All Airframers news – Page 1618
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T-tail, take three
McDonnell Douglas has finally launched its MD-95 into the hotly contested100-seat market. Guy Norris/LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) hopes to build a lot of future business on its newly launched MD-95. Not only will it lead the attack on the yet-to-be-realised 100-seat market, but the small airliner ...
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Growing up
Boeing has begun assembly of its firstnew-generation 737.Guy Norris/SEATTLE IT IS UNPRECEDENTED but, by mid-1997, Boeing's Renton site in Seattle, Washington, will be producing six different models of the same jet airliner. The aircraft is the best-selling 737, and the ramp-up represents the phase in its development when production of ...
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Boeing 777: shake, rattle and roll?
Sir - I have recently flown on "Friendly Skies'" new "Mega Twin" (United Airlines' Boeing 777) and there is no doubt that the aircraft is most impressive in terms of space and cabin layout. One thing surprised me, however, and that was the high level of noise and ...
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Multi-type piloting
Increasingly, commercial pilots will be simultaneously qualified on more than one type. David Learmount/LONDONPaul Lewis/HONG KONG IT SEEMS CERTAIN that, in the future, the average airline pilot will be simultaneously qualified on more aircraft types than are today's aircrew. Most major-carrier commercial pilots today are "type-rated" on one ...
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Boeing tackles 'tail-wag' problem on United 777s
Guy Norris/SEATTLE BOEING PLANS TO MAKE changes to the 777 gust-response system as part of efforts to eliminate a slow yawing motion, or "tail-wag", experienced by crews on the first few United Airlines aircraft. "We sent a team out to fly with the aircraft on revenue ...
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Garuda Indonesia gears up for approaching privatisation
GARUDA INDONESIA is going to turn many of its operations into financially independent business units from 1996, in preparation for the national carrier's eventual privatisation. The state-owned airline has targeted the Garuda Maintenance Facility (GMF) and ground handling as the first two divisions to be given the new ...
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UK firm starts work on new low-cost amphibian
A LOW-COST TWIN-engined amphibian aircraft based on the Pilatus Britten-Norman (PBN) Islander is being developed by a new UK aircraft company. Ross Aircraft has already successfully tested a one-fifth-scale model in proof-of-concept trials on a Scottish lake and is in negotiations with potential backers in a bid to ...
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Dow-UT claims first composite exit case
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA DOW-UNITED Technologies Composite Products (Dow-UT) has completed the first turbofan fan exit case to be built from composites. The 2.8m-diameter case has been produced under a $14.8 million contract from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency, using an advanced resin-transfer moulding (RTM) process developed by Dow-UT. ...
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Airbus extends widebody family
Julian Moxon/PARIS AIRBUS INDUSTRIE HAS launched the shortened, longer-range, version of its twin-engined A330 widebody and confirmed its development of the ultra-long range A340-8000. The A330-200 is scheduled to be flown for the first time in the middle of 1997, and to be ready for service ...
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TAM places order for eight more Fokker 100 twinjets
FAST-GROWING BRAZILIAN regional carrier TAM (Transportes Aereos Regionais) has placed another repeat order for the Rolls-Royce Tay 650-powered Fokker 100 twinjet. The latest order, for eight aircraft, will bring its Fokker fleet to 23 aircraft, the third-largest after American Airlines and USAir. Another order, for six ...
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FedEx moves to limit effects of pilots' action
US EXPRESS-PACKAGE carrier FedEx has wet-leased seven Boeing 727-200F freighters from Express One International, as a contingency in case industrial action by its pilots disrupts services in the build-up to the busy Christmas season. FedEx pilots stopped flying on their days off after contract talks with the carrier broke down ...
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Finnair maintains strong position
THE FINNAIR GROUP continued its impressive performance improvement in the six months to the end of September. Compared to the same first-half period of 1994, Finnair made a FIM462 million ($110 million) profit before reserves and taxes, against FIM298 million. Turnover increased by 7.7% to FIM3.6 billion, while ...
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Canadian Airbus scandal deepens
THE FORMER CHAIRMAN of the company which brokered the sale of 34 Airbus A320s to Air Canada has said that he set up a Swiss bank account to funnel Airbus kickback money to former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Mulroney denies the bribery allegation and has filed a C$50 million ...
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No 'fire sale' at USAir
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON, DC USAir REMAINS receptive to strategic alliances, up to and including a merger with another airline, according to Seth Schofield, the carrier's chairman and chief executive. Speaking after the USAir Group's annual stockholders' meeting, Schofield estimated that the airline will have $1 billion in ...
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New direction for East West
EAST WEST AIRLINES, India's largest private airline, has received Government permission to import four Boeing 737-400s to meet demand for more capacity into Bombay and to service a new Delhi-Hyderabad route. The 737-400s are expected to be leased from Malaysia Airlines. Two are scheduled for delivery in December, ...
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Concorde wins race against US TCAS ban
Andrew Doyle/LONDON BRITISH AIRWAYS and Air France have avoided the threat of a ban on their Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde operations to the USA, after Rockwell-Collins finally solved technical problems associated with the external antennae for the traffic-alert and collision-avoidance systems (TCAS) which it is supplying for the supersonic airliner. ...
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Strike pressure builds as Boeing deliveries slip
Guy Norris/LOSANGELES PRESSURE IS MOUNTING on Boeing to settle with striking workers, as the production backlog begins to build up and deliveries slow to a trickle. Boeing managed to deliver 11 aircraft in November and 14 in October despite the strike by 32,000 machinists and aerospace ...
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Fokker transfer
Thirty five Fokker-owned aircraft will be transferred to newly formed leasing company debis Air Finance this month, to try to strengthen the Dutch manufacturer's balance sheet. The transfer involves 18 Fokker 100s, 15 Fokker 50s and two F28s. The main shareholder is debis, a division of Daimler-Benz, with 35% stake, ...
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Brave new shoots
The emergence of a new generation of start up carriers in Europe has finally begun. Sara Guild talks to some of the new players and examines their strategies for survival.It's a bit like attending the Academy Awards and not knowing when the envelopes will be opened. European aviation has been ...
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Financial results
Alaska Airline's cost per ASM dropped 5.5% from 1994 to 7.5 cents. But load factors were down 1.3 points on 1994 and yield decreased 1.7%. ANA's cost cutting showed benefits as expenses rose only 5%. International traffic rose 28.1% due to the strong yen. America West's ...