Airframers – Page 1500

  • News

    Loadmaster freighter starts to take shape

    1997-11-15T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Multi-billion airliner market is forecast

    1997-11-15T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Battle continues in bid to win UAE fighter contract

    1997-11-15T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Wall Street recovery

    1997-11-15T00:00:00Z

    Stocks powered ahead Friday as Wall Street celebrated the good news that wholesale inflation in the United Stateshas stayed almost the same in the last month. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 84.72 points, at 7,572.48. For the week, it fell 8.84 points. In the broader market, advances led by ...

  • News

    China Northwest takes first single-aisle

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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, ...

  • News

    Fiji International is prepared for January launch

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    All clear for Fine Air

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Gemini buys LTU MD-11s

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    Gemini Air Cargo is to purchase LTU's four Boeing MD-11s for conversion to freighters, to operate alongside its growing fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s. The US-based all-cargo supplemental carrier has signed a letter of intent to purchase the four aircraft from LTU, with deliveries beginning at the end ...

  • News

    Boeing decides Douglas production fate

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Marketplace

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    ++ 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 ...

  • News

    Qantas asks Boeing to produce three long-range 747-400IGWs

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Routes

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    ++ 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 ...

  • News

    US Airways focuses on US2 and orders Airbuses

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    US Airways has finalised its contract with Airbus Industrie to acquire up to 400 aircraft following the successful negotiation with the US Air Line Pilots Association of a new five-year contract which goes into effect on 1 January. The airline is now turning its attention to contract negotiations with other ...

  • News

    Virgin arrives at Heathrow short of wheels

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Lockheed Martin sells units to GE

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Growing pain

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Moldavia sells MiG-29 Fulcrums to USA

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    A total of 21 MIGMAPO MiG-29 Fulcrum combat aircraft, sold by Moldavia to the USA for $40 million, have been delivered disassembled to Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, by Boeing C-17 transport aircraft. George Kyrlan, the Moldavan secretary of the National Security Council and presidential defence advisor, says that ...

  • News

    Temporary solutions

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Passengers on the rack

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Rolls-Royce lands American 777 order with Trent 800

    1997-11-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...