All air transport news – Page 2195
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Airbus Industrie received its first firm contract for the new 107-seat A318 in April, when an undisclosed customer placed orders for 57 A320 family aircraft, including 30 A318s, 14 A319s, three A320s and 10 A321s. COPA Airlines of Panama has taken delivery of the first of 12 Boeing 737-700s it ...
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Shuttle war gathers pace
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The air war over Washington DC has escalated with US Airways announcing plans to introduce new Airbus A320s. The move comes as it expands its lucrative shuttle operation in competition with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. US Airways will replace 12 Boeing 727-200s operated ...
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Flightlease orders charter 767s
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH SAirGroup has taken a step towards standardising the fleets of its charter airline affiliates on the Boeing 767-300ER after leasing subsidiary Flightlease placed an order for up to eight of the twinjets. The aircraft will be operated by Balair CTA, Sobelair, LTU and Air Europe, part of the ...
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Q400 simulator ready for airline crews
Bombardier and FlightSafety (FSC) have completed the relocation and reconstruction of the Dash 8 Q400 simulator from Tulsa to the FSC training centre at Bombardier's Downsview, Toronto, plant. Interim level C approval is expected next month, when launch customer pilot training is to begin. Level D approval of the FlightSafety ...
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NASA launches virtual control tower
NASA has Placed into service a full-scale virtual reality air traffic control tower, which will be used to study ways of improving airport capacity and safety. The virtual tower is installed at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffat Field in California. "With runway accidents growing 15% a year and ...
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Engine-makers submit 777X bids
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce have submitted bids to Boeing covering the development of 115,000lb-thrust (510kN) engines to power the long-delayed, ultra-long range 777-200X and -300X derivatives. Details remain confidential, but GE is pushing for exclusivity, while its rivals are thought to be offering ...
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CRJ-700 flies ahead of roll-out ceremony
Bombardier's 70-seat stretched derivative of the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ), the CRJ-700, made a 2h test flight before its formal roll-out ceremony at Canadair's Montreal plant on 28 May. The prototype is undergoing around 25h of local flight testing before being ferried to Bombardier's flight-test centre at Wichita, Kansas. Five ...
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COPA 737-700 sports new livery
COPA Airlines has unveiled its new corporate livery to coincide with the delivery of its first Boeing 737-700 and ahead of the launch this month of its international codeshare alliance with Continental Airlines. The US carrier, which has acquired a 49% holding in the Panamanian airline, will codeshare with COPA ...
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BA to cut European short-haul routes
Chris Jasper/LONDON British Airways is planning to axe 25% of its short-haul routes within Europe as part of a radical approach to a growing crisis centring on declining yields. The UK flag carrier saw pre-tax profits plunge more than 61% to £225 million ($360 million) for its financial year ...
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Quad TiltRotor under study
Graham Warwick/MONTREAL Bell Boeing is studying a four-proprotor tiltrotor aircraft as a potential replacement for both heavylift helicopters and tactical transports. The initial concept for the Quad TiltRotor (QTR) is to use the wing, nacelles, engines and proprotors from the Bell Boeing V-22, mating them to a modified ...
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NATO directors split decision on ground surveillance needs
Stewart Penney/LONDON The NATO Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) has agreed on a twin-track approach to satisfying the Alliance's air-to-ground surveillance (AGS) requirement. A US-led group, including Canada, Denmark and Norway, will move ahead with a two-year project definition phase for a system based on the Northrop Grumman/Raytheon ...
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S Korea's KAISAT-4 will carry Australian payload
South Korea's KAISAT-4 microsatellite, scheduled for launch in 2002, will carry an Australian-developed communications package. This is part of a new two-nation agreement intended to explore common payload applications for remote sensing and space-based rural area communications. The payload is a derivative of a combined UHF, S band and ...
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767-400 engine mounts strengthened
Boeing's design of different engine mountings for the 767-400ER, compared to other members of the 767 family, has been vindicated by a US Federal Aviation Administration proposal to accept the new design under the special conditions clause of its regulations. On 767-200 and -300 models, damage to the aircraft ...
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China order prompts Britten Norman to resurrect Trislander
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON Britten Norman (BN) has relaunched production of its 16-seat Trislander commuter aircraft, following an order from China for three aircraft. Shenyang-based China Northern Airlines has selected the tri-piston-powered aircraft to upgrade its regional services, with deliveries due between September next year and January 2001. The ...
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Western company buys Yak-42s for Moldova lease
A new Irish-based leasing company, Corvette Aviation, has bought two Yakovlev Yak-42Ds from Russian financial group Interros. The two secondhand aircraft are on short-term lease to Moscow-based Bykovo Avia. After refurbishment and overhaul, they will be leased to Air Moldova International, with delivery of the first aircraft slated for June ...
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Dispute threatens A318 start
Julian Moxon/PARIS Production start-up of the recently launched 107-seat Airbus Industrie A318 is being threatened by a dispute over workshares in the programme. The argument centres on Aerospatiale's complaint that it is paying more into A318 development than its 37.9% share in the Airbus Industrie consortium. An ...
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Brymon switches to Embraer for jets
Brymon Airways has switched allegiance for its new jet fleet, placing an order for up to 21 50-seat Embraer RJ-145s, rather than the rival Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ). The Plymouth-based UK regional airline, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways, has an all-Bombardier fleet of 16 Dash 8-300 ...
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New beginnings from AlliedSignal
In July, AlliedSignal engineers will start a new engine for the first time. This is a critical milestone for any engine maker, but more particularly for AlliedSignal, which plans to make the AS900 turbofan a pivotal powerplant in its strategic plan for the 21st century. The AS900 is a ...
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Kawasaki partners on civil tiltrotor
Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has signed an agreement with Aerostructures of Nashville, Tennessee, to manufacture components for the Bell Agusta BA 609 civil tiltrotor aircraft. Aerostructures is responsible for the aircraft's fuselage development. KHI says it will develop the cabin doors and fuselage tailcone under subcontract. KHI is the first ...
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Mission 212 prototype poised for assembly
Lambert Aircraft Engineering plans to start building the proof of concept Mission M212-100 prototype this month. It is also awaiting certification of the air-cooled Zoche ZO 01A engine to kick-start flight testing next year. The manufacturer, based in Kortrijk, Belgium, has completed destructive wing tests on the single-engined Mission ...