All air transport news – Page 2438
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History
The Tu-144 programme was started only in 1963, when the Soviet Government had told Tupolev that, although the equivalent Aerospatiale/ British Aerospace Concorde programme had started earlier, the Soviet aircraft should be the first to be flown - and it was. To speed things up, the design team ...
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Visionaire may take Vantage assembly to Israel
Visionaire is evaluating the possibility of establishing an assembly line in Israel for its Vantage executive jet. A delegation from the US manufacturer arrived in Israel on 9 December to discuss the scheme with the Government. The plan is to build an assembly line in Arad, in southern ...
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Airbus achieves two firsts with delivery of A319 to Air Canada
Kevin O'Toole/Toulouse Airbus INDUSTRIE handed over the first A319 to Air Canada on 12 December, the first of the type to go into operation in North America and also the first Airbus aircraft to be delivered on a nine-month production lead time. Airbus and Boeing have ...
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GE and Airbus hold intense A340 engine negotiations
Julian Moxon/Paris General Electric and Airbus Industrie are in "intense" negotiations on a new, exclusive, very-high-bypass-ratio, power plant for the stretched, re-engined, A340-500/600. Airbus vice-president for strategic planning, Adam Brown, says that the US manufacturer is offering an "extremely exciting" power plant solution for the A340 involving ...
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Boeing targets Delta for stretched 767
Paul Lewis and Guy Norris/SEATTLE Boeing is close to launching the stretched 767-400ERX on the back of an anticipated order from Delta Airlines for a complete fleet of passenger aircraft. Interest in the 767 derivative has been revived after years of inactivity, during which time ...
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MD-95 begins to take shape
McDonnell Douglas has re-affirmed its commitment to the MD-95 regional twinjet as the nose section for the first aircraft was delivered to its Long Beach assembly site on 12 December. Despite having received no new business since it was launched more than a year ago with an order ...
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Airbus studies A3XX production
Julian Moxon/Toulouse Airbus Industrie's Large Aircraft division is considering up to six potential sites in Europe for production of the 500- to 800-seat A3XX transport. "We're looking at either inland or coastal locations," says the division's senior vice-president, Jurgen Thomas. A major study launched in ...
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International Space Station faces service-module crisis
Tim Furniss/LONDON The International Space Station (ISS) Service Module being built by Russia is eight months behind schedule, meaning a delay in the launch of the first ISS crew until early 1999, NASA has confirmed (Flight International, 27 November-3 December). Russian Government funding for the project has ...
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Loss of power
The world, it seems, is awash with new airliner projects. The manufacturers may be able to afford to launch some of these aircraft and, in some cases, the airlines will be able to afford to buy and operate them - but will the engine makers be able to afford to ...
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Sundstrand will take Labinal's share of Auxiliary Power
Sundstrand is to buy out Labinal's interest in Auxiliary Power International (APIC), formed by the two companies as a joint venture in 1989 to design, manufacture, market and support commercial-aircraft auxiliary power units (APUs). Many of the details have yet to be released, but it is believed that ...
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Japan Air System takes its first Boeing 777
Japan Air System (JAS) took delivery of its first Pratt & Whitney PW4084-powered Boeing 777-200 on 4 December, from an order for seven aircraft. The JAS 777s, which are the first to be painted in the airline's new scheme, will also be the first operated on the Japanese domestic network ...
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Avro delivers 300th RJ/146
Avro has delivered the 300th RJ/BAe 146 airframe, with the handing over of the second of three RJ85s for Azzurra Air of Italy. Meanwhile, Avro is understood to be in negotiations with Uzbekistan Airways on an order for three RJ85s, with deliveries scheduled for 1997. Total orders for the RJ ...
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Sabena overhauls
Sabena Technics has signed a maintenance contract with FedEx covering overhaul of all of the US freight carrier's Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines for its Boeing 727 fleet during the next six years. The contract follows two years of negotiations. Source: Flight International
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TCAS for Ansett
Ansett Australia has selected Honeywell's TCAS 2000 traffic-alert and collision-avoidance-system for its Airbus A320, Boeing 737 and 767 and British Aerospace 146 fleets. The first of 64 ship sets is due to be installed around mid-1997. Source: Flight International
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Braathens leases back
Braathens SAFE is planning the sale and lease back of six Boeing 737s in a deal valued at $150 million. The cash will be used to cover investments already made in new buildings at Oslo's Gadermoen Airport. The transaction involves two 737-400s and four -500s, which are to be leased ...
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Boeing looks to increase 777IGW take-off weight
Paul Lewis/SEATTLE Boeing is discussing a further increase in the 777-200IGW's maximum take-off weight (MTOW) as an interim step towards a new ultra-long-range derivative of the twinjet. The US manufacturer is considering offering a 777-200IGW+ version for entry into commercial service from 1998 onwards, says ...
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Russian high-speed research takes off
The joint Russian-US high-speed-research study programme moved into the flight-test stage on 29 November, when the re-activated Tupolev Tu-144LL (RA-77114) supersonic transport departed from Zhukovsky flight-test centre. The aircraft, one of 17 Tu-144s built, was completed in 1981. It was also one of five "D" models which had ...
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First A330-200 enters production
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON Components for the first Airbus A330-200 are being fabricated at plants around Europe, with final assembly scheduled to begin at Toulouse in March 1997. The 256-seat, 11,800km (6,400nm)-range derivative was launched in November 1995. Thirty-one orders have been announced to date. The first wingset ...
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American and FedEx finalise DC-10/727 hushkit exchange
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES American Airlines has concluded a long-awaited deal with FedEx, which will see the US package carrier take over at least 14 of American's McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10s in exchange for supplying hushkits for up to 81 Boeing 727-200s. Some 30 of American's 727s ...