New figures confirm that 2017 was a good year for commercial aviation, continuing a downward trend in fatal accidents and improvements in airline safety. If you've ever been nervous about flying, or know someone with a deep-seated fear, these stats should help quell any unease. According to the latest report from the IATA, which represents 280 airlines and 83% of global air traffic, the all-accident rate per one million flights last year was 1.08, down from 1.68 in 2016, and 2.01 for the previous five-year period between (2012-2016). In other words, about 4.1b travellers flew safely on 41.8m flights in 2017. Among IATA member airlines, there were six fatal accidents that killed 19 passengers and crew. That compares with an average of nearly 11 fatal accidents, and 315 fatalities per year in the five-year period of 2012-2016. Furthermore, none of the fatal accidents in 2017 involved a passenger jet, but instead involved turboprop aircrafts and a cargo plane. The latest figures corroborate earlier reports released last month, which called 2017 the safest year for post-war civil aviation. <br/>
general
Heathrow pressed the government to give the go-ahead to a new runway before the summer on Thursday while rival Stansted said it also wanted to expand as London’s airports position themselves for more competition after Brexit. Britain backed a $22b expansion of Heathrow in 2016, ending 25 years of indecision. It is due to approve a third runway at Heathrow in H1 2018 and the airport’s CE said he is concerned that any delay would cause it to fall behind its major European rivals. “The government has said that (the vote) will take place, but of course, you can’t predict anything from a political point of view,” John Holland-Kaye said. “We are now in a competition with our European rivals for who is going to be the winner out of Brexit... Pushing for that vote in the summer is absolutely vital if we’re going to keep on track.” Holland-Kaye said that airports in Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam are set to overtake Heathrow in the next five years, and that even if the vote was held in H1 2018, the proposed third runway would not be in use before 2025. Heathrow said passenger numbers were 78m in 2017, up 3.1% compared to 2016, in its full year results for the year ended Dec 31. Stansted, Britain’s fourth busiest airport, said separately on Thursday it had asked for permission to be able to serve 8m more passengers a year, as it seeks to expand at a time when Heathrow and Gatwick are capacity-constrained. <br/>
Kosice airport is expecting its traffic figures this year to be hit by Wizz Air's decision to close its base there and cut three of its four routes from the Slovakian gateway. The airport's CE Michael Tmej said the airport faced losing 70,000 passengers as a result of the budget carrier's rethink. The airport grew passenger numbers 13% last year, to 496,000. Earlier this month, Wizz disclosed its intention to end flights from Kosice to German city Cologne, Tel Aviv in Israel and the UK's Doncaster Sheffield on 14 May and to withdraw the single Airbus A320 it has based at the Slovakian airport. However, a service to London Luton will be retained. At the time, the airline said the route closures were a result of "changing customer demand". However, Tmej asserts that load factor on the route to Doncaster Sheffield averaged more than 90% last year. He suggests that the decision may have been prompted by Wizz's need to reassign aircraft to its Luton base because it must use slots acquired from Monarch or risk losing them. Tmej believes that the Kosice decision fits a pattern of closing bases at which a single aircraft is stationed, citing Lublin in Poland as another example.<br/>
Bali plans to develop an offshore airport in the northern part of the resort island with the name of Bandara International Bali Baru (BIBU) or the New Bali International Airport. Project developer PT BIBU president director I Made Mangku said in Bali on Thursday that the company preferred to develop an offshore airport because the initial plan of an onshore airport would have sacrificed a number of things, including 33 Hindu temples, 121 historical sites, roads, residences and productive rice fields. “There are so many obstacles to developing an onshore [airport], therefore we prefer to develop offshore,” said Made as reported by tempo.co, adding that the offshore airport would be developed off Beleleng regency. He said the new airport development was aimed at promoting the many tourism spots in North Bali like Tulamben, Nusa Penida and West Bali National Park as well as to open access to Banyuwangi in East Java and Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara.<br/>
Air Lease Corp. Thursday reported Q4 profit of $471.1m. The Los Angeles-based company said it had profit of $4.22 per share. Earnings, adjusted for pretax gains, were $1.06 per share. The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 87 cents per share. The company that leases planes to airlines posted revenue of $398.5m in the period. For the year, the company reported profit of $756.2m, or $6.82 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.45b.<br/>