French- and Italian-speaking regions laggards
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The use of seat belts by back seat passengers in Swiss cars has climbed steeply, from 32 percent in 2001 to 79 percent in 2011, says the Swiss Safety Council (BFU) which is pushing for an overall 100 percent use of seat belts in the country.
The rate for back seat passengers nevertheless remains below that of drivers and front seat passengers, 89 and 88 percent respectively.
The totals hide significant differences between regions, however, with German-speaking Swiss using the belts far more regularly while French-speaking cantons lag and Ticino is at the bottom of the statistical tables.
The statistics appear to show a greater readiness to buckle up for motorways and a more lax attitude in built-up areas. German-speaking areas have a seat belts used figure of 93 percent on motorways, with French-speaking areas 89 percent and Italian-speaking areas 92 percent.
But in built-up areas, drivers only, the German speakers use them in 88 percent of cars, French speakers in 77 percent and Italian speakers 70 percent.
The figures are lower for back seat passengers, front seat passengers use seat belts more than drivers off the motorway and in built up areas.
The survey was carried out in May by BFU, with trained staff at 73 stations around the country observing drivers and their passengers. Some 45,000 cars with Swiss plates were noted, but children under age 7 were not included and special vehicles such as taxis were also left out.
BFU notes in its report, issued 19 July, that
“The long-term trend for automobile drivers and front-seat passengers shows a parallel but, in the last 4 years, stagnating development. A clear increase could be observed only for back-seat passengers.
“Seat belts are an efficient measure to prevent serious or fatal injuries resulting from an accident. International comparisons show that seat belt wearing rates of close to 100 % are possible. To achieve this goal in Switzerland, automobile users in all parts of the country must be convinced of the necessity of wearing seat belts on every trip.”
Comparable recent statistics are hard to come by for Europe or the US, but Switzerland appears to have a relatively high rate of use.
Swiss law mandates seat belts for everyone in a car, including mini-vans. Seat belt laws went into effect in 1975 but were extended in 2006 to cover all passengers.
Last year’s crash rate lowest in aviation history
Airline industry expects 800 million more passengers a year by 2014
Geneva airport in February 2011, getting busier: world airports will need to accommodate strong airline growth in next three years
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The rate of planes belonging to airlines that crashed in 2010 fell to its lowest level in aviation history but the number of victims rose, Iata (International Air and Transport Association) says.
The 2010 rate was 0.61, equal to one accident for every 1.6 million flights, “a significant improvement over the 0.71 rate recorded in 2009 (one accident for 1.4 million flights)”, Iata says in a press release issued 23 February as part of its annual press day.
The accident rate has been cut 42% since 2001, Iata notes.
A hull loss “is an accident in which the aircraft is destroyed or substantially damaged and is not subsequently repaired. measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built jet aircraft.”
The organization notes that 2.4 billion people “flew safely” in 2009. There were 23 fatal accidents compared to 18 in 2009, but 786 fatalities compared to 685 in 2009. Africa holds the worst safety record, with a rate 12 times higher than the world average.
Strong growth forecast for Asia
Canadian company Bombardier CHF1.86 billion train deal creates Vaud jobs, will ease passenger crunch
New CFF InterCity trains, scheduled for 2013 Geneva-Zurich
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The good news is that train travel in Switzerland is about to get better, but the bad news is that it won’t happen fast enough to suit many impatient Swiss, who travel on average 2,422 km a year by train, making them the world leaders in train use.
The CFF Swiss rail company has just bought 59 new trains with the first rollout in 2013. The purchase of 36,000 new train seats is just a start: in the next 20 years the CFF will need to replace 120,000 seats and add an additional 60,000 because of growing passenger demand and new lines.
Bombardier, a Canadian company, fought off Siemens and Stadler Rail to get a CHF1.9 billion contract with the CFF to supply 59 new double-decker trains. The contract could lead to the purchase at a later date of an additional 100 trains, for a total package worth close to CHF6b.
Passengers to see tangible benefits
For travelers, the new cars will offer a number of advantages: electric plugs and Internet for all passengers, the cars at the front and back of the train will have extra doors, to speed up passsenger movement, first and second class will be completely separated, not the case with at least one of the other offers, according to Le Temps.
The trains will carry 1,300 instead of the 1,100 currently handled by InterCity trains. The extra 200 passengers will be accommodated even with more comfortable stairs which will have a different shape to those in today’s trains, but the seats will have the same space and distance as in the IC2000 trains currently running.
Inter-Europe air traffic remains weak
Worldwide improvement is concentrated in Asia, Latin America
Brands, not flags, must guide the industry to profitability, says Iata head
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The airline industry is expected to have an overall loss of $9.4 billion for 2009, according to Iata, the Geneva-based air transport industry organization, which released new figures Thursday 11 March. The loss is lower than Iata’s December projected figure of $11b. “More significantly, we now forecast smaller losses in 2010 of $2.8b, compared to our previous forecast of $5.6b.”
The improvement is due to year-end growth in traffic that carried on into January, but it was much led by Asia and Latin America, with the US and Europe far more sluggish.
Growth in passenger demand, world airlines 2006-2009 (Iata)
Click on image to view larger
“We can be optimistic but with due caution,” Giovanni Bisignani, CEO and director-general says. “Important risks remain. Oil is a wild-card, over-capacity is still a danger, and costs must be kept under control – throughout the value chain and with labour.”
Asian and Latin American carriers posted international passenger demand gains of 6.5 percent and 11.0 percent respectively in January. North America and Europe lagged, with international passenger demand gains of 2.1 and 3.1 percent.
Kloten International Airport, Zurich, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva’s Cointrin International Airport will most likely end 2009 with 2 percent fewer passengers, a figure that is healthier than those most airports will show this year. The figure was provided by Robert Deillon, president of AIG, which manages the airport, in an interview with Swiss wire service ATS. Deillon says that only four months showed drops, while traffic increased by 4 percent each month in October and November, compared to a year earlier.
Zurich’s Kloten airport is expected to show similar figures, says Deillon.
The figures contrast with the bigger industry picture, provided 15 December by Iata (International Air Transport Association) at an annual press conference in Geneva.
Ken Dunlap, IATA
Geneva's Cointrin airport, 15 December 2009
See all of GenevaLunch’s articles on the annual airline industry Iata meeting in Geneva 15 December
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The ban on liquids carried onto airplanes could end, but probably not sooner than in two years, says Ken Dunlap, director of security for North America at Iata (International Air Transport Association). Dunlap was talking to journalists in Geneva about industry security plans to return passengers to the more relaxed situation that existed before 2006.
A 2006 terrorist plot targeted 10 international flights, and “the impact on passengers was quick and dramatic,” says Dunlap. “But I don’t think anybody at the time thought these temporary measures would become permanent.”
The key is getting x-ray machines to the point where they will detect liquid explosives.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - “In 2009 we’ve not seen big tax increases coming through,” says Jeff Poole, director of airport and industry charges and taxation at IATA (International Air Transport Association) in Geneva. Poole says the big worry now is the Copenhagen climate change conference, with the likelihood that with attention focused on the environment, governments might see an opportunity to raise taxes.
Airports in particular have been good at holding down costs in 2009, a year when the airline industry organization has had on a cost-cutting campaign, with Iata asking airlines, airports and governments to keep charges at current levels or cut them. The industry had its highest-ever “proportion of real cost reductions, 86 percent, $3.02 billion” according to Poole.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The hottest change in the airline industry is the rapid move to BCBP, bar code boarding passes, whose use has nearly doubled in the past year. By the end of 2010 airports should have 100 percent BCBP coverage, meaning that airlines should be able to adopt this service if they want to, allowing anyone with any type of mobile phone to check in by showing the bar code from his or her phone: the end of the paper check-ins. The change is a particular boon for people who are traveling and who don’t have easy access to printers, possibly most airline passengers. Currently, 115 airlines use this and another 23 plan to.
Iata, at its annual media conference in Geneva Tuesday 15 December outlines some of the other improvements passengers will see in coming months, with the goal of moving people through airports faster.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A woman from canton Basel State was diagnosed at the Basel cantonal hospital with A/H1N1 swine flu in Switzerland, the third case in Switzerland. The national influenza centre in Geneva has not yet confirmed the diagnosis. She flew into Zurich from Washington DC, USA 22 May, announced the Federal Office of Public Health. Swiss health authorities obtained the list of passengers from the airline the woman was traveling on, and they will be informed by health authorities in their own countries.
Zurich, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Zurich Airport has reported a 6.6% increase in passenger traffic in 2008, with 22.1 million passengers moving through Kloten. Geneva’s Cointrin Airport also had a strong 2008, GenevaLunch reported 6 January, with 11.8 million passengers. Zurich serves as a transit airport for many passengers traveling in and out of Geneva.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The 11 mllionth passenger of the year passed through Geneva’s Cointrin Airport this week, an alltime record, the airport says.
