All news – Page 6399
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CityBird cargo flight forces Sabena action
Belgian carrier CityBird began wet-lease cargo operations for Lignes Aeriennes Congolaises (LAC), the national carrier of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on 30 July with the delivery of the first of two A300-600 freighters originally destined for Kuwait Airways. Belgian flag-carrier Sabena is planning to sell all shares in CityBird ...
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ICO rings for Chapter 11 bankruptcy option
ICO Global Communications followed mobile satellite communications company Iridium into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 27 August. ICO has raised $3.1 billion for its 12-satellite venture, but needs another $1.6 billion to launch services in the fourth quarter of next year. Following the failure of its recent rights issue ...
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Mergers
Thomson-CSF subsidiary Sextant has become the sole owner of in-flight entertainment provider Sextant In-Flight Systems after acquiring the 49% of shares held by B/E Aerospace. Sextant took an initial 51% stake when the joint venture was created in January. The European Commission's review of the proposed AlliedSignal-Honeywell merger has entered ...
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Engine under Buenos Aires crash spotlight
David Learmount/LONDON Initial information on the Argentine Boeing 737-200 fatal accident on 31 August indicates that take-off was abandoned following a mechanical failure in the No 1 engine. Witness and survivor statements supporting this view have yet to be confirmed by official sources, although the captain survived and the ...
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Police label SilkAir investigation as 'suicide cum murder'
The Singapore Police Force has classified its investigation into the crash of the SilkAir Boeing 737-300 in Sumatra on 19 December 1997 as "suicide cum murder". The police stress that the label has been adopted "solely to assist us in our investigation. It is not an indication of our ...
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BA shakes up top team
British Airways has announced major changes to its top management. The airline is to restructure into six business units, which together with the chief executive's office will form a new Management Team, replacing the former Executive Team. Deutsche BA chief executive Carl Michel heads a new Commercial unit, integrating all ...
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R-R grapples with European Trent overhaul strategy
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Rolls-Royce (R-R) has failed to reach agreement with SAirGroup maintenance unit SR Technics over the structure of their proposed Trent engine overhaul joint venture, despite a year of talks on the scheme. Lufthansa Technik, having pondered participation in the venture, is no longer involved in the discussions. ...
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NATO rejig brings more power to southern Europe command
DeeDee Doke/AVIANO AB A reorganisation of NATO's regional commands begun on 1 September will give allied air forces in the alliance's southern flank "a more responsive airpower command and control capability", says US Air Force Lt Gen Michael Short, commander of NATO's Airsouth. The phased changes will close ...
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Lack of orders may close AGM-130 line
The US Air Force is improving its Boeing AGM-130-powered stand-off weapon successfully used during Operation Allied Force, but has no plans to replace the examples used against Yugoslav forces, according to Frank Robbins, head of USAF precision strike weapons. He says enough AGM-130s are in the production process to satisfy ...
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Boeing and Northrop set up F/A-18 centre
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have taken further advantage of US military base closures to establish a joint F/A-18 Hornet modification and overhaul operation at the US Navy's soon to be vacated Cecil Field naval air station in Florida. The two companies are among a number of tenants to have ...
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MiG-29s reach North Korea for assembly
North Korea is reported to be assembling 10 MAPO MiG-29 fighters from components bought from Russia, according to defence sources in South Korea. Senior South Korean officials have told the local press that the government has confirmed the North's acquisition of MiG-29 components. It estimates that they are sufficient ...
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Comanche development draws closer
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Boeing and Sikorsky hope to launch full-scale engineering development of the delayed RAH-66 Comanche helicopter next year following the submission of a $3.1 billion proposal to the US Army. The proposal maps out a 2,000h development and qualification flight test programme to start in 2004. The ...
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New Zealand election threatens F-16 deal
Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA New Zealand's Lockheed Martin F-16 lease arrangement with the USA is threatened by a national election within the next 10 weeks, with the Labour opposition threatening to dump the deal if it wins power. New Zealand Labour leader Helen Clarke used the release of a major ...
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Broach fired
Matra BAe Dynamics has performed two successful firings of the British Aerospace Broach warhead that will form the lethal package for the Storm Shadow conventionally armed stand-off missile. The firings, in the UK, were the final phase of a risk reduction programme. Source: Flight International
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Bell files suit to take military counterfeits off civil market
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Bell Helicopter Textron is campaigning to prevent companies fraudulently selling military-surplus helicopters as commercially certificated. The first of several lawsuits has been filed in Seattle against Washington-based Intrex Helicopters. Bell alleges that Intrex used components from an ex-military UH-1 "and obtained certification of the aircraft ...
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Diamond Star flight test programme begins
Austria's Diamond Aircraft has begun flight testing its production configuration DA40-180 Diamond Star, four-seat piston single, for which it already has more than 200 orders. Four pre-production prototypes have already been flown from its Wiener Neustadt base. During the two-month programme the all-composite, Textron Lycoming IO-360-powered aircraft will perform ...
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Safety suite set to make Atlanta NBAA debut
AlliedSignal's new flight information service (FIS) is the centrepiece of a general aviation (GA) safety avionics suite to be unveiled at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention in Atlanta, Georgia, in October. The system will combine colour weather graphics received via the FIS datalink with the enhanced ground ...
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US Marines aim to give Cobra more venom
The US Marine Corps is working to widen the range of weapons available to the upgraded Bell AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopter, including the radar-guided Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire anti-tank missile. Plans call for the AH-1Z to carry up to 16 laser-guided AGM-114A missiles. The helicopter will be ...
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NATO joins USAF command and control experiment
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC NATO is participating in a US Air Force experiment to test command and control (C2) concepts for expeditionary operations. The Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment (JEFX) now under way combines live and simulated forces in the second large-scale test of technologies which promise to enhance the capabilities of ...
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France and UK invite JOANNA proposals
The French and UK ministries of defence have issued an invitation to tender for a fourth generation electro-optical targeting pod technical demonstrator programme (TDP)that could lead to an operational system entering service late in the next decade. The Joint Airborne Navigation and Attack (JOANNA) TDP will be split equally ...