Airframers – Page 1580

  • News

    Financial results

    1997-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Air Macau's operating loss during its first full year was about half of the original forecast. The airline carried 665,000 passengers at an average load factor of 68%. Air Pacific increased its profits during its first full year of flying to Los Angeles and Osaka, although the French ...

  • News

    Gulf Air split put on hold

    1997-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Gulf Air's future remains in doubt as Abu Dhabi still looks set to succeed in its bid to take control of the carrier. The bid by the oil-rich Emirate was put on hold following new objections from Qatar and Oman. Concerned about their ability to grow their own ...

  • News

    BA-AA: a hell of a furore

    1997-02-01T00:00:00Z

    The European Commission's latest drive to secure external competence in aviation matters is little short of a public relations disaster. But then the way most parties have acted during the response period to the UK's Office of Fair Trading report on the proposed British Airways-American Airlines alliance reeks of bad ...

  • News

    BA tightens Euro screws

    1997-02-01T00:00:00Z

    British Airways will intensify its efforts to turn around its unprofitable operations in France and Germany after the acquisition of Air Liberté and the relaunch of Deutsche BA. Air Liberté's fate rests in BA's hands after the commercial tribunal in Creteil finally approved BA's recovery plan, filed in ...

  • News

    Mastering Micronesia

    1997-02-01T00:00:00Z

    As island governments slash support for their airlines, the carriers are discovering the need to size themselves to fit their markets and to pay more heed to commercial realities. When your nearest neighbour is 10 days away by boat, aviation is fairly important. But the central Pacific Micronesians are ...

  • News

    Mutual interests

    1997-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Mutual funds own substantial shares in most major US airlines. James S Altschul examines how they look at the airline business, and asks how much influence they wield. They are the behemoths of the equity investment world. Fuelled by a surging stock market, growing retail interest in equities, and a ...

  • News

    Tan tough on PAL unions

    1997-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Philippine Airlines chairman Lucio Tan has displayed characteristic toughness in dealing with the carrier's three unions and has secured a four-year accord after three months of brinkmanship talks. Tan has given the unions a rude awakening after years of capitulation by the carrier's former government owners. Tan set ...

  • News

    US pilots are out for profit

    1997-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Record profits and the use of regional jets are at the root of troubled pilot union negotiations at both American Airlines and United Airlines, and American could suffer a strike. The relationship between American's management and the Allied Pilots Association has changed dramatically since early January, when APA ...

  • News

    Flightwest and MBA prepare to begin new Australia-PNG services

    1997-01-29T17:50:00Z

    Flightwest Airlines of Brisbane is preparing to fly between Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG), using capacity to be released by Australia's International Air Services Commission (IASC) following agreement late in 1996 on a new Australia/PNG bilateral (Flight International, 6-12 November, 1996). The IASC says that the Flightwest ...

  • News

    Sabretech closes another plant in wake of Valujet crash

    1997-01-29T17:45:00Z

    SabreTech, faced with losing its repair-station licence from the US Federal Aviation Administration, closed its Orlando aircraft repair station on 17 January. The company previously shut down its Miami centre which is alleged to have played a significant role in the crash of the ValuJet McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 on 11 ...

  • News

    Air Littoral orders more Regional Jets, evaluates CRJ-X

    1997-01-29T17:26:00Z

    Air Littoral has signed a $133 million deal with Bombardier Aircraft for seven Regional Jets, with options on a further five. The Montpellier, France-based regional airline is also seriously evaluating the stretched 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-X regional jet. All seven aircraft, which are in addition to the nine Regional ...

  • News

    Does the USA have worldwide rights?

    1997-01-29T11:53:00Z

    Sir - I read with interest Capt de Piednoir's letter "Déja vu with age-60-years ruling" (Flight International, 8-14 January, P37), about a US Federal Appeals Court panel ruling on whether the US Federal Aviation Administration can continue to bar pilots aged 60 years old from commanding US passenger aircraft. The ...

  • News

    Deutsche BA aims to return to profit by 1998

    1997-01-29T10:48:00Z

    Deutsche BA has unveiled a new strategy, aimed at putting the airline into profit within 18 months and refocusing on internal German services. Since its launch by British Airways in mid-1992, the carrier has rapidly established itself as Germany's second-biggest after Lufthansa, but is still struggling to make a profit. ...

  • News

    Hughes attempts to draw US Stinger ban

    1997-01-29T10:29:00Z

    Hughes Aircraft is seeking to get around the US Government's refusal to sell the shoulder-launched FIM-92 FMP surface-to-air missile to South-East Asian countries by instead offering a tripod-mounted version of the weapon The US manufacturer is already in the process of seeking Government approval to sell its dual-mount ...

  • News

    Boeing calls halt to 747-X programme

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Boeing has shelved its 747-500X/600X plans, opting instead to focus on development of the 767-400ERX and 777-200X and 777-300X long-range high-capacity twins. An update of the 747-400 is now a possibility. Boeing Commercial Airplane group "senior officers" decided on the sudden move at a meeting in mid-January, but the announcement ...

  • News

    -Steps up tempo of long-range 777 work

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Boeing has revealed new details of its plans for heavier versions of the 777, which will be led by the -200X effort, which the company hopes to launch, along with the -300X, at the time of the Paris air show in June. The projected entry-into-service date for the ...

  • News

    Over to you, Airbus

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Surprise and, in some cases, relief, have greeted Boeing's sudden decision to drop its 747-500X and -600X programme. Despite signs of back-pedalling by Boeing, the airlines and engine makers appear to have been caught off-guard, although it was the carriers' indifference which put paid to the project. Rival ...

  • News

    Cathay will launch FANS 747 flights by year's end

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Cathay Pacific Airways plans to finish equipping its entire fleet of Boeing 747-400s with future-air-navigation system (FANS-1) equipment by March and hopes to be operating on the first communications, navigation and surveillance/air-traffic-management (CNS/ATM) route across the northern Pacific Ocean by the end of the year. The Hong Kong ...

  • News

    The big issue

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    BOEING'S REVELATION that it will not be competing in the very-large-airliner market with a derivative of the 747, thus apparently leaving Airbus Industrie's A3XX with a clear run, has certainly raised more questions than answers. While attention has focused on Boeing's doubts about lack of "sufficient market demand" ...

  • News

    P&W proposes Asian F-16 engine upgrade

    1997-01-29T00:00:00Z

    Pratt & Whitney is pushing its further improved F100-229 Increased Performance Engine (IPE) (Plus) to Asian air forces as an upgrade option for the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D, with Singapore and South Korea likely candidates for the upgrade. The engine, which has also been designated as the -229A, is ...