All air transport news – Page 2490
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UK targets export rise
THE UK Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) has set a target of increasing the UK's share of world defence markets by 3% over the next five years. Charles Masefield, head of the UK Ministry of Defence-run organisation, says that the UK won a 19% share in 1995, but is aiming ...
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P&W secures NASA engine deal
Guy Norris/LOSANGELES PRATT & WHITNEY has won a $27 million five-year engine-technology contract from the NASA Lewis Research Center as part of the agency's advanced subsonic-technology (AST) project. The AST project, which was launched in 1992, is designed to keep the US aerospace industry competitive by ...
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Italy powers ahead with its latest A109
AGUSTA HELICOPTERS has achieved Italian certification of the latest member of its A109 family, the Power, just one year after it was first revealed at the 1995 Paris air show. The first of six helicopters is due to be delivered to launch customer Omniflight in September. Agusta claims to have ...
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US NTSB pushes for Sukhoi checks
Checks on the flight controls of Sukhoi Su-29 and Su-31 aerobatic aircraft are being urged after the fatal crash of an Su-29 near New Orleans on 21 March was blamed on an incorrectly assembled elevator-control system. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called on the US Federal Aviation ...
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NEC wins a massive ICO space contract
Tim Furniss/LONDON ICO GLOBAL Communications, the Inmarsat affiliate which plans to provide a global voice, data, facsimile and messaging mobile-satellite communications system from 2000 (Flight International, 4-10 October, 1995, P44), has awarded a $500 million contract to a consortium led by NEC of Japan to provide the ground-segment-systems ...
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KLM renews growth effort in Europe with expanded fleet
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON KLM IS TO START A NEW wave of growth in its European operations, outlining plans for a $300 million short-haul fleet expansion and a new agreement with its pilots' union, which paves the way for greater use of wet-lease and codesharing with regional partners. ...
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FAA forced ValuJet cut in growth before crash
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC US FEDERAL AVIATION Administration concern over the effect on ValuJet's safety of its rapid expansion forced the carrier to rein back planned growth almost four months before the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 crash in Florida on 11 May, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act ...
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China plans 777 lease for US service
CHINA SOUTHERN Airlines is negotiating to lease three more Boeing 777-200IGWs (increased gross weight) from International Lease Finance to support its planned start-up passenger service to the USA. The Chinese carrier is understood to be discussing taking the three leased aircraft in 1997. The airline needs more long-range ...
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Engine-makers line up options for 747X
Guy Norris/LOS ANGLES GENERAL ELECTRIC and Pratt & Whitney expect to finalise by the end of the month their joint-venture plans for the new -500/600 growth versions of Boeing 747. The two manufacturers have "-quickly reached agreement on an engine configuration", but have yet to reach ...
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Former SNPE chief Bechat returns to Snecma to take over from Dufour
JEAN-PAUL BECHAT has become Snecma's new chairman and chief executive, replacing Bernard Dufour, who leaves after only two years, mainly because of deteriorating relations between the French aero-engine builder and General Electric, its 50-50 partner in CFM International. Bechat left Snecma two years ago, to become chairman and chief executive ...
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Myanmar FANS decision 'unwise'
MYANMAR has been told that it risks future international air traffic bypassing Yangon's flight-information region, following its decision to purchase conventional radar equipment. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had been pressing Myanmar to order future-air-navigation-system (FANS)-compatible equipment. This would have allowed a planned new FANS route across ...
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North Korea's IATA overtures on the brink of fulfilment
NORTH KOREA WILL sign a series of agreements shortly with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is expected to lead to opening up of Pyongyang's airspace to international traffic. Discussions between IATA and North Korea on future co-operation are at an "advanced" stage, according to IATA regional ...
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JAT wants to buy more aircraft
YUGOSLAV flag carrier JAT wants to acquire new aircraft as it tries to modernise its war-battered operations. It is reported in Belgrade newspapers that JAT plans to invest around $1 billion by 2000, to rejuvenate part of its fleet. JAT resumed international operations in 1994, with the lifting ...
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Axe hangs over new engines for Il-86
GENERAL ELECTRIC (GE) and Snecma are trying to patch together a $750 million financial package in a final attempt to rescue the proposed plan to re-engine Ilyushin Il-86 widebodies with a variant of the CFM56. The project has been under discussion since the early 1990s, but financing has ...
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French holding company idea gains favour
A REPORT FROM France's parliamentary finance committee has added weight to the concept of using a holding company to bring together Dassault Aviation and Aerospatiale. The report suggests that the two companies could be controlled jointly by an umbrella state-holding company, but stop short of a full merger. ...
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Airbus revises A340 development
Julian Moxon/TOULOUSE Andrew Doyle/VANCOUVER AIRLINES ARE PUSHING Airbus to study a 15,700km (8,500nm)-range derivative of the A340, combining the fuselage of the -300 with the wing and engines of the -600 "Super Stretch", as an alternative to the smaller, 14,800km- range, A340-8000. At a recent meeting ...
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Lufthansa pilots unhappy with aircraft maintenance
LUFTHANSA PILOTS are unhappy with the technical state of some of the aircraft they fly, according to an internal report leaked to the German press. The pilots complain that technical problems on aircraft are left unresolved because of "lack of parts, time pressure and lack of personnel". Although ...
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Fokker wins a reprieve with big KLM order
FOKKER HAS WON another year's reprieve, after gaining agreement from the Dutch bankruptcy court that it can keep assembly lines open for another year, to produce 15 more aircraft. The agreement removes the immediate threat of closure which has been looming for the bankrupt aircraft maker, but key ...
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Airbus A3XX plans find market favour
Julian Moxon/toulouse AIRBUS INDUSTRIE is receiving "very positive responses" from the market on financing for its planned 555- to 960-seat A3XX family. "We hope we will soon be in a position to integrate people into the programme", says Jurgen Thomas, head of the newly created large-aircraft division within ...
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Stretched 328 is revived by Fairchild acquisition
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Graham Warwick/Washington DC FAIRCHILD AIRCRAFT of the USA is planning to launch a stretched high-speed version of the 33-seat Dornier 328 turboprop in "a matter of weeks" after its acquisition of a majority stake in the German manufacturer. Mac Williams, Fairchild's president, says that ...