All news – Page 6291
-
News
Kiev-based Ikar orders five An-140s
Ikar Airlines has ordered five Antonov An-140 twin turboprops. Deliveries start this year. The 50-seat regional aircraft will join the Kiev-based airline's fleet of Antonov An-12/24/26s, Let L-410 turboprops and an An-74 twinjet. Meanwhile, the first production An-140 has joined the flight test programme, which should be completed ...
-
News
Airports
The completion of a $250 million reconstruction of Domodedovo Airport in Moscow is due by the middle of this year, says the airport's operator, East Line group. The reconstruction includes nearly doubling the size of the passenger terminal. The international section of will be opened next month, to be followed ...
-
News
Honeywell starts AS900 flight tests
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Honeywell has begun flight testing its AS900 turbofan, under development to power the BAE Systems Avro RJX regional airliner and Bombardier Continental business jet. The first flight, on Honeywell's Boeing 720 engine testbed, included performance and windmilling tests. During the 2h flight, the 7,000lb (31kN) thrust-class ...
-
News
BA steps up the class war
Chris Jasper/LONDON British Airways has launched a radical overhaul of its premium cabins, introducing aft-facing and flat-bed seats in business class and a new "upper economy" product. The move is aimed at increasing the proportion of business travellers on BA's long haul services, and cements its strategy of targeting high-yield ...
-
News
777X crew rest plans advance
Boeing is working with an advisory group of 14 airlines towards the final configuration for upper-lobe crew-rest areas for its planned ultra-long range 777-200X/300X family. An advanced flightcrew rest area in the forward upper lobe has been finalised, which will free four first or business class seats, or provide extra ...
-
News
Debis targets Boeing after latest Airbus purchase
Debis AirFinance is seeking to conclude sale and leaseback deals with Classic and Next-Generation Boeing 737 operators as part of efforts to diversify its rapidly expanding aircraft portfolio. The Amsterdam-based DaimlerChrysler subsidiary, meanwhile, has purchased 12 in-service aircraft from Dublin-based Airbus Industrie Financial Services (AIFS), comprising two A340-300s, three ...
-
News
Ministers propose single sky for Europe
Julian Moxon/BRUSSELS A "single European sky" is on the political agenda after a 28 January meeting of transport ministers from the 38 European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) states. The ministers called for a high-level working group to study how to reduce air traffic delays in Europe. The International Air Transport ...
-
News
Hong Kong/Beijing bilateral clears way for Dragonair
Mainland China and the Hong Kong Government have swept away a rule limiting Hong Kong carriers to operating one-third of the capacity on routes to the mainland. According to the Hong Kong Government, a new air services arrangement signed with Beijing guarantees that "airlines of both sides enjoy equal ...
-
News
GEO agreement
Eutelsat and Loral Skynet, have agreed to co-operate in the pursuit of business opportunities "without risk of mutual interference" in the geostationary orbit (GEO) arc between 12.5°W and 15°W. Loral's Orion 2 - now called Telstar 12 - will be tested at 15°W, while Eutelsat will develop satellite services at ...
-
News
New delay for Endeavour flight
Tim Furniss/LONDON New attempts to launch Space Shuttle Endeavour STS99 on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) have been further delayed to at least 11 February because of launch-related commitments at adjoining Cape Canaveral. A possible STS99 launch on 9 February has been ...
-
News
SpaceDev/Boeing link for exploration
SpaceDev and Boeing have agreed a teaming arrangement to investigate opportunities of "mutual strategic interest" in commercial deep-space exploration and exploitation. They will use as the basis for the study a variety of small low-cost missions formulated by SpaceDev, the world's first commercial space exploration company. The two firms ...
-
News
GE90-94B heads for early April certification
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES General Electric hopes to win US Federal Aviation Administration approval for the 94,000lb-thrust (420kN) GE90-94B in early April, pending the successful conclusion of icing tests now entering the final stages of completion at the company's Peeble test site in Ohio. The GE90-94B is aimed at ...
-
News
SeaStar pictures US winter storm
The extent of the intense winter storm that struck much of the eastern USA recently can be seen in this image, which was captured by NASA's sea viewing wide field-of-view sensor (SeaWifs) on board the Orbital Sciences SeaStar satellite. The SeaWifs was built by Hughes. Source: Flight International
-
News
First Atlas IIIA gets commercial payload
International Launch Services (ILS) has signed a contract with Eutelsat to launch the Alcatel Space-built Eutelsat W4 communications satellite on the first Atlas III series from Cape Canaveral. The mission is set for late March or early April. ILS has been searching for a payload for the maiden flight ...
-
News
Laser welding promises A318 weight and cost savings
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa) plans to introduce laser welding in aircraft manufacturing for the first time with the start of fuselage production for the Airbus A318 next year. The German company says the new technique promises to cut fuselage manufacturing costs by "about 20%" and weight by "up to 10%". ...
-
News
Inflatable heatshield tests set for Fregat
Tim Furniss/LONDON A Soyuz booster is scheduled to test the new Fregat upper stage for Franco-Russian venture Starsem. The test will be carried out after its launch on 9 February. The mission will also test new inflatable re-entry technology heatshields developed by Lavochkin and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace. The Fregat will ...
-
News
Minotaur is multiple success
The US Air Force Orbital Suborbital programme was inaugurated on 27 January when the Minotaur booster was launched for the first time, from Vandenberg AFB's commercial launch pad, operated by Spaceport International. The Minotaur carried the Jawsat multipayload adaptor holding the USAF Falconsat; the Arizona University Asusat; the Stanford University ...
-
News
Mir makes Progress with docking success
A Soyuz booster was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 1 February, carrying a Progress M tanker that docked with the Mir space station on 3 February. The tanker will raise the Mir's orbit to 400km. The Russian Government has approved a proposed 750 million rouble ($26.2 million) programme to ...
-
News
Australia looks at private funding for F/A-18 simulators
The Australian Defence Acquisition Organisation (DAO) is exploring the use of private finance to overcome budget problems facing the replacement of the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Boeing F/A-18 Hornet flight simulators. A competitive tender for the replacement, involving two new-generation dome simulators and associated infrastructure, is to be ...
-
News
FY2001 US defence budget preview
The US Department of Defense's (DoD) Fiscal Year 2001 budget request was delivered to US lawmakers on 7 February. It includes significant funding for the proposed National Missile Defense (NMD) system, while sustaining production of the Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS). Other priorities ...