A Senate panel approved an aviation policy bill Wednesday after a partisan fight over whether airlines gouge consumers with fees for basic services like checked bags and seat assignments. The Senate commerce committee approved a bill to continue the FAA's authority to operate through Oct 1, 2017. That authority is due to expire March 31. The committee's Democrats tried to add a provision to the bill to prohibit airlines from setting unreasonable fee prices and direct the DoT to establish what is reasonable. The amendment failed on a party-line tie vote. Consumers are being "gouged" by excessive fees, but they don't have any choice but to pay them, senator Edward Markey said. Republicans said the provision would be burdensome for airlines and that market forces should be allowed to determine fee prices. <br/>
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UK finance minister George Osborne has signalled a further rise in air passenger duty in his annual budget speech. APD is charged on most passengers on flights departing from UK airports. It is one of the highest rates of passenger taxes in the world and can add as much as GBP146 (US$206) to the price of a ticket, depending on the class of cabin chosen and the distance flown by the passenger. Airlines and passenger lobby groups have consistently protested the tax. Airlines say it deters passengers, while passenger bodies say it is an unfair burden on travellers. Although the UK govt has given some concessions—for example, raising the age of passengers who must pay the tax to 16—it shows no sign of scrapping it completely. It is estimated that APD brings in around GBP3b annually for the govt. <br/>
Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) has reported that airlines in member states had 56 accidents, including 27 crashes, which killed 116 people in 2015, according to IAC’s Safety Performance Report. The statistics include general aviation, helicopter performance and technical flights. IAC defines an accident as an event where an aircraft was damaged without fatalities, while a crash is defined as an accident resulting in fatalities. The report does not include the Metrojet Airbus A321 crash over Sinai, as Russia stated that an explosive device was responsible for the downing of the aircraft. In the report, IAC pointed out the common problems of civil aviation of country members, such as insufficient pilot training, absence of distinct criteria for pilot-instructors, and insufficient knowledge of the English language. <br/>
The Indian govt has confirmed it will spend more than US$12b on aviation as part of its 12th Five Year Plan (FYP), which finalises at the end of 2017. A large proportion of the projected investment will go into launching and developing up to 200 new airports at secondary and tertiary destinations over the next 20 years, a Ministry of Civil Aviation spokesperson said. The govt said it is looking for a significant amount—$9b—to come from the private sector. The Indian govt is aiming for an overall growth rate of 8% in coming years, and has projected that passenger numbers will swell to 450m by 2020, from just under 160m at the start of the current FYP. Indian aviation saw a 13% growth in passenger traffic for the 10 years to 2013. <br/>
The UAE hopes to resolve the dispute with the US carriers over alleged subsidies by the end of the year, the director-general of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said Tuesday. “I am sure that our operation is within the agreement that we have with the US. We haven’t broken any article in that agreement,” said Saif Mohammad Al Suwaidi. He did not provide a specific timeline on when the matter could be resolved but said it could be done by the end of the year. The three major US airlines have submitted a whitepaper to the US govt outlining allegations of over US$42b in subsidies to Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. The Gulf carriers have denied the allegations and said that they are doing business in a fair way without any support from the govt. <br/>