All air transport news – Page 2338
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Asia's economic haze
Brent Hannon/KUALA LUMPUR Concerns over the state of the once-unstoppable Asia-Pacific airline market were underlined again as the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) met in Kuala Lumpur in mid-November for the 41st assembly of presidents. The latest figures show a 25% drop in collective operating profits over ...
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Beriev restarts flight testing of Be-103
Beriev has resumed flight tests of its Be-103 utility amphibian, three months after the first prototype was destroyed in a crash at the Moscow air show. The second, six-seat, prototype had its maiden flight on 17 November from the Russian design company's airfield in Taganrog. The aircraft is is ...
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Lycoming inspection
The US National Transportation Safety Board has requested that all Textron Lycoming IO-320-B1A engines with older-style, thinner, propeller-mounting flanges be inspected for cracks after aerobatic manoeuvres, following the 1996 fatal crash of a Lancair 320. Source: Flight International
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Boeing slows 777-200X/300X product-development work
Boeing has switched the emphasis of product-development work on the proposed 777-200X/300X ultra-long-haul and stretch derivatives for at least three months. The 300 staff working on the two planned variants are understood to have been switched from new-product development to focusing on reducing programme costs. Sources in Seattle say ...
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CASA joins in negotiations on European regional restructure
Julian Moxon/PARIS CASA of Spain has joined the negotiations on the future of Europe's regional-aircraft industry as a launch decision on the planned Aero International (Regional) (AI(R))Airjet regional jet seems likely to be delayed beyond the original end-of-year deadline. Talks between AI(R) president Patrick Gavin and new CASA ...
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BA prepares for massive tender
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON British Airways is preparing to issue a tender to Airbus and Boeing early in the new year for up to 160 narrow- and widebodied aircraft as it gears up for its long-term fleet-renewal programme. The airline is understood to be finalising an outline of its requirements ...
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MAPO MiG-29s head for Ecuador
MIG MAPO is close to signing a contract to deliver an unspecified number of MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters to Ecuador. Neighbour Peru already operates MiG-29s, which it bought from Belarus.The Latin American country may be looking at the MiG-29SMT version, which started flight trials in November. The aircraft, which has upgraded ...
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Air France 'must spend more money' on new aircraft
Julian Moxon/PARIS Air France must invest at least Fr40 billion ($6 billion) on new aircraft over the next five years if it is to remain competitive, the airline's new president Jean-Cyril Spinetta told a French Senate committee on 20 November. Aircraft-renewal plans centre on the need to replace ...
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SAS Commuter looks to Dash 8-300X to replace Saab 2000s
Ramon Lopez/TORONTO SAS Commuter underlined plans to standardise on the Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8 family for its regional-fleet needs at the unveiling ceremony of the new 70-seat Series 400, when it revealed that it will dispose of its 50-seat Saab 2000s when their leases expire early in the ...
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Airbus ponders its A3XX systems role
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Airbus Industrie is considering passing responsibility for the integration of avionics on the proposed A3XX to a specialist, allowing companies outside the consortium to bid for the work. Speaking at the 1997 ERA Avionics Conference in London on 19 November, Michel Comes, director of systems at ...
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Dow-UT improves resin-transfer moulding process
Dow-United Technologies Composite Products (Dow-UT) has improved its advanced resin-transfer moulding (AdvRTM) process to enable production of more complex carbonfibre parts. The improved process uses shaped unidirectional-fibre preforms to fill the gaps where two or more sections are moulded together. When using conventional RTM, these gaps would fill ...
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Future avionics architecture is proven
A group of major European avionics manufacturers has designed an avionics architecture for future aircraft which will vastly reduce development and support costs and improve interoperability between aircraft and systems. The Industrial Avionics Working Group (IAWG) has completed a risk-reduction study into software techniques for integrated modular avionics (IMA) ...
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Europe's FAA?
Alan George/BRUSSELS The European Commission (EC) is preparing to push radical new proposals to set up a European AviationSafety Authority (EASA) at a meeting of transport ministers later this month. The new agency, which will have sweeping powers, could be operational by 2000 according to well-placed sources in Brussels. ...
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WRC agrees Ka-band frequencies for Teledesic, Skybridge, Celestri
The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 1997 in Geneva has agreed to allocate Ka-band frequencies to the Teledesic, Skybridge and Celestri high-speed multi-media satellite systems. The decision to allow the Skybridge and Celestri to compete with the $9 billion US Teledesic multi-satellite system planned by Microsoft's Bill Gates and entrepreneur ...
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UK noise curb attempt
The UK Government has launched another attempt to reduce the noise limits at London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports to below international standards. The new proposals would lower the current limits of 97dBA (day) and 89dBA (night) to 94dBA and 87dBA, although "Stage 2" aircraft approved for gradual phasing out ...
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FAA contract
Lockheed Martin can expect to earn $1 billion as the US Federal Aviation Administration's National Airspace System Implementation Support Contractor (NISC II). The contract, one of the agency's largest support programmes, includes an initial four-year contract worth $350 million and three two-year options. Source: Flight International
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Airports survey - Major airports traffic, first half of 1997
Rank 97 Airport Passengers 97 Pax % change Domestic 97 Dom % change International 97 Intl % change Freight 97 Freight % change Movements 97 Move % change 1 Atlanta 39.58 ...
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Airports survey - Top 50 airports 1996
Rank 96 Rank 95 Airport Passengers 96 Pass % change Domestic 96 Dom % change International 96 Intl % change Freight 96 Freight % change Movements 96 Move % change 1 1 ...
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Air China to go for IPO
Air China is pressing ahead with plans for its own initial public offering despite the postponement of the listing by the CAAC's commercial arm, China National Aviation Corporation. Air China aims to shrug off its state control and partially privatise within two years. 'We'll float by 1999 at the ...
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The wall comes tumbling down?
Lois Jones The Great Wall of China runs slap bang through Air China's offices. Or so it seems to the uninformed outsider. Over the years, the state-controlled Civil Aviation Administration of China has constructed a wall of resistance designed to keep outside influences and potential friends and foes away ...