Preliminary air transport safety analysis indicates that last year was the worst, in terms of commercial aviation fatalities, for three years.

Lion Air’s loss of a Boeing 737 Max in late October and the take-off crash of a Global Air 737-200 in Cuba accounted for over half of the 530 worldwide fatalities recorded by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

The figure contrasts sharply with the historically low level achieved in 2017 and was instead comparable to the 533 of 2015.

Eleven fatal accidents were taken into account by EASA’s analysis, a number in line with the totals in each of the last four years.

Seven of them involved jet transports while the other four aircraft were propeller-driven, including a Junkers Ju 52 which crashed during a Swiss tourism flight – the only accident involving an operator from EASA member states.

EASA describes the Ju 52 crash as a “unique event” compared with “traditional” airline operations, and points out that no EASA-based carrier was involved in a fatal commercial airline accident last year.

The agency says the incidents and accidents during 2018 are a “reminder that safety should not be taken for granted”, particularly given the encouraging improvement recorded in the previous year.

Transport Canada has cut maximum on-duty periods for pilots and tweaked pilot rest requirements in a move regulators describe as more-closely aligning Canadian rules with international standards.

Notably, the regulatory changes do away with Canada's previous 14h maximum on-duty period for pilots.

When the new rule takes effect in two years for large airlines, duty days will capped at between 9h and 13h depending on factors like flight duration, the number of daily flights flown and duty start times.

A pilot scheduled to fly seven daily flights starting at midnight, for instance, will be limited to a 9h duty day, while a pilot flying four daily flights starting at 08:00 can be on duty for 13h, the rules say.

"There is evidence that, after 12h of work, human performance begins to exponentially degrade," regulatory materials say. Pilots who fly all night and land early in the morning experience fatigue impairment "equivalent to having a blood alcohol level of 0.08%, the legal limit for drivers in Canada", materials say.

Transport Canada issued the new regulations on 12 December, more than four years after formally proposing changes.

Lower oil prices, steady economic growth and continued momentum in air travel demand are key drivers behind IATA’s increased profits outlook for the airline sector in 2019, despite ongoing economic and political concerns.

IATA today disclosed its expectations for industry net profits of $32.3 billion in 2018 – down around $5 billion on the previous year – but climbing next year to reach $35.5 billion. That will mark a decade of industry profits – the last half of which have seen the industry generate returns above their cost of capital.