All air transport news – Page 2421
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Air Niugini hit by sackings
Papua New Guinea's (PNG) deputy prime minister and finance minister Chris Haiveta suddenly sacked all but two members of the seven strong Air Niugini's board of directors during a meeting in February, leaving final negotiations stalled for the acquisition of two new Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8-200s, and other corporate ...
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Presidential intervention delays American settlement
AMERICAN AIRLINES says that first deliveries of new Boeing aircraft will be delayed after US President Bill Clinton intervened to push any pilots' strike back by at least 60 days. Clinton stepped in minutes after the pilots went on strike on 14 February and appointed an emergency mediation board, which ...
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KLM selects vendors for 747 upgrade
KLM has selected Canadian Marconi to provide the integrated global-positioning-system/flight-management system and act as systems integrator for the Dutch carrier's planned flightdeck upgrade for its fleet of 13 Boeing 747-200/300 Classics. Other vendors selected include Litton Aero Products, to supply the replacement inertial-reference system, and Smiths Industries, to ...
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Manx Airlines selects EMB-145
Manx Airlines has finalised its long-awaited regional-jet order with a contract for up to five Embraer EMB-145s, the first of which will be delivered in June for operation on the airline's British Airways Express franchise services. The airline selected the Brazilian regional jet after a three-way fight involving ...
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NTSB springs 737 rudder surprise
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) surprised Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration on 20 February by unexpectedly announcing recommendations for modifying Boeing 737 rudders. Initial reports view the NTSB recommendations as a move to speed up the retrofit and inspection programme agreed by Boeing and the ...
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S-80 heads for 1998 first flight
Sukhoi is to complete manufacturing tooling in March for series production of its S-80 passenger/utility aircraft at the KNAAPO production plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia. The fuselage and wing of the first prototype are being assembled, and nose sections of the first three aircraft are now complete. Current plans ...
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Ansett nears final decision in Airbus-Boeing order contest
The battle between Airbus Industrie and Boeing to provide a new fleet of up to 16 large twinjets to Ansett of Australia appears to be drawing to an end, with a decision expected within weeks. The re-equipment project, aimed at replacing Ansett's domestic Boeing 767-200s and its international Boeing 747-300s ...
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Ayres plans to test revised Loadmaster in windtunnel
US agricultural- and utility-aircraft manufacturer Ayres is shortly to begin windtunnel tests on aerodynamic revisions to its LM200 Loadmaster freighter. The Loadmaster was launched at the November¹ 1996 National Business Aircraft Association show in Orlando, Florida, and is being developed in the first instance for parcels carrier FedEx. ...
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Beriev and KNAAPO prepare Be-103 for maiden flight
Beriev is preparing its Be-103 light-utility amphibian for a maiden flight in March. The six-seat aircraft was first shown at Ghelendjik hydro-aviation show in September 1996. Sergey Drobyshev, chief of marketing at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur KNAAPO series-production plant, says that four airframes have been built (two for flight tests, ...
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Brit'Air order launches Canadair stretched CRJ
FRENCH REGIONAL airline Brit'Air is the launch customer for the stretched, 70-seat Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ)Series 700, with a firm order for four aircraft. The Canadian company says that it has options and conditional orders for a further 28 aircraft, plus memoranda of understanding for another 35, ...
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Kawasaki, R-R reconsider plans for Trent 900 engine
Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) is considering relinquishing its 6% risk-sharing stake in Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 programme, as both companies study whether the potential market for the engine justifies the estimated $450 million development cost. Boeing's decision to shelve its 747-X project earlier this year leaves the Airbus A3XX, which will ...
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Fokker hopes focus on Malaysian rescue
Fokker's assembly lines face final closure in May, unless administrators running the bankrupt Dutch manufacturer succeed in pulling off a last-ditch rescue plan. Hopes of saving the company centre on talks with a coalition of Malaysian and Dutch investment groups. The latest report from the Fokker administrators says ...
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Embraer focuses on Asian market for Brasilia business
Brazilian manufacturer Embraer is exploring risk-sharing and licence-production deals with companies in several Asian countries as part of a push to improve sales in the region of the 30-seat EMB-120 Brasilia regional turboprop aircraft. Ex-Fokker salesman Peter Obeysekere, Embraer's new vice-president for Asia, the Far East and South ...
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Greenwich absorbs UNC to create overhaul giant
Greenwich Air Services is poised to make its biggest acquisition to date with agreement to take over UNC. The combined group will become the world's largest independent engine-services operation, with annual sales of around $1.8 billion and more than 10,000 employees. Greenwich chairman Eugene Conese says that the ...
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Saab Aircraft counters 'merger' speculation
Saab Group president Bengt Halse has moved to quash speculation that the Swedish group may dispose of its civil-aircraft business, although it has taken a heavy charge to pay for market "repositioning" of the Saab 2000. Presenting Saab Aircraft's financial results, Halse said that the turboprop business is ...
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BAe buys balance of USA's Reflectone
BRITISH AEROSPACE IS to acquire the balance of US simulator manufacturer Reflectone. The UK firm already owns 48% of the Tampa, Florida-based company, and has agreed to pay roughly $86 million for the outstanding stock. Reflectone president Richard Snyder says that the company's management is "strongly in favour" ...
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Australia starts AEW&C evaluation programme
Australia has embarked on a 30-month programme to evaluate and select an airborne early-warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, following the submission of preliminary tenders by three competing consortia led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon E-Systems. The Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Project Wedgetail calls for initial design-activity ...
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Norway narrows fighter choice to EF2000/F-16
The Norwegian defence ministry has confirmed that it has shortlisted the Eurofighter consortium and Lockheed Martin to begin negotiations to select a winner to meet its KFA-96 fighter requirement to replace its obsolescent Northrop F-5s. The decision, first revealed in Flight International (12-18 February), will eventually lead to ...
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Netherlands defence ministry advises Slovenia on choice of fighter aircraft
THE ROYAL Netherlands Air Force is conducting force structure and procurement studies for Slovenia as part of the ex-Yugoslavian republic's attempts to establish an independent air force. Slovenia began talks with the Netherlands Government in the third quarter of 1996 for assistance in establishing its air force, viewing ...
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Mystery in the East
Far from encouraging foreign airlines to invest in India's burgeoning civil-aviation industry, the much-heralded new aviation policy recently announced by India's United Front Government has confused and bewildered overseas investors. India's powerful Cabinet Committee On Foreign Investment (CCFI) has announced that foreign airlines will no longer be permitted ...