All air transport news – Page 2137
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News
Our wacky world
Innovation is alive in Australia but some unusual designs have been confined to the drawing board Australia, the nation which brought you a flying farm-tractor called the Airtruk and a stagger-wing trainer called the Eagle, is at it again. Innovation is alive and well down under, despite market conditions ...
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In Brief
LOT qualifies for Swiss deal SAirGroup's $33.7 million purchase of a 10% stake in in the Polish flag carrier LOT was officially signed in November. The purchase will be combined with a share issue, increasing SAir's stake to 37.6%. Financial assets from the share issue, equalling close to $150 ...
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JetBlue prepares for February launch
JetBlue Airways has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320 and expects another one soon as it gears up for an early February take-off. The 10 aircraft to be delivered this year will sport three different livery patterns using various shades of blue - the favourite colour of chief executive ...
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Peru's skies make room for another domestic starter
Yet another small airline has launched domestic flights in Peru. Aviandina, which won its operating certificate in mid-November, started flying a 10-city network from Lima the next day, using two leased Boeing 727-100s and one Boeing 737. This latest start-up brings to eight the number of local airlines scrambling ...
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Routes
Down Mexico way Continental Express, the regional subsidiary of Continental Airlines, plans to start a service from its hub at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport to San Luis Potosi, Mexico, next March, subject to government approval. By adding San Luis Potosi, Continental and Continental Express will serve 18 destinations ...
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Virgin moves on Australia
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Richard Branson's decision to launch a low-cost domestic Australian airline is the biggest threat yet to the Qantas-Ansett duopoly During a whirlwind tour of Australia, Richard Branson announced that Virgin Australia would start mid-year with five Boeing 737s that could quickly grow. Focusing initially on the busy ...
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China tax threatens leasing company growth
A new Chinese tax on aircraft operating leases is emerging as a potential threat to leasing companies hoping to profit from expectations that China's airline industry will grow at a faster-than-average rate over the next 20 years. The new withholding tax was quietly introduced by the Chinese Government, effective ...
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China, Japan go regional
NICHOLAS IONIDES ATI/SINGAPORE After their success in the USA and Europe, regional jet aircraft makers have at long last cracked two important, but untapped, markets in Asia - China and Japan. Hainan Airlines has become China's first carrier to operate scheduled regional jet services after receiving the first of at ...
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In Brief
Asiana offer Asiana Airlines expects to raise 375 billion won ($325 million) through an initial public offering of 50 million shares. Shares were made available early in December ahead of a listing on South Korea's secondary Kosdaq share market at the end of the month. Public and institutional investors ...
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Chicago revisited
KAREN WALKER CHICAGO Transport ministers from around the world joined airline and industry chiefs in Chicago in December to discuss how to shed the bilateralism legacy of the historic 1944 Chicago Convention and also move beyond the current open skies regime to multilateralism. US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater lost few ...
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In Brief
Steeper downturn predicted The US Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) is predicting a worse downturn in sales of US civil aircraft in 2000 than had been expected. In his annual year-end review and forecast, AIA president John Douglass said sales of US civil aircraft, including engines and parts, are expected ...
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New Beginning
GÜNTER ENDRES ATHENS With the belated opening up of the Greek market, a clutch of independent operators is starting to mount a serious challenge to flag carrier Olympic Airways Until 1998, Greece had been virtually untouched by the European liberalisation process. Apart from a partial deregulation in 1991, which permitted ...
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War with no winners
HORMUZ MAMA BOMBAY With the high season in full swing, India's domestic airlines may be wondering whether last year's cut-throat fare war was really worth it. Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Sahara Airlines co-existed peacefully until India's economic woes caused traffic to plummet last year. Following a rapid rise ...
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A sense of balance
CHRIS TARRY COMMERZBANK IN LONDON The traffic forecasting model developed by Commerzbank and Airline Business highlights the extent to which capacity ran ahead of demand in 1999. But the coming year could bring markets back to balance. If further evidence was needed over the pain that excess seat capacity can ...
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Iberia sells Binter to local consortium
BARRY CROSS LONDON Parent state holding company SEPI has given Iberia approval to sell regional subsidiary Binter Canarias to a consortium of local businessmen. The price of Ptas5.5 billion ($35 million), plus Ptas800 million in dividends - the equivalent of 65% of the 1998 profit - is just ...
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Routes
Yangon to Macao Myanmar Airways International has started operating charter services to Macau from Yangon using a leased Boeing 737-400. Macau airport operator CAM says the service began on 27 November and approvals have been secured for 10 flights through to next February. ANA expands to Honolulu ...
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In Brief
Asiana offer Asiana Airlines expects to raise 375 billion won ($325 million) through an initial public offering of 50 million shares. Shares were made available early in December ahead of a listing on South Korea's secondary Kosdaq share market at the end of the month. Public and institutional investors ...
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EC rethink on safety body
ALAN GEORGE BRUSSELS Further delays in the establishment of the proposed European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) seem inevitable following an intervention by the new Transport Commissioner Loyola De Palacio. She now wants the EASA to be established as part of the European Commission (EC), reversing the previous compromise by which ...
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Routes
Aer Lingus spreads in Europe Aer Lingus will introduce two new routes out of Dublin, serving Munich and Stockholm from April. These latest additions are part of a relaunch of the airline's business strategy in the continental European market. Frequencies to Amsterdam, Milan and Rome are also to be ...
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Olympic Lynchpin
GÜNTER ENDRES ATHENS Rod Lynch has been brought in to Olympic Airways to avert a Greek tragedy. The sight of a Scotsman sitting behind the desk once occupied by Aristotle Onassis, whose picture still dominates the chief executive's office, is striking. Yet the contrast between the Greek billionaire shipping magnate, ...