All Airframers articles – Page 1494
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News
France's Fairlines poised for December start-up
Julian Moxon/PARIS Fairlines, the exclusively first- and business-class French airline, will be launched on 8 December, with services linking Paris/Charles de Gaulle, Milan/ Malpensa and Nice. Initially operating a pair of leased, ex-Sunjet International Boeing MD-81s, but with ambitions to add up to eight more, Fairlines president Francois ...
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CASA joins in negotiations on European regional restructure
Julian Moxon/PARIS CASA of Spain has joined the negotiations on the future of Europe's regional-aircraft industry as a launch decision on the planned Aero International (Regional) (AI(R))Airjet regional jet seems likely to be delayed beyond the original end-of-year deadline. Talks between AI(R) president Patrick Gavin and new CASA ...
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New freighter carrier eyes Mahalo licence
A freight airline start-up has put in an offer to buy the operating licences of failed Hawaiian regional airline Mahalo Air. English Worldwide Aviation (EWA), which has been set up by Gemini Air Cargo's former senior vice-president sales and marketing, Michael English, has submitted an offer for the Hawaiian ...
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Boeing's long stretch
Guy Norris/SEATTLE BOEING'S stretched 777-300 carries a list of superlatives almost as long as the aircraft itself. The latest member of the Boeing family is the largest twin-engined aircraft ever built, the world's fastest widebody twin, the longest airliner ever made and the first transport big enough to replace the ...
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Frontier bids for WestPac
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC A US bankruptcy-court judge will make a decision on 3 December between rival bids for Western Pacific Airlines. Frontier Airlines, which called off plans to merge with WestPac earlier this year, has switched tack and is bidding to take over its bankrupt would-be partner. WestPac ...
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BA prepares for massive tender
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON British Airways is preparing to issue a tender to Airbus and Boeing early in the new year for up to 160 narrow- and widebodied aircraft as it gears up for its long-term fleet-renewal programme. The airline is understood to be finalising an outline of its requirements ...
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UK noise curb attempt
The UK Government has launched another attempt to reduce the noise limits at London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports to below international standards. The new proposals would lower the current limits of 97dBA (day) and 89dBA (night) to 94dBA and 87dBA, although "Stage 2" aircraft approved for gradual phasing out ...
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Asia's economic haze
Brent Hannon/KUALA LUMPUR Concerns over the state of the once-unstoppable Asia-Pacific airline market were underlined again as the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) met in Kuala Lumpur in mid-November for the 41st assembly of presidents. The latest figures show a 25% drop in collective operating profits over ...
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Shugrue is eased out as Pan Am chief
Pan American World Airways has eased out its co-founder and chief executive, Martin Shugrue, to be replaced by airline veteran David Banmiller, who is charged with turning around the start-up's heavy losses and seeing through the merger of operations with Carnival Air Lines. Pan Am confirms that Shugrue has ...
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Fine Air gains credit
US cargo airline Fine Air Services has opened a $32.5 million line of credit to help finance expansion in South America, also raising the prospect of it exercising an option to acquire a leased Lockheed L-1011 freighter. Fine Air cancelled a public offering in August after one of its McDonnell ...
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Air France 'must spend more money' on new aircraft
Julian Moxon/PARIS Air France must invest at least Fr40 billion ($6 billion) on new aircraft over the next five years if it is to remain competitive, the airline's new president Jean-Cyril Spinetta told a French Senate committee on 20 November. Aircraft-renewal plans centre on the need to replace ...
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WRC agrees Ka-band frequencies for Teledesic, Skybridge, Celestri
The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 1997 in Geneva has agreed to allocate Ka-band frequencies to the Teledesic, Skybridge and Celestri high-speed multi-media satellite systems. The decision to allow the Skybridge and Celestri to compete with the $9 billion US Teledesic multi-satellite system planned by Microsoft's Bill Gates and entrepreneur ...
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Regionals add CRJs
Two major US regionals have boosted their Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) orderbooks. Atlantic Coast Airlines has converted 12 of its 36 options to fuel growth at Washington's Dulles Airport, for delivery between late 1998 and mid-1999. Comair's CRJ fleet will grow to 80 with the firming-up of 12 conditional ...
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Parts shortages are now 'under control', according to Boeing
Boeing says that parts shortages on its 747 and Next Generation (NG) 737 assembly lines are "approaching manageable levels", and the company plans to proceed with production-rate increases on both aircraft. Full production of the 737NG and 747 has resumed after assembly lines were halted to bring out-of-sequence work ...
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FAA orders changes to 747 tanks
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued two airworthiness directives (ADs) aimed at removing potential ignition sources in or near the centre-wing fuel tank of older Boeing 747s. It says that it is best to eliminate ignition sources because it is not possible to purge ...
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Tenders invited to supply 50 regional airliners for Russian airlines
The 70-seat An-140 will be among the candidates vying for selection The Russian Aviation Consortium (RAC), acting for Vnukovo Airlines, Murmansk Airlines and Tyumen Aviatrans, has invited tenders for the supply of 50 regional airliners in the 30-, 50- and 70-seat categories. Ilyushin will offer the Il-114 and ...
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MAPO MiG-29s head for Ecuador
MIG MAPO is close to signing a contract to deliver an unspecified number of MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters to Ecuador. Neighbour Peru already operates MiG-29s, which it bought from Belarus.The Latin American country may be looking at the MiG-29SMT version, which started flight trials in November. The aircraft, which has upgraded ...
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Bombardier enters the frame to replace Horizon Air's F28s
Ramon Lopez/TORONTO Horizon Air has revealed that it is evaluating the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) family, as well as the de Havilland Dash 8-400, as possible long-term replacements for its fleet of Fokker F28s. The airline is already a major customer for the 37-seat Dash 8-100/200, with ...
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Japan authority may rethink Saab 2000 inspecton order
Andrew Mollet/TOKYO The Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) is reviewing plans to order additional Saab 2000 flight-inspection aircraft, in the wake of the Swedish firm's announcement that it is considering ceasing production of civil turboprops. Japan has already ordered two Saab 2000s for delivery in late 1998 and ...
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SAS Commuter looks to Dash 8-300X to replace Saab 2000s
Ramon Lopez/TORONTO SAS Commuter underlined plans to standardise on the Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8 family for its regional-fleet needs at the unveiling ceremony of the new 70-seat Series 400, when it revealed that it will dispose of its 50-seat Saab 2000s when their leases expire early in the ...