Airframers – Page 1561
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News
Ilyushin Il-96T flies for first time
The Ilyushin Il-96T freighter had its maiden flight on 16 May at the VASO Voronezh production plant. The aircraft, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW2337 engines and equipped with Rockwell-Collins avionics, was flown for 21min. It has now been ferried to the Zhukovsky flight-test centre where it will be flight-tested ...
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Airbus will limit A3XX engine choice
Airbus Industrie says that it will give airlines a choice of two engines only for the 550- to 650-seat A3XX. Three are now being offered: the Rolls-Royce Trent 900, a Pratt &Whitney PW4000 derivative, and a new engine from General Electric Pratt &Whitney Engine Alliance. "We are evaluating ...
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ANZ drops Rolls for GE on next 747-400
AIR NEW ZEALAND (ANZ) has switched its allegiance from Rolls-Royce to General Electric for its next Boeing 747-400, due for delivery in 1998. The flag carrier opted for GE's CF6-80C2 over R-R's proposed RB.211-524G/H-T improved turbofan. The decision is a setback for the UK manufacturer's effort to sell ...
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British Midland plans a foray into third-party maintenance market
British Midland is planning a major expansion into the third-party maintenance market, with the formation of British Midland Engineering, a new subsidiary company based at East Midlands Airport in the UK. The airline is also setting up a separate ground-handling company to expand its services in this area. ...
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Boeing increases rates - again
BOEING IS TO raise production to 43 airliners a month by mid-1998 - the sixth rate increase announced over the past 14 months - citing its 1,389-aircraft firm-order backlog and the signing of long-term exclusive agreements with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Continental Airlines reportedly has agreed an exclusive ...
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FAA grounds Great Lakes Aviation
GREAT LAKES Aviation suspended flights on 16 May in the face of a US Federal Aviation Administration-imposed shutdown because of alleged deficiencies with maintenance operations. The action forced codeshare partners United Airlines and Midway Airlines to accommodate stranded passengers. Great Lakes served 82 cities in 21 US states ...
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US Federal Aviation Administration demands EMB-120 ice-detection
The US Federal Aviation Administration has proposed an airworthiness directive (AD) calling for the installation of ice-detection systems on the Embraer EMB-120 regional turboprop. The AD follows the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report into the crash of a Comair EMB-120RT in Michigan on 9 January, which ...
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Will A3XX ever get off the ground?
Sir - M Newman, writing about the Airbus Industrie A3XX (Letters, Flight International, 2-8 April, P96), asks: "Will political chicanery and commercial advantage preclude [its] worldwide adoption?" Urging us to "-remember Concorde", he also asks: "-how many of these aircraft were expected to be sold worldwide?" ...
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Premier enters Malaysian regional market with 146s
The latest in a long line of new Malaysian start-up carriers, Premier Air, plans to launch charter services in September, equipped with two British Aerospace 146 regional jets. Premier general manager Selva Kumar says that the privately backed airline has already been granted an air-operator's certificate by the ...
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SIA results hit by high costs and strong dollar
Rising costs and a strong Singapore dollar which weakened passenger yields undermined Singapore Airlines' (SIA) financial performance for the year ending 31 March. The lacklustre results included only a marginal profit rise of 0.6% and an increase in net profit to $1.032 billion ($714 million) from a revenue of $7.22 ...
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AVIC/Airbus sign AE31X agreement
Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) and Airbus Industrie Asia (AIA) have signed a framework agreement covering the joint development of the proposed AE31X family of regional jets, formerly known as the AE-100/A318. The memorandum, signed in Beijing on 15 May by French president Jacques Chirac and Jian Zemin, ...
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MMS wins $600 million LEO deal
Matra Marconi Space (MMS) has been awarded a $600 million contract by Constellation Communications of Reston, Virginia, to be prime contractor for the space segment of a low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite system, including delivery in orbit and insurance. The 12-satellite system, operating in 2,000km equatorial orbits, will provide voice, ...
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SilkAir selects engine
SilkAir has selected the International Aero Engines V2500-A5 for its planned new fleet of Airbus Industrie A319/A320s. The Singapore-based airline is to order a mix of eight A319s and A320s to replace its two Fokker 70s and Boeing 737-300s (Flight International, 14-20 May). SilkAir will also take options on another ...
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AlliedSignal begins reliability upgrades
AlliedSignal's $30 million enhancement programme for the ALF502R and LF507 engines, dubbed the XRP (extended-reliability package) has gone into top gear with the release of the first group of improvements. Major items of the "Group 1" XRP include new number two, four and five bearing packages, new number ...
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Allison revises growth plans for AE3007
Allison Engine is revising growth plans for its AE3007 turbofan, to tackle the thrust requirements of the projected Embraer EMB-170, a possible stretched version of the EMB-145 now being studied by the Brazilian manufacturer. "The growth version would use the fan from the Tay engine," says Allison large-commercial-engines ...
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CAE reveals C$100 million sales
CAE ELECTRONICS has revealed commercial flight-simulation orders exceeding C$100 million ($72 million), including its first sale to Airbus Industrie. The Canadian firm is predicting increased sales over the next two years, based on strong aircraft orders over the past year. The new orders include seven full-flight simulators, for ...
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FSI expands Toronto site for Dash 8-400
FLIGHT SAFETY International (FSI) is expanding its Toronto, Canada, training centre to accommodate a simulator for the Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8-400 high-speed regional turboprop. The simulator is scheduled to enter service in 1998. The expanded centre, to be completed in July, will also house a Dash 8-100/200/300 ...
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TTS wins Korean Air and Thai simulator deals
THOMSON TRAINING & Simulation (TTS) is to build an Airbus A330-300 full-flight simulator for Korean Air. The South Korean carrier has also ordered a Boeing 747-400 simulator from CAE (see story). Thai Airways International, meanwhile, has awarded TTS a contract to upgrade its Airbus A300-600 full-flight simulator from ...
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Wicat ships more free-play trainers
WICAT SYSTEMS' training-device business is expanding, with a Virgin Atlantic Airways contract for an Airbus A340 systems trainer to be delivered later this year for use in engineering training. The firm has also installed free-play trainers for the Airbus A320 and A330 flght-management and -guidance systems (FMGS) at ...
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Boeing considers extending 777 fatigue testing
Boeing will decide in the next few weeks whether further fatigue testing of its 777 is required, before "tearing down" the full-scale fatigue specimen for analysis, but it is already applying test results to aircraft manufacture. Planned tests simulating 120,000 flight cycles ended in March. Boeing says that ...