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India’s civil aviation minister has ordered a safety audit of all domestic airlines, including struggling carrier Jet Airways, news channel CNBC-TV18 reported on Monday. The aviation safety watchdog, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has been asked to conduct the audit, the channel cited federal minister Suresh Prabhu as saying. Jet Airways is cutting costs and seeking funds to stay afloat. It owes money to vendors and employees alike, the airline said earlier this month after it reported its third consecutive quarterly loss.<br/>

The committees charged with overseeing transportation issues in the US will both undergo a series of leadership changes when the next Congress commences in January. In the House, where Democrats won back majority control of the chamber in November’s mid-term elections, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-New York) will assume chairmanship of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, which industry-watchers are hopeful will act on assembling an infrastructure package that includes increased funding for airports. DeFazio will likely be joined in the ranking member slot by Rep. Sam Graves (R-Missouri), after current chairman Bill Shuster decided to retire at the end of the term and Rep. Jeff Dunham (R-California)—Graves’s contender to the ranking member slot—lost his bid for re-election. In the Senate, where Republicans grew their majority by two seats, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) is expected to be the new chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, as current chairman John Thune (R-South Dakota), who was instrumental in passing a multi-year bill to reauthorise the FAA, is set to become the Senate majority whip.<br/>

There is hope for Asia’s crowded skies. In much of the region, too many carriers, with too many planes, charging too little have left the industry on its knees, and put price controls back on the agenda. Consolidation offers a better fix. With Indonesia’s state-owned airline, Garuda, taking over a rival and India’s Jet Airways also potentially for sale, some relief may be near. The aviation excess seen in South and Southeast Asia has few parallels globally. In India, where the budget airline IndiGo now controls more than 40 percent of the market, the result has been bargain-basement prices. Millions of people have flown for the first time, but all the major locally-listed airlines posted net losses in the most recent quarter. Further east, low-cost upstarts are squeezing so-called flag carrier airlines, like Thai Airways. Overcapacity is one problem. The Lion group, which includes Indonesia’s Lion Air and others, has some 450 planes on order, according to the aviation consultancy CAPA, though deliveries have slowed. Vietnam’s VietJet has commitments for more than 320 aircraft, or roughly five for each in its current fleet, according to CAPA. Against this background, the crash of a Lion Air jet off the coast of Jakarta has caused Indonesia’s ministers to debate raising minimum airfares. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that higher prices can improve safety; rules were earlier tightened after a 2014 AirAsia crash. <br/>

Airline passengers may be getting larger, but the onboard toilets are getting smaller as the industry looks at ways of packing in even more fare-paying passengers. The latest squeeze comes against a backdrop of carriers cutting legroom and making seats narrower. According to the industry, the incredible shrinking lavatory is making it possible for airlines to cut fares, and both Boeing and Airbus are bowing to demands from airlines to make onboard toilets more compact. In the US, the newest Boeing 737 aircraft flown by American, Delta and United, feature cubicles just 24 inches wide – down from the 34 inches offered previously. In Europe, Ryanair and Norwegian have each ordered more than 100 of these 737 MAXs. But complaints have been flooding in from passengers struggling to use the cramped facilities. In particular, the sinks are said to be so small that it is impossible to wash both hands at the same time. The rear of the plane, meanwhile, is so cramped that when the doors of the two hindmost loos are opened, cabin crew are sealed off in the galley and unable to reach passengers. “The Ryanair 737 MAX [the first of which will be delivered next year] will set the gold standard for the industry,” said Bob Mann, a New York-based aviation consultant. “The mould has been set with investors’ desire for densification and this is the industry’s response."<br/>