspace. “This means no more vanishing planes like MH370, which disappeared over the Indian Ocean in 2014 and became one of the most expensive aviation searches in history. Seventy percent of the world is uncovered by radar, with pilots typically reporting their positions every 10-14 minutes. That’s about to change,” Iridium said. Under the program, Iridium is swapping out 66 aging interconnected, low-Earth orbit satellites with new ones. Aireon’s space-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), which provides real-time tracking and surveillance of all ADS-B equipped aircraft globally, is one of the new satellite functions. <br/>
Additional capacity could be created at Europe’s most congested airports by further-optimising separation times, according to new research by UK air traffic management provider NATS. A series of NATS simulations, based on operations at London Heathrow, have shown that a more bespoke approach to aircraft separations could be more efficient and allow for more movements. Currently, departing aircraft are grouped into broad categories, such as ‘heavy’ or ‘medium,’ depending on their wake vortices. “This current categorisation means that separations between individual aircraft could be larger than is necessary to ensure safe separation,” NATS said, detailing the outcome of its research. Instead, NATS simulated ‘pairwise’ separations, where safe separation is calculated based on the wake created by each individual aircraft type. <br/>
Thai airlines can now add flights to the growing China, South Korea and Japan markets after the UN ICAO removed a red flag against Thailand over safety concerns, officials said Monday. Thailand was downgraded in June 2015 after its regulator missed a deadline to resolve significant safety concerns, meaning that airlines were unable to add further international routes, though they could continue to operate routine flights. CAAT said the ICAO had made the decision after a meeting Friday. "Although lifting the red flag is a significant turning point for her aviation industry, Thailand as well as CAAT need to carry on their missions to improve the aviation safety standards," CAAT said. The biggest beneficiaries would be smaller carriers, such as Thai AirAsia X, NokScoot and Thai Lion. <br/>