All air transport news – Page 2392

  • News

    Middle Eastern Airbus

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Middle East Airlines (MEA) has become the first operator in the region to fly the Airbus A321, following the hand-over of the first of two aircraft leased from International Lease Finance. The International Aero Engines V2500- powered, 169-seat aircraft will be joined by the second A321 later this month. MEA ...

  • News

    Comair rejects EMB-145s for more Regional Jets

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    DELTA CONNECTION carrier Comair has increased its order for Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets (CRJs), after evaluating Brazilian manufacturer Embraer's rival EMB-145. The airline has placed firm and conditional orders for 30 of the 50-seat CRJs, and taken options on a further 45 aircraft, some of which could be ...

  • News

    Dragonair/Cathay gear up as A330 services return

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair planned to have all 15 of their Airbus A330-300s back in service by 7 June, after completing gearbox modifications to the twinjet's Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines. R-R and Cathay had completed 25h of ground and flight testing of the Hispano-Suiza modification package on ...

  • News

    Mesaba expands under new Airlink contract

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    USREGIONAL MESABA Airlines has signed a new agreement with Northwest Airlines extending its operations to include all Northwest Airlink codeshare flights from Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota. Mesaba will take over from Express Airlines I on 1 August. Express will continue to operate as Northwest Airlink from Memphis, Tennessee. The ...

  • News

    Indian purchase

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Indian Airlines has now received board approval to move forward with the purchase of six 50-seat regional aircraft, with financing expected to be provided through long-term bank loans. The carrier has short-listed the Saab 2000, AI(R) ATR 42-500 and the Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8.   Source: ...

  • News

    P&W solves A330 engine problem

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Pratt & Whitney is retrofitting all PW4164 and PW4168 turbofans powering the Airbus A330 with a redesigned blade platform after tests revealed the potential for high N1 (low-pressure-spool rpm) rotor imbalance and the loss of the fan-containment system in the event of a fan blade detaching - a risk with ...

  • News

    Leases set for Tu-204

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Sirocco Aerospace International plans to announce its first lease commitments for the Rolls-Royce RB.211-535E4-powered Tupolev Tu-204-120, following the certification of the engine/airframe combination by the Russian Air Registry, and the first delivery later this month. Sirocco was officially launched in Moscow in December 1996 by Egypt's Kato Group ...

  • News

    Swissair closes on MD-10 conversion work

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Swissair's SR Technics maintenance subsidiary has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with McDonnell Douglas (MDC) to fit up to 25 DC-10-10s with an advanced, Honeywell-designed, two-crew flightdeck under Phase II of the FedEx MD-10 programme. MDC confirms that the MoU has been agreed, but adds that "-it ...

  • News

    UK carriers close on A300F contracts

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    SEVERAL UK-based cargo airlines are confirming plans to begin operating Airbus A300 freighters, as DHL works towards the introduction of the widebody on its intra-European network. Heavylift Cargo Airlines is understood to have concluded a deal with C-S Aviation Services for two British Aerospace Aviation Services (BAeAS)-converted A300B4 ...

  • News

    Vietnam nears decision on long-haul fleet

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Vietnam Airlines expects to make a decision on a new long-range passenger aircraft before the end of the year, but says that its final type selection will be largely contingent on the availability of either US or European export-credit financing. The airline has narrowed its choice down to ...

  • News

    ARIA posts profits after year of growth

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines(ARIA) has posted a positive set of 1996 results, showing a strong growth in passenger numbers and a boom in cargo traffic. ARIA revealed an overall net profit of 124.5 billion roubles ($22 million) for 1996, and the results would have been better but for an ...

  • News

    Japanese majors look to improve on a poor 1996

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Japan's major airlines have revealed disappointing financial performances in 1996/7, as higher fuel charges and a weak yen eroded operating profits, but the carriers are optimistic that there will be improvements this year. Japan Airlines (JAL) swung back into the red with an overall net loss of ´9.2 ...

  • News

    Indian separation

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Indian Airlines chairman P C Sen is studying proposals to spin off the domestic carrier's engineering services into a stand-alone business with its own identity and accounts. Sen has cited the lead set elsewhere in Asia by Singapore Airlines and Gulf Air, which have successfully turned their engineering departments into ...

  • News

    Japanese airline finanical performance -...

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Japanese airline finanical performance - 1996/7 Sales (´bn)Operating marginNet profit/loss (´bn)Forecasts 1997/8 (´ bn) 1996/7change1996/71995/61996/71995/6SaleschangeNet profit Japan Airlines1,1957.1%0.4%1.4%(9.2)0.51,2444.1%0.0 All Nippon Airways8874.9%2.0%3.2%3.9 3.19335.1%3.9 Japan Air System3197.1%-0.1%-0.1%0.2 0.13416.9%0.4 Japanese airline operating statistics - 1996/7 Total passengersInternationalDomesticCargo tonnes (million)change(million) change(million)change(000)change Japan Airlines30,1984.8%11,4216.4%18,7773.9%8285.4% All Nippon Airways39,7205.6%2,67416.6%37,0464.9%5026.6% Source: Flight International

  • News

    Power shortage

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    According to current folklore, engine makers don't actually make any money out of building engines: they give them away, and then hope they will recoup the cost out of spares and maintenance in years to come. The engine makers, at least in public, will reject that as a wild exaggeration, ...

  • News

    Lockheed Martin to fly all-electric F-16

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    LOCKHEEDMARTIN has been cleared to proceed with modification of an F-16 to demonstrate the all-electric flight controls planned for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The Advanced Fighter Technology Integration (AFTI)/ F-16 will be modified in 1998 for flight tests starting in January 1999. The six-month, 60-flight demonstration, under ...

  • News

    The cost of free flight

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    RUNNING an orderly air-traffic-management (ATM) system using airways, by definition, confines aircraft to a fraction of the airspace available. At a time when the skies are becoming increasingly crowded - particularly in Europe - any ATM system which fails to use all available airspace is, therefore, giving up part of ...

  • News

    Kitplane popularity soars as sales increase

    1997-06-11T00:00:00Z

    WORLDWIDE Kit sales could total around 7,750 aircraft annually by the end of the decade, according to research published by the US magazine Kitplanes. A survey examined the expected growth in sales of kitplanes and plans-only designs for 95 home-build aircraft manufacturers, around 60% of the industry, from 1990 up ...

  • News

    The necessity for European mergers

    1997-06-04T14:06:00Z

    Sir - The Comment "Hands off" (Flight International, 21-27 May) appropriately addresses the real problem of European aerospace-industry integration. This difÌculty is also highlighted in the problems surrounding Aerospatiale and the valuation of its intellectual property rights in the negotiations to formalise Airbus Industrie as a standalone corporation. ...

  • News

    H+S Aviation

    1997-06-04T14:00:00Z

    UK engine-overhaul company H+S Aviation, of Portsmouth, Hampshire, has appointed David McRobert to the new position of marketing and business-development director. He was previously responsible for H+S' Pratt & Whitney Canada and Allison repair and overhaul businesses.   Source: Flight International