All Networks news – Page 1304

  • News

    -as board approves 777-200X/300X specifications

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Boeing has received board approval to firm up the specifications of its proposed 777-200X/300X growth derivatives and offer them to airlines, as the company gears up towards a possible launch of the new models at the Paris air show in June. Boeing claims that the -200Xwill be the ...

  • News

    Monarch chooses the A330 for long-haul charter work

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Monarch Airlines has become the first UK airline to order the Airbus Industrie A330, having concluded a preliminary agreement with the consortium for up to four long range -200s, including two options. The airline, which has selected Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, will take delivery of the two firmly ...

  • News

    Ireland plans expansion with ATP

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Ireland Airways is close to finalising a lease deal with Aero International (Regional) (AI(R)) for three new British Aerospace ATP aircraft to enable it to expand its Irish domestic services. The airline, a spin-off of Dublin-based freight carrier EI Air Exports, began scheduled services in 1996, when it ...

  • News

    Boeing to discuss 747-400IGW-

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Boeing has added growth-weight and "simple-stretch" derivatives of its 747-400 to product-development plans, following its decision to shelve work on the 747-500X and -600X. An initial version, which is called the 747-400 increased-gross-weight (IGW), would offer a modest increase in range, compared with the existing -400. This could ...

  • News

    Lufthansa passes EU eco-audit scrutiny

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Lufthansa Technik (LHT) has become the first aircraft maintenance and overhaul firm to win certification under the European Union's (EU) ecology-audit regulations. Certification is voluntary, but LHT says that it differentiates the firm from its competitors, and provides "a systematic view of the environmental impact of our activities". ...

  • News

    ValuJet struggles to fly back into profits

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    VALUJET REPORTS a net loss of nearly $21 million for the fourth quarter of 1996, its first since restarting operations after the three months' grounding which was imposed in the wake of the Florida crash. The airline warns that there will be more red ink to come in the first ...

  • News

    Regionals split from British Midland

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Airlines of Britain Holdings (ABH), which owns British Midland (BM),has split off its regional airlines into a separate grouping, in a move designed to free the operations to increase their franchise links with British Airways as BM moves closer to Lufthansa. The bulk of ABH's regional operations, which ...

  • News

    Lawmakers vote to renew US ticket tax

    1997-03-05T00:00:00Z

    THE US HOUSE of Representatives has voted to renew the 10%ticket tax through to the end of the 1997 fiscal year in September, and the US Senate is expected to follow suit. The tax, which finances US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations, expired again at the end of ...

  • News

    BA Levant deal

    1997-03-01T17:54:00Z

    British Airways has resurrected its franchise arrangement with its erstwhile UK rival British Mediterranean, for the routes from London to Beirut, Damascus and Amman. The carrier will also launch new BA routes to Tbilisi and Alexandria.   Source: Airline Business

  • News

    Foreign feat

    1997-03-01T10:30:00Z

    After completing a probationary period of charter flights, Taiwan's Far Eastern Air Transport plans to launch its first international scheduled services to Guam, with other Asian destinations to follow. The country's largest domestic carrier, which is controlled by China Airlines and the American International Group, is also seeking stock market ...

  • News

    Finnair merits a mention

    1997-03-01T10:17:00Z

    Your February feature on SAS included comments such as an SAS executive talking of 'a bunch of competitors snapping at SAS' heels'. I was surprised to find mention of smaller competitors at Stockholm, such as Braathens Safe, but no mention of Finnair. We established Arlanda as our second ...

  • News

    Why the customer must still be king

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Survival is key for airlines but their main focus should be on the passenger. British Airways' chief executive Bob Ayling was recently asked what he would do to change the aeronautical world were he given the power to do so. His answer went along these lines: 'It's flattering to be ...

  • News

    El Al tackles weekend trip

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The Israeli government is coming under fierce pressure to lift the ban on flag carrier El Al's operations on the Sabbath. The limitation of a six-day operation is blamed for $50 million of the airline's $120 million loss in 1996 and contributed to last year's shelving of its planned privatisation. ...

  • News

    Remarks

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Severe winter storms and high fuel prices helped to widen Alaska Air's fourth-quarter net loss; the airline had an $8.4m operating loss. A record load factor of 69.1% helped America West boost revenues by 11%, while unit costs fell 2.6% despite a 23% fuel cost increase. ...

  • News

    United target on legal front

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Low-fare carriers in the US are avidly watching how a predatory pricing complaint against United Airlines by one of their number, Frontier Airlines, pans out. A win for the minnow could encourage other no-frills operators to follow suit. Denver-based Frontier has asked the Department of Justice to investigate ...

  • News

    Surviving the customer

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Innovation has always been difficult in the airline business. The basic airline product is uniform throughout the industry, and any incremental change by one carrier is usually taken up by its competitors quickly - if it is successful. To survive and stay ahead of their competitors, airlines are constantly looking ...

  • News

    Startups slot into Japan

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Japan's incumbent carriers are bracing for their first tussle with new competition in four decades, though analysts doubt that air travellers' expectations of dramatically reduced fares will be met. The incumbents are also facing a battle for the 40 new slots that will be created at Tokyo/Haneda when ...

  • News

    Competition rules, ok?

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The buy/sell slot rules in the US are premised on the simple proposition that the market is better at determining the efficient use of a scarce resource than is an administrative or bureaucratic entity. Competition rules, however, are a different matter and properly the province of governments. To ...

  • News

    Alitalia in for a rough ride

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The European Commission has asked Alitalia to reassess its proposed restructuring plan and even then looks set to rule that the carrier's planned injection is state aid. It will also be looking at Alitalia's linkup with Air France, while both carriers suffer further industrial unrest. The revelation that ...

  • News

    BA-AA rivals round on DOT

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The posturing surrounding the proposed American Airlines-British Airways alliance has moved across the Atlantic with the US Department of Transportation coming under growing pressure from rivals to act. In the most extreme case, the outspoken chairman and chief executive of Continental Airlines, Gordon Bethune, is threatening to ask ...