All air transport news – Page 2382
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Sempati first to shut down
Sempati Air ceased operations in early June, becoming the second airline casualty of the Asian currency crisis and the first in Indonesia. Transportation minister Giri Suseno broke the news about the shutdown. 'It is impossible for Sempati to continue operations in the current difficult situation,' he told the Jakarta ...
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Hornet joined
Final assembly of the first production Boeing F-18E/F has begun with the joining of the centre/aft fuselage, built by Northrop Grumman, to the forward fuselage. Source: Flight International
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Island of competition
Air Mauritius still enjoys government protection as the sole local scheduled carrier and has successfully seen off a recent challenge to this position from local upstarts African Island Airways (AIA). The idea for a second, regional Mauritian carrier was first floated in July 1995 by local entrepreneur Georges Chung. ...
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Cathay coy over partner
Cathay Pacific remains coy about which global alliance grouping it will ally itself with as speculation mounts over potential bedfellows. Cathay's alliance talks are progressing with virtually all major carriers and groupings in the industry, and a decision will be made within six to nine months, says Cathay managing ...
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Chinese join global pack
Chinese flag carrier Air China has become the first Chinese airline to enter fully into an international alliance, but its decision is likely to trigger similar alliance moves from other Chinese carriers. Air China is set to join a strategic alliance with Northwest Airlines and its partners Continental Airlines, ...
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China stops cheap deals
So much for China's experiment with deregulated air fares. Wide-open pricing, which led to discounts of up to 50 per cent, ended in May when the Civil Aviation Administration of China tightened limits on how much airlines could vary ticket prices. Last November the CAAC gave airlines an almost ...
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Comair lists in Jo'burg
Comair is to become the first South African carrier to seek a listing, and is to debut on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange this July. Comair's chairman, Dave Novick, hopes the listing will value the company in excess of R1 billion (US$200 million). A prospectus was expected to be issued ...
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French pilots kick up fuss
A further reduction in costs is the key to Air France's partial privatisation later this year, but pilots are strongly resisting cuts in their salary. A strike over a 15per cent cut in pilots' pay started 1 June and is costing the carrier FFr100 million (US$16.7 million) a day, ...
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Race for the bronze
Aircraft lessors are jockeying for position as Asian airlines start to think more seriously about operating leases. No-one is challenging the two giants. International Lease Finance Corp and General Electric Capital Aviation Services remain the top aircraft operating lessors. But a three-way race is on to see who will ...
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Aer Lingus is to lose Team
With the disposal of an unprofitable non-core subsidiary finally on the horizon, Aer Lingus now has to confront the bigger questions of ownership and alliances. At presstime the management of the Irish flag carrier had still not convinced the 1,550 strong workforce of its unprofitable aircraft maintenance arm, Team, ...
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Making waves
With a new regional venture, a consultancy and plans to invest in an African carrier, Air Mauritius is taking an increasingly aggressive stance in exploiting its standing in the region. When Air Mauritius chairman and managing director Nashir Mallam-Hasham arrived at his new desk a little over a year ...
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US alliances face scrutiny
The US General Accounting Office has planted serious seeds for concern in politicians' minds by claiming that proposed US domestic alliances could mean a reduction in competitive service to almost 101 million American passengers. The GAO highlights the Delta Air Lines/United Airlines partnership as especially worrying because of its ...
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'Production issues' put 757-300 first flight back by three weeks
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES First flight of the stretched 757-300 has slipped three weeks and is now planned for about 24 July, because of "production related issues", says Boeing. The manufacturer says that the aircraft "-is not the problem", but that overall production issues at the site in Renton, Washington, are ...
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American ponders DC-10s' fate
Guy Norris/DALLAS FORT WORTH American Airlines will decide on the fate of its remaining McDonnell Douglas DC-10s by the end of the month as part of a major restructuring process that will see its total jet fleet increase to more than 700 aircraft from 2000 onwards. "By the ...
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ARIA fumes over tax delays
Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines (ARIA) has hit out at the Moscow Government for delaying signature of a decree exempting the airline from paying taxes on imported aircraft. Speaking during the delivery of ARIA's first Boeing 777, director-general Valeri Okulov (son in law of Russian president Boris Yeltsin) criticised the Government, saying: ...
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Next Generation 737 CFM56 failure was a 'one-off', says CFMI
Initial investigations into the failure of a bearing on a new CFM56-7 powering a Maersk Air Boeing 737-700 show that the incident was a "one-off", says CFMInternational (CFMI). The Maersk aircraft, delivered to the Danish operator in early March, suffered "a complete failure of the number four bearing" on ...
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Fiji Airways details structure as new status is approved
Fiji Airways has revealed more details about its structure and planned flight operations, following the Fijian Government's agreement, in principle, to designate the start-up as the island's second international airline. Local accountant Neil Underhill has been named chairman. To comply with majority local shareholding rules, Underhill has a 2% ...
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Kelowna sells stretched Convair 5800s to IFL
Kelowna Flightcraft has sold its two stretched, re-engined Convair 5800 freighters to US cargo operator IFL Group. The first aircraft is already in service with Pontiac, Michigan-based IFL's Contract Air Cargo. The second is being repainted at Flightcraft's Kelowna, British Columbia, plant ready for delivery. The Canadian company ...
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Jersey European adds five 146-300s to fleet
Jersey European Airways has added five British Aerospace 146-300s to its regional jet fleet following a deal to lease aircraft previously operated by Thai Airways International. The Exeter, UK-based airline is planning to use the aircraft on new routes, such as the service from London Luton to Belfast, starting ...
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Unloading procedures tip Polar 747 balance
Non-standard unloading procedures appear to have caused a Polar Air Boeing 747 freighter to adopt a spectacularly high nose attitude on the ramp at New Delhi airport, India, during the night of 6-7 June. Ground engineers who inspected the aircraft have reported that main-deck cargo pallets seem to have been ...