Hundreds of air passengers were stranded Wednesday in Kenya because of a strike at Nairobi's international airport by the Kenya Aviation Workers Union. Police violently dispersed striking workers who attempted to protest at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The labor court suspended the strike until a petition by a local airline opposing the strike is heard Thursday. James Kariuki, the transport minister, said the strike was illegal because the government got court orders Tuesday barring the union from proceeding with it. Kenya's military took over screening and security services at the airport following the strike. The union said in a statement that the strike was over the proposed takeover of the Kenya Airport Authority, that runs airports, by the country's loss-making airline, Kenya Airways. It demanded the removal of the top management of Kenya Airways and the Kenya Airport Authority. Kenya Airports Authority said flight operations at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport are steadily normalizing. Kenya Airways Managing Director Sebastian Mikosz said 24 flights had been delayed and two flights had been diverted elsewhere because of the strike.<br/>
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European airline chiefs Wednesday called for a shake-up of air traffic control, including greater competition and faster training, to ease bottlenecks that led to rising delays in 2018. Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary hit out at what he called the “scam” of high charges for the use of airspace despite strikes and staff shortages and called for the training time for new controllers to fall to 6 months from 2-3 years. “We can train someone to fly an airplane in 6 months - not to be a captain, but to fly the plane. Air traffic control is a fundamentally simple process. It is not complicated,” he said after chairing an industry report on air traffic delays. Unions immediately rejected the suggestion. “For the public, we could compare our work with what is done by surgeons. Obviously, no one would accept to have surgery with a student who only has a 6-month training,” said Jean-Denis Larrere, First Vice President of ATCEUC, which coordinates the work of European air traffic control unions. Air traffic control (ATC) strikes and staff shortages cost the EU economy E17.6b in 2018 in the worst year of delays for air passengers in nearly a decade, industry association Airlines for Europe (A4E) said. The “disgraceful” delays are caused by a combination of strikes, poor management and delays in implementing new EU-wide regulations, IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh said. Story has more.<br/>
The chiefs of major European airlines believe there will more failures in the industry this year after the collapse of the likes of Germania and Britain’s flybmi. Asked in a panel discussion at the Airlines for Europe summit in Brussels, the CEs of airline groups IAG, easyJet, Ryanair, Lufthansa and KLM all agreed there would be more airline failures this year.<br/>
Airlines will be able to withstand the impact of Britain leaving the EU, even without a deal, but the lack of political progress is frustrating and has dampened consumer demand, airline chiefs said Monday. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, and PM Theresa May has yet to seal a deal that has the approval of lawmakers in Westminster. “I don’t think it’s concern that we’ve expressed — it’s frustration ... We do really need the politicians to resolve this,” said Willie Walsh, CEO of BA and Iberia parent IAG. “The industry manages (these uncertainties) better than any other industry ... I’m fairly confident that IAG and other airlines will be able to manage this situation whatever happens.” Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary said that even if a deal is passed, it would only clinch a transition arrangement until the end of 2020, with further political instability delayed but not resolved. “(A deal) is good news in the short term but fixes nothing over the medium term because they are still going to have to negotiate the trade deal. And what the UK government have demonstrated in the last two years is that they are incapable of negotiating the purchase of a packet of crisps,” he said. “So short term I think the threat of a cliff edge is moving away but it is only going to be postponed for another 21 months and now we are back to the same situation all over again.” Britain and the EU have said that flights will continue, even in the event that there is a no-deal Brexit. <br/>
IATA on Wednesday said that it expects the number of passengers flying to, from or within India to double in the next 20 years. The IATA said that India is even looking at trebling the passenger numbers by 2037 when some 500m people are expected to fly. In response to this projected growth, IATA released a paper that suggested ways to improve processes as infrastructure capacity expansion cannot keep up with the speed of traffic growth. According to the paper, in most of Indian airports, a number of processes remain manual and are not so efficient. "When it comes to security, while today's aviation security measures work, it is an archaic one-size-fits-all platform that comes at great cost to airlines, airports, authorities and passengers. Imposing new and or additional measures, or simply replacing screening equipment, are not robust enough to ensure security and facilitation effectiveness and will not be adequate to cater to the increased number of travellers in the coming years," it said. One of the key suggestion is to allow a Mobile Boarding Pass (MBP).<br/>
Aviation accidents in Canada declined 16% last year, according to preliminary statistics released Wednesday by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB). There were 201 aviation accidents reported to the TSB in 2018, down from 240 reported the previous year and below the five-year average of 249. However, the number of fatal accidents ticked up from 22 to 23 from 2017-2018 and total fatalities from 34 to 38. By aircraft type, there were 17 fatal accidents involving fixed-wing aircraft, four involving helicopters and two involving ultralights. The safety agency cited a “strong drop” in flight-training accidents following a peak in 2017 that reduced commercial operator accidents from 97 to 66. The number of commercial accidents in 2018 also fell below the five-year average of 80.<br/>