All air transport news – Page 2297
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Poland and Bulgaria prepare to privatise national carriers
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Plans by Poland and Bulgaria to sell off major stakes in their state-owned flag carriers are gathering pace. A strategic partner is being sought for LOT Polish Airlines, while Balkan Bulgarian Airlines is set to get a new majority shareholder. The Polish Government is preparing to ...
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Vnukovo acts to stem losses
Vnukovo Airlines, Russia's second-largest airline in terms of passenger numbers, has changed its general director and several of its senior management following several years of heavy losses. The new general director is Vladimir Roubtsov. He was a senior official in the Soviet Ministry of Civil Aviation and was with ...
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Routes
The USA has signed an open-skies agreement with the Gulf state of Bahrain and hopes to extend the agreement to the other three states that have shareholdings in Gulf Air. Discussions have begun with Oman, while an outline agreement was reached with the United Arab Emirates in April. There have ...
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Syrianair thinks over 747SP role as new A320 fleet expands
Syrianair is considering the launch of new long-haul routes for its two Boeing 747SPs, as new Airbus A320s replace them on many services. The Damascus-based carrier has operated the 23-year-old, 320-seat 747s since they were delivered new in 1976. The airline ordered six 150-seat A320s in 1997 to update ...
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Chicago Express finalises fleet expansion plans
Chicago Express is poised to decide on its fleet expansion strategy as the US regional airline moves to bolster its position at Chicago Midway Airport. The wholly owned subsidiary of American Trans Air's (ATA) parent AmTran Holdings uses its fleet of nine leased British Aerospace Jetstream 31s on feeder ...
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L'Aeropostale plans express cargo network
French company L'Aeropostale is discussing opening a new European express freight network in an alliance with subsidiaries of its two shareholders, La Poste and Air France. The firm is about to embark on a major expansion of its capacity, replacing its two Boeing 727s with three cargo-configured Airbus A300B4s ...
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China Airlines awaits approval to wrap up 747-400F contract
Brent Hannon/TAIPEI China Airlines (CAL) is preparing to conclude a deal with Boeing for 12 747-400 freighters, but is awaiting Taiwanese Government approval before it finalises the order. "We will replace our whole freighter fleet with the one aircraft type," says the airline, adding that fleet commonality is ...
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Western Express expands Fokker F27 freighter fleet
Western Express Airlines (West-Ex) has boosted its Fokker F27 freighter fleet with the acquisition of a Mk400 from Farnair Europe. The aircraft joins two F27s and a Fairchild Metro. It will enable the Vancouver-based Canadian cargo carrier to expand the route network it operates for Canadian express packages specialist Purolator ...
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Marketplace
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 ...