Airframers – Page 1530
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News
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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FAA orders skin-panel inspection for old 737s
As part of its continuing ageing-aircraft initiative, the US Federal Aviation Administration has ordered new inspections or modifications of fuselage skin-panel lap joints on 33 US-registered Boeing 737-100/200s with more than 60,000 flights. A further 34 737s owned by foreign airlines are affected by the airworthiness directive (AD), ...
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AB Airlines takes AIM for expansion funds
AB Airlines is planning a listing on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) early in 1998 to fund an expansion of its network and fleet renewal. The Stansted, UK-based airline is negotiating the acquisition of four new Boeing 737-300s, configured with two-class cabins, in January 1998 to replace its ...
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BA nears low-fares decision and re-equips regional unit
British Airways is expected to finalise plans before the end of the year to launch a European low-fare operation at London Stansted, using Boeing 737-300s. At the same time, the airline has begun an interim replacement of its BA Regional 737-200s. Earlier this year, BA commissioned the UK-based ...
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Taiwan Airlines signs first order for shortfield Dornier 328
Fairchild Dornier claims to have secured an Asian launch customer for two improved short-field performance 328-130 turboprops, scheduled for delivery in early 1998. Although neither the manufacturer nor the airline will officially confirm it, the launch customer for the new variant is believed to be Taiwan Airlines. Sources ...
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Maersk orders CRJs to provide 70-seat option
Maersk Air's UK subsidiary will replace its ageing fleet of BAC One-Elevens in 1998 with the first of up to 15 Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets (CRJs). The selection hinged on Bombardier's ability to supply both 50- and 70-seat versions, which Embraer could not offer. Maersk Air, which operates ...
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Marketplace
++ Finnair's sale/lease-back deal for four Boeing MD-80s (Marketplace, Flight International, 29 October-4 November, P14) is valued at FIM350 million ($67.3 million), with the annual values of the lease rentals worth some FIM43 million ++ Midway Airlines is disposing of its single leased Airbus A320. The aircraft is leased from ...
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Thailand's PB Air is ready for 1998 launch date
Thai start-up operator PB Air is planning to launch its first charter/scheduled domestic service in 1998, initially using a recently acquired Fairchild Dornier 328 30-seat turboprop. The 12-month-old carrier hopes to fly daily from Bangkok to Hattyai via Chumporn Airport in southern Thailand, says PB Air chief pilot ...
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Boeing offers Sabena 737 maintenance venture
Boeing demonstrated the 737-700 to Sabena at Brussels in October and is discussing a maintenance joint venture with the Belgian airline as it seeks to beat Airbus Industrie to an order from the Belgian airline. Workers at Sabena Technics are concerned about their future should Airbus succeed with ...
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Workshop
++ Aeronavali has been selected by Ten Forty to convert 20 ex-Japan Air Lines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40s to cargo, for delivery between 1998 to 2005. ++ Amarillo, Texas-based Leading Edge Aviation Services has opened its fifth paint hangar, becoming the first independent commercial-aircraft painting centre in the USA able to ...
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Losses put pressure on Finmeccanica to speed up restructuring
Finmeccanica, which holds the bulk of Italy's aerospace industry, is under pressure to speed up its restructuring efforts after posting heavy losses for the First half of the year. The group ended the First six months showing a loss of L1,900 billion ($1.1 billion). Although the bulk of ...
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Too big a crowd
The withdrawal of first British Aerospace and then Saab from regional-turboprop manufacture does not signal the collapse of the sub-40-seater market so much as confirm that this market is changing rapidly into one for small jet airliners. It is also a market in which, no matter how buoyant the passenger ...
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South Korea signs for KTX-II development
South Korea's KTX-II programme at last looks ready to get off the ground, after more than two years of delay, with the signature of a deal between the air force and prime contractor Samsung Aerospace to launch full-scale development of the advanced-trainer/light-strike aircraft. The 1.2 trillion won ($1.27 ...
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Domestic bliss?
Next year will mark a watershed in Japanese civil-aviation history: for the first time in 43 years, the country will see the emergence of new domestically owned airlines. In all, there will be six new carriers - four start-ups and two subsidiaries belonging to two of the three major incumbent ...
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Fliers who lose the way
According to the US General Accounting Office (GAO), some licensed professional pilots should never have been given their jobs, and no amount of training will rectify this situation. While many in the industry would agree with that, there are real differences of opinion on just how those pilots' deficiencies should ...
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Competitions poised to launch 30-seat jet
American Eagle and Continental Express have launched competitions for a combined total of up to 250 regional jets in the 30- to 40-seat category, effectively signalling the beginning of what is being seen as another regional-jet buying frenzy in the US industry. The competitions are a two-horse race ...
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Boeing pushes ultra-long range 747 derivative
Boeing could obtain board approval to offer airlines a new ultra-long-range - more than 14,800km (8,000nm) - derivative of the 747 as early as May 1998, if it can attract sufficient market interest, particularly from key Asia-Pacific airlines including Cathay Pacific Airways, EVA Airways of Taiwan and Qantas. ...
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Airbus and R-R strive for A340-500 orders
Airbus Industrie and Rolls-Royce are engaged in a concerted final push to enlist sufficient airline orders for a launch of the new A340-500/600 growth derivatives. The European consortium is understood to be keen to launch the two ultra-long-haul and stretched versions of the A340 by mid-November. Airbus sales ...
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China signs up for $3 billion-worth of Boeings
China's long-awaited and highly politicised deal for new Boeing aircraft has finally been signed in Washington, covering the purchase of up to 50 widebody and narrowbody passenger jet aircraft, worth $3 billion. The deal, as expected, was announced on 30 October during Chinese President Jiang Zemin's state visit ...
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Fairchild orders CAE simulator for 328JET
Fairchild Dornier has ordered a full-flight simulator for its 328Jet, marking another in a series of regional-aircraft orders for CAE Electronics. The 328Jet simulator is to be ready for customer training in February 1999, a year after the planned First flight of the prototype. American Airlines, ...