All air transport news – Page 2329
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Swisscargo drops spin-off proposal
Swissair's cargo division, Swisscargo, has ditched proposals to spin off its own freight airline and will instead expand its existing strategy of wet-lease and block space agreements. The tentative plan to set up the cargo airline was studied in 1997, when an initial three of five Boeing 747-300 passenger ...
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Government bank plans CAL bid
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE The Taiwanese Government-owned China Development Bank (CDB)has declared an interest in buying a 35.5% stake in China Airlines (CAL), days after Singapore Airlines (SIA) dropped its bid. CDB is an investment arm of Taiwan's ruling Nationalist Party and owns about 2% of CAL together with another ...
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F119 powers up for F-22 production standard
Pratt & Whitney plans to deliver its first full production standard F119 engine for the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 fighter test programme in November. The powerplant, the 18th of 26 flight test engines the company will deliver by the end of 2000, will form P&W's production endurance demonstration engine. "It ...
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Thriving business
Andrew Doyle/TEL AVIV In an era when airline bosses preach the merits of focusing on "core activities", Arkia Israeli Airlines has learned to thrive through diversification. As Israel's largest domestic carrier, Arkia built its international charter unit into a major leisure travel business, selling everything from hotel rooms ...
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Management actions
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Flight management systems (FMS) are no longer luxury items found only on large airliners, but essential equipment on commercial aircraft of all sizes and ages. The reason is the navigation accuracy now possible and the cost benefits available to airlines in the form of fuel and ...
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Sticky business
Tim Furniss/LONDON Dust from the comet Wild 2 will be collected and returned to earth by the fourth mission in NASA's Discovery programme which kicks off with a Delta II launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida on 6 February. It will be the first time that samples from a ...
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DaimlerChrysler Airbus will link headquarters
DaimlerChrysler has ordered an Airbus A319 Corporate Jet (CJ) for delivery in early 2000. The aircraft will be operated by a new subsidiary company, DaimlerChrysler Aviation, based in Stuttgart, to ferry employees between the German city and the conglomerate's second headquarters in Detroit, USA. Before it receives the International ...
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Agusta will certificate Koala - a year late
Agusta is planning to certificate its single engined A119 Koala in May, nearly a year later than originally scheduled. The Italian manufacturer blames the delay on its efforts to incorporate design changes to the aircraft, in response to customer demands. The design of the seven-seat Koala, which was originally ...
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TAI aims for September flight testing for its first design
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) plans to begin flight testing its single-engined agricultural and firefighting aircraft in September. "The design phase should be completed shortly and then we will start building the first prototype," says TAI marketing director Yilmaz Guldogan. The single-seat aircraft, yet to be named, will be ...
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Pakistan orders more F-7MG fighters, plans upgrades
Paul Lewis/ISLAMABAD Pakistan plans to order around 50 improved Chengdu F-7MG fighters from China, as the air force moves ahead with the upgrade of its existing F-7P and Dassault Mirage III/5 fighters and the delivery of more secondhand French aircraft. The Pakistan air force (PAF) is looking for ...
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SAS opts for A330/A340s but order awaits cost cuts to bite
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH SAS has selected the Airbus A330/A340 family for its planned long-haul fleet renewal but is holding off signing a firm order until its internal cost cutting targets have been met. The airline has decided to reject Boeing's offer of 10 Boeing 777-200ERs in favour of a ...
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Pop goes the boom
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON On the face of it, the Airbus and Boeing orderbooks have so far escaped much of the Asian gloom, with a third successive year of solid sales and production records. Order deferrals, however, have already begun, and airliner salesmen are bracing themselves for a tougher time ahead ...
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Boeing wins Globalstar launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON Boeing has been contracted by Space Systems Loral to launch 28 more Globalstar worldwide mobile communications satellites on seven Delta IIs. The first eight - and so far only - satellites in the series were launched on two Delta II boosters from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 1998. Forty-eight ...
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Russian 1.44 to fly soon despite money shortage, says MAPO
MAPO MiG's MFI (Article 1.44) fifth generation fighter prototype will fly by early March, MAPO officials said at the aircraft's first public appearance on 12 January at the LII flight test centre at Zhukovsky, near Moscow. The aircraft taxied in front of an audience that included Russia's ministers of defence ...
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Fairchild fastens on
Fairchild has agreed to acquire Kaynar Technologies, a maker of aerospace fasteners, for $267 million. The combination of Fairchild Fasteners and Kaynar Technologies is expected to generate $685 million in revenues for the company in the fiscal year ending 30 June 1999. Source: Flight International
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Components plant
Snecma Services, the French engine maker's after-market arm, and the USA's Praxair Surface Technologies are negotiating to set up an aircraft engine component repair centre in France. Initially, it will provide compressor component repair services for CFM56, and later the General Electric GE90 powerplant. Praxair provides metallic and ceramic coatings ...
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Air France pilots back wage cuts
Eight out of 10 Air France pilots have agreed to wage cuts and a subsequent freeze in salaries in return for a stake in the airline when it is partially privatised. The decision means that the French Government can go ahead with its partial privatisation plans, under which up ...
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Ansett to replace 747-300s with -400s
Paul Phelan/CAIRNS The board of Ansett International has endorsed a plan to acquire two Boeing 747-400s as interim replacements for two 747-300s it leases from partner Singapore Airlines (SIA). The decision removes any near term plans to acquire smaller twinjets. The airline operates the 747-300s between Australia and ...
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ATR team sets tight deadline for regional jet project talks
Andrew Doyle/TEL AVIV ATR partners Aerospatiale and Alenia are trying to wrap up, by the end of March, a deal with either Fairchild Dornier or Embraer for the joint development of a family of regional jets. Talks with Fairchild Dornier, which began last month, are to continue through ...