All Airframers articles – Page 1500
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News
Loadmaster freighter starts to take shape
Alan Dron Metal is now being cut for the first components of the Ayres LM200 Loadmaster freighter, reports the company. It had been hoped to use Dubai '97 - the first time the company has attended the show - as the platform from which to announce ...
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Battle continues in bid to win UAE fighter contract
Tim Ripley Fighter manufacturers from America, Britain and France are still locked in a multi-billion dollar dogfight to win an order for 80 strike aircraft from the United Arab Emirates Air Force. The contest, valued at $6-8 billion, has been going on for almost three years ...
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Multi-billion airliner market is forecast
Middle East and North African airlines will buy 702 aircraft worth around $45 billion in the next 20 years, the latest Airbus Industrie (AI) market forecast indicates. Most of the aircraft - 413 - will be needed to meet market growth, while a further 289 will replace models ...
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Temporary solutions
THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH Aerospace Companies (SBAC) recently launched an initiative to attract more young people into the aerospace industry, citing as one of the reasons for doing so a widespread concern that the industry could be facing skills shortages in the future. One of the most obvious manifestations of ...
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Routes
++ Qantas plans to codeshare on Reno Air services, connecting with its flights from Los Angeles to Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, starting in January 1998. Qantas says that the deal will improve links between Los Angeles and San Francisco. ++ Pan American World Airways has filed for approval to codeshare ...
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Regional-aircraft risks
November 3 should have been a defining date for regional-jet manufacturers. Most feared that Boeing would announce plans to develop an 80-seat derivative of the MD-95 as part of a wider declaration on the future of the aircraft it had acquired with the purchase of McDonnell Douglas. In the event, ...
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Passengers on the rack
If airlines and aircraft manufacturers were to characterise just one physical property of aeroplanes as the ultimate enemy, it would be weight. Weight increases drag and fuel consumption and reduces payload, so carriers and builders fight all the time to reduce it without sacrificing friendly properties such as strength, durability ...
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Marketplace
++ Pan American World Airways has agreed to lease three Boeing 737-300s from Alaska Air to supplement the Boeing 727-200s acquired through its merger with Carnival Airlines. The aircraft will be delivered in late 1997 and early 1998. ++ Western Pacific Airlines, now operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has ...
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Growing pain
It is tempting, almost, to feel sorry for the world's airlines. Just as they were beginning to enjoy credible profits and sustained traffic growth, they find themselves staring at a near-term future in which their own growth threatens disaster. Any twinge of sympathy, however, is killed by the ...
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Lockheed Martin sells units to GE
Lockheed Martin is selling General Electric three business units for $2.8 billion. The deal will see the activities exchanged for 29 million shares of preferred stock which GE acquired when it sold its aerospace unit to Lockheed Martin in 1993, plus a small cash payment by the latter to equalise ...
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Fiji International is prepared for January launch
Start-up carrier Fiji International Airways has reached agreement with London Stansted Airport to begin scheduled flights from Nadi, in Fiji, Mumbai, in India, and Singapore from early January 1998. The airline will operate Boeing 747-300s. The carrier originally intended to launch services to Manchester in the UK, but ...
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China Northwest takes first single-aisle
The first of ten Airbus A320s for China Northwest Airlines was handed over to the airline in Toulouse on 6 November. The airline's A320 fleet will be powered by CFM International CFM56-5B4s, and configured to seat 158 passengers in a two-class layout. China Northwest Airlines, which is based in Xian, ...
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Bombardier finalises pilot-training deal
Bombardier has signed a 20-year, C$2.8 billion ($2 billion) contract to provide pilot training for the Canadian Forces, under its privately financed NATO Flying Training in Canada programme. Negotiations continue with Denmark, Norway and the UK to join the programme. The Canadian company will arrange capital financing to ...
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Boeing decides Douglas production fate
Boeing is to close down the former McDonnell Douglas (MDC) MD-80 and MD-90 production lines, but has delayed its verdict on the long-term fate of the MD-95 until January 1998. It is to keep the MD-11 line open. While the closure of the twin lines was expected, the ...
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Virgin arrives at Heathrow short of wheels
A Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-300 (G-VSKY) with 114 passengers and crew on board makes a gear-inspection fly-past at London Heathrow Airport in the UK on 5 November, before landing safely with the left main gear still locked up. No-one was hurt in the landing, which closed one of Heathrow's two ...
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All clear for Fine Air
The US Federal Aviation Administration has authorised Fine Air to resume flying. The US cargo carrier expects to restart operations to Latin America within the next several weeks. Fine Air was grounded after the fatal crash in August of one of its McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61 freighters during take-off ...
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Rolls-Royce lands American 777 order with Trent 800
Rolls-Royce has landed its second major US airline customer for the Trent 800, with the selection of the engine by American Airlines to power the Boeing 777-200IGWs (increased gross weight) ordered this year. The decision by the world's largest airline is a boost to the UK engine builder's campaign to ...
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Taiwan 757 order
Taiwan's Far Eastern Air Transport is to finalise an order for up to 12 new Boeing narrowbodies. The carrier has signed a letter of intent for five 757-200s for delivery in 1999, with options on another five aircraft. It will also buy two MD-83s. Source: Flight International
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Success of Ariane 5 buoys Europe despite low orbit
The long-awaited launch of the Ariane 502 test-flight, from the Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana, on 30 October - 16 months after the failure of the first launch - has boosted the morale of the European space industry, despite the slightly premature shutdown of the first-stage engine, which resulted ...
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Qantas asks Boeing to produce three long-range 747-400IGWs
Qantas has asked Boeing to build and certify its three newly ordered 747-400s to an increased-gross-weight (IGW) specification, to allow the Australian carrier to overcome payload-range restrictions to Europe and the USA. It is pressing the Seattle-based manufacturer to commit to a -400 growth derivative, with a maximum ...