All air transport news – Page 2288
-
News
BA to slash long-haul 767 economy seats
Under its new strategy of focusing on high-yield traffic, British Airways is to reconfigure its long-haul Boeing 767 fleet by removing nearly 50 economy class seats to introduce first class and expand business seating. The carrier has also called a halt to its "Utopia" livery scheme. BA has seven ...
-
News
Boeing buy promises Dowty $250 million
Dowty has landed two major orders from Boeing Commercial Airplanes that could be worth over $250 million to the UK aerospace equipment supplier. Hamble Structures, acquired by the TI Group - Dowty's parent - following its recent purchase of the EIS Group, has secured an extension of a deal ...
-
News
Lockheed Martin gets involved in Hungarian scandal
Lockheed Martin is trying to distance itself from an unfolding political scandal in Hungary involving the activities of one of its mid-level executives, who has been forced to resign, along with two senior Hungarian government officials. The scandal centres on Hungarian political lobbying to appoint Steven Jones, Lockheed Martin ...
-
News
Cathay on schedule as dispute ends
Cathay Pacific is aiming to return to a full flight schedule as soon as possible following the eleventh-hour resolution of a long-running pay dispute with its pilots. Cathay's flights have been severely disrupted since 28 May by pilots calling in sick, citing excessive stress because of the dispute. Pilots ...
-
News
Trent 500 exceeds planned thrust
Rolls-Royce has exceeded the planned 60,000lb (300kN) certification thrust of its Trent 500 by 8,000lb. The engine, under development for the Airbus A340/500/600, has been running on a testbed since late May. The first engine is to complete more than 60h of testing this month, when a second test ...
-
News
French carrier signs for freight TBM700
Socata has signed a deal with French airline Air Open Sky under which the carrier will lease a freighter version of the TBM700 turbine single for trials leading to an order for up to five aircraft. A similar deal is being negotiated with Swedish cargo carrier Air West Sweden. ...
-
News
Regional squeeze
You would think that some industries learned from their mistakes. Not so the regional aircraft manufacturing sector. It appears again that too many players are trying to cram into a market with more products than it can reasonably support. At one stage, it seemed that the industry had accepted ...
-
News
Israeli F-16s are targeted for upgrades
Elisra Electronic Systems and Lockheed Martin have signed a co-operation agreement to market previously competing electronic warfare (EW) suites for the F-16. Under the deal, EW systems from Elisra and Lockheed Martin's Sanders subsidiary will be offered as baseline systems on the F-16. The agreement, which covers the sale of ...
-
News
The black hole
The secretive investigation into the crash of a SilkAir 737-300 in Indonesia shows up major cultural differences in dealing with accidents Andrzej Jeziorski/JAKARTA The thing about black holes, in astronomical terms, is that nothing ever comes out of them. Some people liken the controversial investigation into the crash in ...
-
News
New steps to orbit
With a sixth commercial launch planned by year-end, the Euro-Russian Starsem has hit the market with a bang Tim Furniss/LONDON The Euro-Russian Starsem commercial satellite launcher consortium is an international success story. Starsem plans three more commercial Soyuz launches of 12,450kg (27,400lb) Globalstar low earth orbit (LEO) mobile ...
-
News
Air Ukraine orders An-140s and signs commitment for more
Air Ukraine has ordered four Antonov An-140 regional airliners and has signed a letter of intent for 40 more. The Ukrainian national airline, which controls more than 10 regional carriers in the country, will use the 46-52/seat An-140s to replace 60 An-24s, An-26s and An-30s. Air Ukraine has specified ...
-
News
Aerostar finishes IAK-52W tests
Aerostar has completed flight testing of its IAK-52W, an enhanced derivative of its licence-built Yakovlev Yak-52 designed for the Western market. "Essentially, the new IAK-52W offers the same performance as that of the IAK-52, but in an aircraft with twice as much range, more compatibility and easier maintenance and ...
-
News
SITA commits to new datalink
Emma Kelly/GENEVA Airline telecommunication giant SITA has committed itself to the next generation of aeronautical datalink services - VHF datalink mode 2 (VDL-2) - by awarding a $23 million contract to Harris for a global network of VHF ground stations (VGS). The VDL-2 aircraft-to-ground datalink protocol will provide a ...
-
News
Varig brings a halt to 747 passenger operations
Chris Jasper/RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil's Varig is to cease Boeing 747 passenger operations after nearly 20 years of using the type. The carrier is to return three leased 747-300s to International Lease Finance, and also plans to sell its two -300 Combis. Although Varig president and chief executive ...
-
News
German charter carrier Hamburg launches with leased 737-700
Hamburg International has started operations with a Boeing 737-700, leased from Pembroke Capital, on services from secondary German cities and Luxembourg to European holiday destinations. The charter airline, which is operating for German tour companies NUR, TUI and Oeger Tours, plans to introduce a second 737-700 later this year. Funding ...
-
News
Marketplace
Aviation Capital Group has bought an Airbus A320 that is on lease to America West, and a Boeing 727-200 that will be hushkitted and converted to cargo configuration for lease to an undisclosed US cargo carrier for eight years. Iberia has begun the next phase of its fleet renewal programme, ...
-
News
Il-96 marks a first with US certification
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW The Ilyushin Il-96T freighter has become the first Russian commercial transport to receive US Federal Aviation Administration certification, clearing the way for deliveries to begin to Aeroflot Russian International Airlines. The four-engined widebody, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW2337s and equipped with Rockwell-Collins avionics, won Federal ...
-
News
Sabena expands Schreiner franchise deal
Dutch regional airline Schreiner Airways is re-organising its franchise agreement with Sabena as it moves to expand its feeder operations under the new Sabena Connect brand. Schreiner operates four 50-seat Bombardier Dash 8-300s for Sabena on wet-lease and franchise services, but plans to add more aircraft and routes from ...
-
News
SilkAir crash pilot's family releases financial details
The Indonesian Air Accident Investigation Commission (AAIC) has obtained documents on the financial background of the pilot of the SilkAir Boeing 737-300 that crashed on 19 December, 1997. The documents are expected to yield vital clues to the state of mind of Singaporean Capt Tsu Way Ming, who was ...
-
News
Air Caribbean plans long-haul services
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON Fast-growing east Caribbean airline Air Caribbean is finalising a deal for its first widebodied aircraft as it prepares to begin long-haul services to North America and the UK. Based in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, the private airline is negotiating to acquire three secondhand Boeing 767-200ERs. "We are on ...