All air transport news – Page 2139

  • News

    In the front seat

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Flight International samples Airbus' new flight desk technology for the A3XX Peter Henley/TOULOUSEAirbus Industrie has built up vast experience in the design and production of fly-by-wire commercial aircraft. A bedrock philosophy behind the consortium's ever-expanding family has been to achieve maximum commonality between cockpits. This means pilots can fly ...

  • News

    Family rivalry

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    For decades, Cathay Pacific has dominated the skies over Hong Kong, unchallenged by local airline competition. That could soon change Andrzej Jeziorski/HONG KONG Hong Kong's skies are still clearly divided as far as the region's indigenous airlines are concerned and are dominated by well-established long-haul giant Cathay Pacific Airways. Cathay ...

  • News

    Forecasts for 2000 - Airframers

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Ultra-large aircraft and regional jets to move ahead, but production to slow Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON Although 1999 promised some dramatic airliner developments, few came to fruition. But the stage has been set for key activities over the next 12 months - most notably in the ultra-large aircraft and regional-jet sectors. ...

  • News

    Boeing's big question

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Is now the right time for the Seattle manufacturer to go ahead with a larger, heavily modified 747 family? Guy Norris/SEATTLE Decision time is looming again in Seattle. The future of the 747 and, with it, Boeing's dominance of the high-capacity long-range market, rests on whether the company commits ...

  • News

    Qantas ultra-long-haul request sets up fresh Airbus-Boeing challenge

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Qantas Airways has issued a fresh request for proposals (RFP) reviving its long-standing requirement for a family of long-range, ultra-long-haul 300-seat aircraft to expand capacity and begin replacing Boeing 747SP/-200/-300s and 767-200ERs. The Australian carrier is using the RFP to determine whether the economics are ...

  • News

    Airbus and Boeing set to hit output records

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Airbus and Boeing are on course to deliver a record 915 aircraft between them in 1999, but their combined output is set to decline from 2000. Airbus has warned that some deliveries will be delayed in 2000 because of a production problem. Airbus will end 1999 with 295 deliveries - ...

  • News

    Reims analyses demand for Western version of An-140

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Francois Legros/PARIS French light aircraft manufacturer Reims Aviation is evaluating the market for a possible Westernised version of the Antonov An-140 turboprop. Reims Aviation sales manager François Billet says the company's relationship with the Ukrainian design bureau Antonov is "very close" and that it is "undertaking a market ...

  • News

    SAS board approves A330/A340 purchase

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    The SAS board has finally approved the Scandinavian flag carrier's long-awaited purchase of four A330-300s and six A340-300s to replace Boeing 767-300ERs on long-haul routes. The airline's selection of the Airbus types over the rival 777-200ER was revealed by Flight International in January, although the order was delayed until internal ...

  • News

    USA offers AMRAAM to Taiwanese air force

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Taiwan has won tentative agreement from the USA to sell Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles to arm the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF). According to the air force's Weaponry Acquisition Office, the USA has agreed to integrate AIM-120 software into Taiwan's Lockheed Martin F-16A/B fleet. This grants ...

  • News

    Forecasts for 2000 - Aerospace

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    The shape of the industry is changing radically Chris Jasper/LONDON The face of aerospace manufacturing has been transformed over the past few years by rampant merger activity, but in 2000, the industry may at last be prepared to take a breather as companies concentrate on extracting value from the ...

  • News

    Atlanta becomes all-widebody and sets its sights on 767s

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON Air Atlanta Icelandic is phasing out its narrowbodies and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar fleet and focusing on an all-widebody fleet of Boeing 747s and 767s. The Reykjavik, Iceland-based wet-lease specialist recently signed agreements to take five more 747s on lease, bringing its 747 fleet to 11 aircraft. ...

  • News

    Routes

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Virgin Atlantic has signed a codeshare agreement with Air India that will see the UK airline operating three frequencies a week between London Heathrow and New Delhi from next summer, using Boeing 747s. Virgin will take up Air India's unused frequency rights, and intends to double flights to six a ...

  • News

    BAE and EADS battle for Alenia

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Andy Nativi/GENOABAE Systems and the European Aeronautic, Defense and Space company (EADS) are battling to recruit Alenia Aeronautica, the biggest element of Finmeccanica's Alenia Aerospazio subsidiary and one major European concern that is not yet tied to a strategic partnership. Discussions have taken place at industry and government level. BAE ...

  • News

    Airline investors finalise Iberia shareholding

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Investors, including British Airways and American Airlines, have finalised accords for taking stakes in Iberia after agreeing a value for the airline with the Spanish Government, clearing the way for its privatisation. The deal, signed on 15 December, followed several months of negotiations between the core investors and state holding ...

  • News

    Japan Airlines sells 20% stake in DHL

    1999-12-22T00:00:00Z

    Japan Airlines (JAL) has sold a 20% stake in DHL Worldwide Express as it aims to cut its long-term debt by ¥350 billion ($3.5 billion) by March 2002. The move paves the way for DHL to float 23% of its equity via an initial public offering in the next few ...

  • News

    New angle on Quiet Wing system for 727

    1999-12-15T00:00:00Z

    Duganair Technologies (DTI) has received US Federal Aviation Administration approval for a version of its Quiet Wing System Stage 3 modification that allows the use of 40° flap settings on the Boeing 727. DTI says the clearance allows operators to regain the 727's original short field performance capabilities that ...

  • News

    Aeroflot agrees to lease six Ilyushin Il-96-300s

    1999-12-15T00:00:00Z

    Aeroflot Russian International Airlines has signed an agreement with Ilyushin's finance arm to take delivery of six Ilyushin Il-96-300s on lease. Production of the 240-seat Il-96-300, powered by the Aviadvigatel PS-90A, has been running at a trickle at the VASO Voronezh plant, where unfinished aircraft have been stockpiled. ...

  • News

    German leasing new entrant to acquire A320/737 portfolio

    1999-12-15T00:00:00Z

    Deutsche Operating Leasing (DOL) expects to order a mix of 18 Airbus A320 family aircraft and Boeing Next Generation 737s early next year and to bolster its fledgling regional jet portfolio with a series of airline sale and lease-back deals. The company, set up by Germany's BfG Bank in ...

  • News

    JetBlue ready as first A320

    1999-12-15T00:00:00Z

    New York-based low-fare startup JetBlue Airways has taken delivery of the first of at least 32 International Aero Engines V2500-powered Airbus A320s. The airline has received one of seven aircraft to be taken on operating lease - two from Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise and five from International Lease Finance - ...

  • News

    Crossair gears up for ATM-2000+

    1999-12-15T00:00:00Z

    Andrew Doyle/SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS Crossair aims to become the first regional airline to have aircraft compliant with Europe's future communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) operating environment when it begins taking delivery of a fleet of 15 Embraer ERJ-145s in February. The carrier says it decided ...