All air transport news – Page 2263
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Back to basics
Paul Lewis/SEOUL & SINGAPORE Asia's embattled aerospace industry will likely reflect on 1998 with utter dismay. Once-bold Asian aeronautical ambitions to be a global player have been confined to the scrapheap after a series of setbacks. The focus is now on a post mortem examination to determine if and ...
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Back from the brink
Guy Norris/Seattle What went wrong, and what action is being taken to make sure it never happens again? These are the questions being asked by Boeing and the investment community as the company begins recovering from a dire production crisis that continues to wreak havoc with its financial performance. ...
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Seeking quiet
Paul Seidenman/SAN FRANCISCO Airport noise regulations worldwide are becoming ever stricter, putting airframe and engine manufacturers under increasing pressure to deliver quieter aircraft. In the USA, NASA's Advanced Subsonic Technology (AST) programme is a joint government-industry research effort which names aircraft noise reduction as a primary objective. Running since ...
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Signs of hope
Howard Gethin/LONDON For the Russian military aviation industry, things look a little brighter than they did two years ago. For the first time in several years, Russia has ordered new military aircraft (albeit only a handful) and the manufacturers have flown new designs, with the tenuous promise of meaningful ...
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Crisis and complication
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW The Civil aviation industries of Russia and its CIS neighbours are in deep crisis. In 1996, only five airliners were delivered from the 22 factories which form the industry. In 1997, the total grew to just six aircraft. So far this year, only four aircraft have ...
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Sensing safer skies
Guy Norris/SEATTLE The aviation industry's continual search for safer skies is reaching "crusade" status as the chilling implications sink in of predicted traffic growth on accident rates. The US Federal Aviation Administration, for example, expects "a serious accident" every week by 2015 unless some radical changes are made. That ...
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Too much, too late
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US government's unexpected opposition to Lockheed Martin's planned $12 billion acquisition of Northrop Grumman led to the deal's demise, but the so-called "merger mania" evident since the end of the Cold War is now expected to produce a wave of consolidation among smaller, second-tier US ...
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Found finds first customers for new Bush Hawk
Found Aircraft Canada is assembling the first pre-production Bush Hawk light utility aircraft, with a maiden flight expected by early October. The aircraft will be used to certificate modifications to the original 1960s vintage Found FBA-2C design, which will be incorporated into new production aircraft. Found hopes to begin deliveries ...
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Jetcruzer sales accelerate as flight testing continues
Guy Norris/Los Angeles Advanced Aerodynamics & Structures (AASI) has taken orders worth more than $180 million for 150 Jetcruzer 500s, as a third aircraft is prepared to join the certification programme. The Long Beach, California-based start-up manufacturer reached the new sales mark after taking a further 23 orders ...
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Meridian on course for 2000 certification
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC New Piper Aircraft flew the single-turboprop Malibu Meridian for the first time on 21 August, 10 days ahead of schedule. The Vero Beach, Florida-based manufacturer says there were "no major problems" on the maiden flight of the turboprop derivative of its Malibu Mirage high-performance piston single. ...
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777-X studies pass presidential scrutiny
Boeing's plans to launch the 777-200X/300X development, possibly with a tail-mounted auxiliary power and thrust unit (APTU), took a further step forward on 25 August when its product development team reported study plans to the company's Office of the President. No hurdles were raised as a result of the ...
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Airbus breaks into BA with huge A320 order
Max Kingsley-Jones/TOULOUSE Airbus Industrie has landed one of the biggest deals in its history with British Airways' decision to place an order for up to 188 A320 family aircraft - the first time it has placed an order with the European consortium. The deal was only done after BA ...
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Garuda embarks on major restructure
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Garuda Indonesia's newly appointed president has embarked on a comprehensive overhaul of the financially stricken carrier, involving new financing for a reduced fleet of aircraft, cutting routes, new code-share agreements, the axing of over 40% of the airline's staff and the sale of non-core businesses. "What ...
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Raptor arrives
The second Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor arrived on 26 August at Edwards AFB, California, where it will enter the flight test programme. The aircraft flew non-stop to the desert test site from Lockheed Martin Aeronautical System's Marietta plant in Georgia. Source: Flight International
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Rolls-Royce improves V2500 production times
International Aero Engines (IAE) partner Rolls-Royce has cut the lead time from 60 to 10 days for manufacturing compressor discs and drums for the IAE V2500 turbofan. The improvement has been achieved thanks to a new £2 million ($3.2 million) "lean" production cell, opened at R-R's Derby, UK, base ...
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CAE to produce first Cargolux 747-400F freighter simulator
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Canada's CAE Electronics has revealed several flight simulator orders, including one from a first-time customer. Luxembourg-based Cargolux Airlines has ordered a Boeing 747-400F freighter full-flight simulator for delivery next year. Cargolux's device will be the first built for the freighter version of the 747-400, says ...
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Have four engines, will travel far
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON When Airbus Industrie launched its four-engined fly-by-wire A340 family in June 1987, it was the first all-new long-range widebody for a generation, and seemed to catch Boeing on the hop. The McDonnell Douglas DC-10-derived MD-11 provided the only competition for the A340 for several years as Boeing ...
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The next big idea
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Stock markets may not always be right, but they are also very hard to ignore. So when Wall Street began to discount aerospace stock earlier this year it was a brave executive who turned a blind eye. Perhaps most troublesome is the timing of the slump. It ...
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Turbine technology
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES The newest US combat aircraft shattering the skies over Farnborough in 2010 will be powered by an engine which, compared to its 1990s' ancestor, will have double the thrust-to-weight ratio, yet will cost one-third less to make and to maintain. Futuristic though these goals may ...
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Airline Business 100 - 1998
Rank Airline Revenue US$M OpResult US$M NetResult US$M net margin % fleet Total emps Revenue Tonne kilometres (mil) Revenue Pax km Pax millions Load Factor % Year End 97 96 Pax ...