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Cuban authorities said the fiery crash of an aging Boeing passenger jet on Friday shortly after takeoff from Havana had killed 110 of the 113 on board, making it the Caribbean island’s deadliest air disaster in nearly 30 years. Flags flew at half-mast in Cuba on Saturday, marking the start of two days of national mourning while authorities worked to recover evidence from the site of the crash and to identify the crash victims. Fifteen have been identified so far and one black box retrieved, officials said. Allegations of previous safety complaints against the little-known Mexican company called Damojh that leased the nearly 40-year-old Boeing 737 to Cuban flagship carrier Cubana also began to surface. Damojh declined to comment while Mexico’s Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics said a new audit of the company would be undertaken to ensure it was still “fulfilling norms.” Cuban authorities said Saturday at Havana airport that 99 of the passengers killed on the domestic flight to the eastern city of Holguin were Cuban, while three were foreign tourists - two Argentines and a Mexican - and two were Sahrawi residents in Cuba. Six Mexican crew members were also killed. Three Cuban women survived the crash, but are still in critical condition, said the head of the hospital where they are being attended. Some locals who saw the crash say one of the engines appeared to have caught fire before the plane hit the ground.<br/>

Almost 40 years old by the time it crashed on Friday just outside of Havana, killing 110 people, the aging Boeing 737 had changed ownership nearly a half-dozen times, passing from operators in the United States to Canada, from Cameroon to the Caribbean. “I actually flew that exact plane,” said John Cox, the head of the consultancy Safety Operating Systems, who traced the aircraft’s ownership back to 1979, when it was new and belonged to Piedmont Airlines, his former employer. Though the cause of the crash has not been determined, the plane itself is a powerful symbol of Cuba’s troubled aviation industry. As tourism to the island surges, Cuba’s national airline finds itself struggling to acquire enough planes to meet the demand and maintain its decrepit fleet. Cuba’s economy has long been in shambles, and experts say the troubles plaguing its aviation sector stem from the same obstacles that have bedeviled the country for decades: economic mismanagement and the United States embargo of the island. Cuba’s problems have gotten so bad that, a few weeks ago, the country grounded most of its domestic flights because of safety concerns over its fleet. To continue flying, officials have been forced to lease planes from foreign outfits that sometimes use decades-old planes, like the one that crashed and burned right after takeoff on Friday, killing nearly everyone on board. The old Boeing 737 had been leased to Cubana de Aviación, the state airline, by a relatively unknown Mexican company with just three aircraft in its fleet. Some aviation industry analysts were taken aback at the plane’s advanced age. Though Mexican officials said the plane had passed safety inspections as recently as November, it is one of just 100 of its model still in circulation across the globe, reflecting the limited options the Cuban government has in order to continue operating its state airline.<br/>

The Mexican charter company whose 39-year-old plane crashed in Havana had been the subject of two serious complaints about its crews' performance over the last decade, according to authorities in Guyana and a retired pilot for Cuba's national airline. Mexico's government said late Saturday that its National Civil Aviation Authority will carry out an operational audit of Damojh airlines to see if its "current operating conditions continue meeting regulations" and to help collect information for the investigation into Friday's crash in Cuba that left 110 dead. The plane that crashed, a Boeing 737, was barred from Guyanese airspace last year after authorities discovered that its crew had been allowing dangerous overloading of luggage on flights to Cuba, Guyanese Civil Aviation Director Capt. Egbert Field said Saturday. The plane and crew were being rented from Mexico City-based Damojh by EasySky, a Honduras-based low-cost airline. Cuba's national carrier, Cubana de Aviacion, was also renting the plane and crew in a similar arrangement known as a "wet lease" before the aircraft veered on takeoff to the eastern Cuban city of Holguin and crashed into a field just after noon Friday, according to Mexican aviation authorities. Mexican authorities said Damojh had permits needed to lease its aircraft and had passed a November 2017 verification of its maintenance program. They announced a new audit late Saturday.<br/>

JetBlue Airways is promoting Joanna Geraghty to president, tasking her with running day-to-day operations while freeing up CEO Robin Hayes to focus on long-term planning. Geraghty, 45, will also oversee the airline’s commercial team, JetBlue said in a statement Friday. Hayes, 51, will manage efforts to improve profit margins and the company’s expansion into related travel and vacation businesses. Geraghty will take over as JetBlue’s No. 2 executive as the New York-based airline faces a raft of other changes. The New York-based airline is nearing a decision on whether to expand service across the Atlantic Ocean, while also working through a cost-cutting program and contending with the unionization of two critical work groups: pilots and flight attendants. “It certainly makes sense,” Susan Donofrio, an analyst at Macquarie Group, said of the management shift. “If anything, it adds more to the credibility of the company because they are thinking about the longer-term plan.” The promotion makes Geraghty, who will also be JetBlue’s COO, the highest-ranking woman at a large US airline. <br/>

Ryanair’s Irish union has given the company until May 24 to agree to new working practices, or it will ballot pilots for possible industrial action, including strikes. The airline recognised trade unions in December for the first time in its 32-year history, when pilots exploited a chaotic period after the company was forced to cancel thousands of flights due to rostering problems. Since then it has come to bilateral agreements with unions in Britain and Italy, but is still working towards deals with unions in other major centres such as Ireland and Spain. The Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association wrote to CEO Michael O’Leary in a letter dated May 17. The union is demanding the introduction of new systems for dealing with base allocations, promotions, and annual leave. “If it is not possible to negotiate the introduction of such a seniority agreement for the benefit of our member pilots directly employed by Ryanair, it is our intention to ballot our member pilots employed by Ryanair for sanction for industrial action up to and including strike action,” the union wrote. It said pilots complain that mandatory relocations cause family upheaval and they are demanding transparency so that members know why specific pilots are selected for transfers or why requests for transfers are denied.<br/>

Embattled Russian carrier Saratov Airlines is set to cease operations, less than four months after a fatal accident involving one of its Antonov An-148s. Federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia, which had already put Saratov on a temporary licence, has instructed the airline "not to book and issue tickets" – on its own or on behalf of tour operators – for flights after 30 May. The airline states that, in response, its management has opted to close the company from the end of May and dismiss employees from 18 July. Saratov says that, as a result of the decision, some 1,200 qualified specialists will be "on the street". Rosaviatsia has also told the carrier to ensure that passengers are repatriated, and that no more are transported abroad if their return is scheduled after the 30 May deadline.<br/>

Fast-growing Wizz Air is allocating two new Airbus A320s to its London Luton fleet, accompanying the launch of two routes to Larnaca, Cyprus and Lviv, Ukraine. The A320s will be the sixth and seventh of eight aircraft set to be deployed at Wizz Air’s Luton base, where it is the second-largest operator, by June 2018. The first flight from Luton to Lviv took off earlier in May with flights operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, Wizz Air said. Flights to Larnaca begin May 21, operating daily. Wizz Air has carried over 5.5m passengers from Luton in the past 12 months, representing 11% growth year-on-year, the LCC said. Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi said the carrier expects to grow to a fleet of 300 aircraft within the next 10 years with passenger numbers set to swell to 100m from 30m annually by 2026.<br/>

Long-haul start-up Air Belgium has been granted Russian overflight permission, cementing its revised June 3 launch date. In a May 18 statement, Air Belgium said it has “taken care of the last arrangements” and will launch with an initial flight between Brussels Charleroi and Hong Kong June 3. Air Belgium was initially hoping to launch at the end of March, but this was delayed to April 16, and then to April 30. A further delay was recently announced, pushing back the launch to June 3, because the airline was missing the required Russian overflight permission and some global distribution systems problems were hampering Chinese tourist bookings. “Given the impact of the delayed launch, Air Belgium has been forced to adapt the frequency of its flights to Hong Kong during the launch phase. The company will offer two flights per week in June, followed by three per week from July onward and, finally, four per week from October onward,” Air Belgium said. Air Belgium CEO Niky Terzakis said the airline should have its third aircraft ready by the end of June and flights to mainland China are expected to launch in the coming months.<br/>