All air transport news – Page 2273
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Workshop
-Hawker Pacific Aerospace has won a $5 million five-year contract to repair and service landing gears on 16 UPS Airlines Boeing 747 freighters. It will perform the work at its facility in the UK. The company has also secured a $6 million five-year landing gear maintenance contract from SAS, LOT ...
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US low-cost airlines recover...
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Further evidence has emerged of an upturn in fortunes for the beleagured US low-cost carriers, with a round of profits for the second quarter. Vanguard Airlines has posted its first-ever profits and Kiwi International Airlines is optimistic that it will return to the black this year. ...
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Ericsson plans radar merger
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Ericsson Microwave Systems is in exclusive talks with GEC-Thomson-Dasa Airborne Radar (GTDAR) over merging their respective active array radar projects into a single European programme. A draft memorandum of understanding between the parties already exists and the Swedish company has ceased discussions with potential US partners while it ...
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Elbit diverts Romania's MiG-21s to win Ethiopian upgrade deal
Arie Egozi/TEL AVIV Elbit Systems is to provide the Ethiopian air force with 10 upgraded Mikoyan MiG-21s supplied from the Romanian air force's inventory, as Addis Ababa moves to strengthen its forces in the conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. The Israeli company scooped the $30 million deal after a ...
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Datalink-equipped F-16s prepared for expeditionary trial
Two US Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16s equipped to receive target imagery in the cockpit via datalink will take part in an experimental expeditionary force exercise at Eglin AFB, Florida, in September. The trial will evaluate the tactical use of datalinking target images direct to the cockpit in an ...
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Sunshine jetset resets
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON While the sun is shining on Europe's holiday makers this summer, the tour operators have been hard at work on an industry-wide consolidation. The events of the last year or two have begun to reshape the major travel markets of Germany and the UK. The transformation has ...
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GAMA figures reveal sales boom in USA
US general aviation manufacturers have reported a 62% increase in sales for the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, according to figures from the US General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). A total of 956 aircraft were shipped in the first half, to ...
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FAA prepares to clear MD 600N improvements
The US Federal Aviation Administration is expected to "sign off" on a performance improvement programme for the Boeing MD 600N helicopter by the end of July. The year-long effort will result in clearance for take-off and landing at 7,000ft (2,130m) density altitude at all-up weights of up to 1,750kg ...
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Production problems hit Boeing first half profits
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing has doubled the projected number of Next Generation 737s it will have to build to reach break even on the programme as the legacy of production problems continues to dog its financial performance. The USgiant admits that it is now likely to have to ...
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SAS firms up 737-600s
SAS has converted 13 options for Boeing 737-600s, taking the number of firm orders for the type to 55. Deliveries are to start in September and will be completed in mid-2002. Source: Flight International
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Boeing alters strut rating of 777-200ER
Boeing has revised the strut limitation of the 777-200ER, allowing powerplant manufacturers to offer a higher level of available engine thrust, giving improved payload performance from hot/ high and restricted runways. US industrial sources say Boeing has raised the engine strut rating from its earlier maximum of 400kN (90,000lb) ...
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TrunkLiner programme is scrapped
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE China has scrapped the Boeing MD-90-30 TrunkLiner programme less than a month after the collapse of AE-3IX co-development negotiations with Airbus Industrie Asia, delivering a double blow to the country's once bold aerospace ambitions. Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) has instructed Boeing's Long Beach plant to ...
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US Airways plans fleet overhaul
US Airways is planning to update and expand its Shuttle fleet with Boeing 737-300s, but it claims that this will require its pilots to agree to a modified employment contract The division, which operates a fleet of 12 Boeing 727-200s on services between Boston, New York and Washington DC, ...
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ERJ-135 arrives in USA for flight tests
Embraer has flown its ERJ-135 (foreground) regional jet prototype to Moses Lake, Washington, for a series of test flights, due to end in early August. The aircraft, a shortened ERJ-145 prototype, made its maiden flight on 4 July and has quickly built up hours with a series of tests. ...
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F-16 testbed receives JSF's all-electric flight control system
Graham Warwick/FORT WORTH Lockheed Martin has begun installing an all-electric flight control system in an F-16 testbed under a programme to mature the technology for use in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Ground tests are to start in August, leading to a first flight next January. The Advanced ...
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WorldNav communications unit to become ACARS successor
Honeywell has launched its own communications management unit (CMU), catching up with competitors AlliedSignal and Rockwell Collins and filling a gap in the company's WorldNav product suite. Honeywell expects the CMU, which complies with the latest ARINC 758 standard, to succeed the current airborne communications addressing and reporting system ...
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BFGoodrich Autoclave
BFGoodrich Aerospace has introduced a $1.7 million autoclave at its plant in Prestwick, Scotland. Measuring 3.6m (12ft) in diameter and 12.2m in length, it will be used for the repair of engine nacelles and thrust reversers. The autoclave uses a gas radiant system for high-pressure bonding of composite materials. It ...
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Spacehab buoys up expansion plans with Johnson acquisition
Spacehab, the private company that provides pressurised modules for the Space Shuttle, has almost doubled in size by acquiring a leading company supporting NASA's Shuttle programme. Houston-based Johnson Engineering manages spacewalking training operations at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, Texas, as well as supporting the ...
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Extex nozzles
Extex has developed a new turbine nozzle for the Allison 250 turboshaft, with durability improved by a platinum aluminide coating. The platinum provides a ductile transition layer between the aluminide and the Inconel 738 parent material to inhibit crack propagation and "reduce oxidation, sulphidation and erosion", says the company, which ...
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Boeing's aluminium
Boeing has appointed TMX, the Detroit-based subsidiary of Germany's Thyssen, to be sole distributor of its aluminium stock for the next 10 years starting late this year. The $300 million contract will see "select" mills being used. Currently 50 distributors, seven flat-rolled product mills and 14 extrusion mills are used. ...