All Airframers articles – Page 1620
-
News
India's Jet Airways centres expansion on Calcutta hub
INDEPENDENT INDIAN operator Jet Airways is planning to establish Calcutta as its third hub as part of a continuing expansion programme. Chief executive Nikos Kardassis says that a clear upward trend in business travel between Bangalore and Calcutta, encouraged by West Bengal Government initiatives which have attracted large-scale ...
-
News
UK impounds 737 as rudder fault echoes US accidents
David Learmount/LONDON Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The UK Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) is launching a full-scale Inspector's inquiry into an incident involving a British Airways Boeing 737-200, which suffered violent roll oscillations during a test flight following maintenance. In the test flight on 22 October ...
-
News
Boeing begins new 737 despite strike
MAJOR ASSEMBLY of the first of the new-generation Boeing 737-700s is still scheduled for 1 December, despite a decision by company workers to reject a deal aimed at ending the seven-week strike. Boeing was optimistic that the 30,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' ...
-
News
Lufthansa sells its 737 Advs to Jetz
LUFTHANSA IS selling its 19 remaining Boeing 737-200 ADVs to US leasing firm JETZ. The aircraft were among those, which Lufthansa originally planned to sell to Indonesia before the sale stalled when the Delaware-based company offered "a better deal". The aircraft will be handed over starting in May ...
-
News
FAA issues an AD for GE CF6 turbofans
THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration has ordered repetitive ultrasonic and electro-magnetic testing of General Electric CF6 engine high-pressure compressor (HPC) spools (Flight International 25-31 October). The Airworthiness Directive (AD) guards against fatigue cracking caused by hard-alpha inclusions (titanium-alloy impurities caused during manufacture) and dwell-time fatigue, a type of ...
-
News
Balkan Airlines gets $45m loan
A $45 MILLION loan from Bulgaria's State fund for Reconstruction and Development will allow the national carrier, Balkan Airlines, to embark on a badly needed fleet-modernisation programme. According to reports in the fortnightly journal, East European Markets, the loan, which has just been approved by the Government, forms ...
-
News
Saab 340 wingtip extension introduced
THE FIRST TWO SAAB 340s featuring extended wingtips for improved "hot-and-high" performance have been delivered to Canadian regional carrier Calm Air. The first aircraft was originally delivered in late 1994, but was modified and re-delivered in October 1995. Calm Air received a second, brand-new, aircraft on 8 November. ...
-
News
Cathay to take test A330s
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE will modify and refurbish two of its A330 test and development aircraft for commercial use by Cathay Pacific Airways. The revamped aircraft will fulfil a recent Cathay Pacific order for two additional A330 twinjets. The carrier is already taking delivery of nine Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered A330s, ...
-
News
A310 finds favour in Israel
Airbus Industrie's A310 has emerged as the preferred non-US platform for future Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) airborne early-warning (AEW) and aerial-refueling aircraft. The Bedek division of IAI is already negotiating with Airbus about the transfer of engineering data required for the conversion of the wide body civil aircraft ...
-
News
Embraer test-flies second EMB-145
Embraer has flown the second EMB-145 test aircraft from the company airfield at Sao Jose dos Campos. The 1h 20m flight took place on 17 November. The Brazilian company has logged over 70h of test flights since the maiden flight of the first of the 50-seat regional jets in August ...
-
News
Guernsey jet upgrade
Jersey European Airways is upgrading its four daily turboprop services between Guernsey and London Gatwick. The airline intends to put one of its two newly leased 99-seat BAe 146-200s on the route in March, replacing the 52-seat Fokker F27-500 and virtually doubling capacity. The second aircraft has been put on ...
-
News
Saudia focuses on regional selection
Saudi Arabian Airlines is focusing attention on the long-awaited selection of a new 50- to 70-seat regional aircraft, following the finalisation of its $6 billion purchase of larger-capacity US-built jet airliners. The national carrier has a total requirement for up to 30 aircraft, but is expected initially to ...
-
News
Turkish order maintains Douglas recovery
Turkish charter operator Onur Air has ordered five McDonnell Douglas MD-88s and taken options on five more, continuing the fourth quarter turn-around in the fortunes of Douglas Aircraft. Up to the end of September, Douglas had taken orders for just 11 twinjets during the whole of 1995. The ...
-
News
The big fan fight
ARGUABLY, THE bloodiest competitions in the big-twin fight have come not from the airframe selection, but over the engine choice. Three engine manufacturers and a relative scarcity of orders was a sure recipe for a life-or-death struggle. In the event, the first wave of competitions ends with Pratt ...
-
News
Bidders jostle for Saudi fighter requirement
NORTHROP GRUMMAN has submitted a bid to Saudi Arabia for proposed upgrade packages to the country's fleet of Northrop F-5s, while Lockheed Martin is pursuing selling the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) up to 100 F-16C/Ds as a replacement aircraft. Originally, the RSAF was looking to replace its ...
-
News
Battle of the big twins
Airbus and Boeing plan strategies for the next round of combat. Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Julian Moxon/PARIS Paul Lewis/DUBAI WITH THE SINGAPORE Airlines decision now announced, the first round in the battle of the big twins is drawing to a close. There are still a couple of ...
-
News
Zeppelin prototype enters final assembly
Zeppelin Luftschiff-technik has begun final assembly of its New Technology (NT) airship prototype - the first rigid airship the company has produced since the Second World War. The 68m-long prototype, LZ N07, is scheduled for completion in July 1996, in time for an "official" first flight in early ...
-
News
Lufthansa Technik chief angry
THE CHAIRMAN AND chief executive of German maintenance company Lufthansa Technik, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, says that he may complain to the European Commission about the low prices which some loss-making, government-subsidised, European airlines and maintenance companies are charging. Mayrhuber says that he does not mind if a government helps ...
-
News
UAE gains AMRAAM go-ahead
THE US GOVERNMENT is to release the Hughes AIM-120 Advanced Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to support its manufacturers in the country's strike-fighter competition. Sources close to the UAE fighter programme claim that the USA decided in July to make it clear to ...
-
News
Countdown to Alpha
T-2 years and counting: the first hardware has been built for the Alpha International Space Station. Tim Furniss/WASHINGTON DC THE ALPHA INTERNATIONAL Space Station "...isn't a paper programme anymore", says Wilbur Trafton, director of NASA's Space Station programme. "We're talking launches just round the corner." ...