All air transport news – Page 2556
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BAe turns down Boeing on JAST
Guy Norris/SEATTLE BRITISH AEROSPACE, has rebuffed Boeing attempts to sign it up as a partner, on its Joint Advanced Strike Technology ( JAST) programme. The US contractor says that, "the door is still open" if BAe is prepared to withdraw from its alliance with McDonnell ...
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Challengair expands
Belgian wet-lease specialist ChallengAir has added a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 freighter to its fleet of two passenger-DC-10s. The aircraft, formerly operated by Russian carrier Avkom, has been acquired from CIT Leasing. It will be used on cargo charters between Europe and South America. Challengair's two passenger-DC-10-30s are on long-term wet-lease ...
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El Al plans Stansted-Newark service
ISRAELI FLAG CARRIER El Al is replacing its one-way summer flights from London Stansted to Newark, New Jersey, introduced for technical reasons, with three scheduled return flights a week, to be flown with a Boeing 757. An additional weekend service will be operated between Stansted and Tel Aviv. ...
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BMA asks for EC help in Swiss row
BRITISH MIDLAND (BMA) has asked the European Commission (EC) to protest to the Swiss Government over its refusal to allow Swiss passengers to purchase BMA's new low-fare tickets in Switzerland. Because Switzerland is not a member of the European Union (EU), the EC is virtually powerless to ...
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Ansett plans for two-pilot 767s
ANSETT AUSTRALIA plans to re-convert five of its six Boeing 767-200s to standard two-pilot-crew configuration, phasing out flight engineers on the type. The sixth 767, acquired from Monarch in 1994, and another about to enter the fleet, already have standard configuration. The carrier has had to conduct "differences ...
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New MEA chairman maps out route to efficiency
THE NEW CHAIRMAN of Middle East Airlines (MEA), Khaled Salaam, has lost no time in outlining the steps necessary to pull the airline out of its financial difficulties and modernise an aging 14-strong fleet. Salaam, as well as signaling his intention of initiating a cost-cutting programme to make ...
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MAS chief barters orders for slots
MALAYSIA AIRLINES (MAS) chairman Tajudin Ramli has threatened to stop any further purchases of Airbus Industrie aircraft unless France grants the carrier additional landing rights in Paris. The Malaysian flag carrier wants to increase its services between Kuala Lumpur and Paris from twice a week to twice daily. ...
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Orient makes expansion plans
RELAUNCHED THAI domestic carrier Orient Express Air (OEA) plans to acquire additional wide body aircraft and extend its services to Asian and European destinations. According to a senior airline source, OEA is negotiating to purchase three ex-British Airways Lockheed L-1011 TriStars. The aircraft are intended for use on ...
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AlliedSignal studies ESAS stepping stone
Guy Norris/WICHITA ALLIEDSIGNAL IS studying an integrated safety system for airliners which would combine into a single unit individually packaged systems such as the ground-proximity warning system (GPWS), Mode S transponder, weather radar and the traffic-alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS). The safety-system concept, although "still in the very earliest stages", ...
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Swissair sacrifices jobs in bid for profit
SWISSAIR IS TO shed 1,600 jobs over the next 18 months in an effort to pull its flight operations back into profit. The Swiss carrier says it also plans to renegotiate pilot contracts. The airline hopes that the majority of the job losses, which represent around 10% ...
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BFGoodrich/Snecma to merge brakes
SNECMA IS IN advanced talks with BFGoodrich about a merger for its Messier-Bugatti carbon brakes business. Although no details of the proposed deal have been released, it is expected to follow the blueprint laid down by the 50:50 Messier-Dowty landing-gear joint venture completed in 1994. A ...
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USAfrica fights for frequencies
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC USAFRICA AIRWAYS IS challenging a US Department of Transportation (DoT) decision to reallocate the carrier's seven frequencies in the US-South Africa market to World Airways and Southern Air Transport. USAfrica, which shut down operations and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, ...
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Five C-130Hs bound for Malaysia
THE MALAYSIAN air force has purchased five of Lockheed Martin's nine remaining unsold C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, say local sources. Lockheed Martin reveals that it has only four military transports, together with two civil L-100s, left to place, after recently selling five stretched C-130-30Hs. The aircraft are the ...
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Quality business puts Avro on track for profit
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON BRITISH AEROSPACE believes that its regional-jet operation, which brought the company close to collapse two years ago, will be back in profit by 1997. BAe had already promised that the Avro regional-jet business would approach break-even by 1997 following its dramatic slimming down, ...
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Trent 777 testing resumes after vibration is remedied
CERTIFICATION FLIGHT-testing of the Rolls Royce Trent-powered Boeing 777 has resumed after engineers tackled a rear-bearing vibration problem caused by "distress of the aft-strut fairing and primary nozzle". The test programme has been held up for "about a week", says Boeing, which grounded the aircraft in the first ...
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Weak dollar ravages DASA
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON DAIMLER-BENZ Aerospace (DASA) racked up massive losses in the first half of the year as the weakness of the US dollar against the deutsche mark ravaged its civil-aircraft sales. The German group posted a loss of DM1.6 billion ($1 billion) for the period, ...
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France loans Snecma funds for CFMXXX turbofan work
FRENCH ENGINE manufacturer Snecma is to receive a Fr2 billion ($396 million) reimbursable loan from the French Government to help develop the 135-220kN (30,000-50,000lb)-thrust CFMXX turbofan. The agreement effectively launches the engine, which is needed by Airbus Industrie for growth versions of the A340 and, possibly, the A321. ...
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US anti-trust immunity sought
DELTA AIR LINES, Swissair, Austrian Airlines and Sabena have filed for US anti-trust immunity, allowing for closer co-operation between the carriers, once Belgium signs an "open-skies" air-services agreement with the USA. Northwest Airlines and KLM already have anti-trust immunity. Delta now has code-sharing/blocked-space agreements with the three European ...
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Uncomfortable with 777 ETOPS
Sir - The article on the British Airways Boeing 777 General Electric GE90 delivery date and extended twinjet operations (ETOPS) certification (Flight International, 6-12 September, P4) makes me feel uncomfortable. ETOPS, I am told, is a means by which a two-engine aircraft can be flown over water. The ...
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NASA tests hypersonic design
Andrew Doyle/LONDON A HYPERSONIC-aircraft concept, known as the "wave-rider", which would be capable of speeds ranging from Mach 4 to M6, is undergoing wind-tunnel tests at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. The wave-rider series, powered by air-breathing hypersonic engines, would be particularly suitable as ...