All air transport news – Page 2376
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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. ...
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Il-76 crash in Gulf
An Ilyushin Il-76 freighter of Ukrainian airline ATI Aircompany crashed into the Gulf near Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, on 13 July. Six bodies were recovered within 48h of the accident, but all eight crew are believed to have been killed. The four-engined aircraft (UR76424), built in 1986, crashed ...
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Subsidies dispute
Brazil has appealed to the World Trade Organisation to resolve its dispute with Canada over regional aircraft subsidies after efforts to reach a bilateral accord were deadlocked. Bombardier believes Brazil unfairly subsidises exports of Embraer's RJ-145, but the Brazilian manufacturer says Canada subsidises development and sales of Canadair Regional Jets. ...
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Brake warning
An Airbus Industrie A320 overran a runway because sealant missing from a cap over its braking dual distribution valve allowed water ingress and freezing. This disabled the aircraft's standby braking system, according to a US Federal Aviation Administration emergency airworthiness directive, which calls for checks to be carried out within ...
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737 operators clamour for hushkits to meet noise rules
Boeing 737 hushkit specialists AvAero Aircraft Noise Reduction and the Nordam Group have between them amassed orders and options for more than 500 kits, with both reporting a new flurry of activity in the market. Florida-based AvAero says a new order from First Air of Canada means it has ...
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Air Algerie starts fleet modernisation
Algeria's state-owned flag carrier Air Algerie has chosen Boeing to provide its new short haul fleet, with a deal for 10 Next Generation 737s. The order includes seven 737-800s and three 737-600s. Deliveries will begin in 2000, with two 737-800s arriving, followed by five more -800s in 2001 and ...
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Airbus holds talks with China to develop A310 replacement
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Airbus Industrie Asia (AIA) has tabled a series of possible substitute collaborative proposals to the defunct AE31X, including working with Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) on a new widebody aircraft to follow on from the Airbus A300/A310. The study project - dubbed the P305 - being ...
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AirTran Airlines leaps back into profit
AirTran Airlines has turned in its first quarterly profit since the Florida crash two years ago which forced the carrier, then called ValuJet, to suspend services for several months. The new group, which emerged last year from the merger of AirTran Airways and ValuJet, is forecasting a "solidly profitable" ...
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All Nippon Airways'debt downgraded
Lead US rating agency Moody's has downgraded All Nippon Airways' long-term debt below its traditional investment grade, raising concerns over growing competition in deregulated Japanese markets and recession in the domestic economy. The warning comes after another round of losses among the major Japanese carriers was confirmed by the ...
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Augsburg considers flotation to maintain expansion rate
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Augsburg Airways is considering a public flotation to keep its expansion rolling, although the German regional carrier says that such a move is at least three years away. Augsburg has financed its fleet growth, now planned at two aircraft a year, through private debt placement, but concedes that ...
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BAe seeks regional liabilities insurance
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON British Aerospace is understood to have drawn up plans for an innovative insurance scheme that would help clear regional aircraft liabilities from its balance sheet. The group, which directly manages a portfolio of more than 90 British Aerospace 146s and a further 400 turboprops through its ...
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Boeing sued over SilkAir crash
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE The first of several expected lawsuits arising from last December's crash of a SilkAir Boeing 737-300 has been filed against Boeing, in an attempt to force the Indonesian-led investigation to release more information about the possible cause of the accident at Palembang, Indonesia. A US firm ...