All news – Page 6584
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Routes
Taiwan's EVA Airways has dropped its seven-month-old Kaohsiung-Los Angeles service because of low demand. The decision marks an end to EVA's ambitions to make the southern Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung its second international hub. -South African Airways is increasing its Hong Kong to Johannesburg non-stop service to three weekly ...
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Boeing agrees SAA's swap of 777 orders for 747 whitetails
Hilka Birns/CAPE TOWN South African Airways (SAA) has agreed with Boeing to swap its outstanding orders and options for up to seven 777s for two whitetail 747-400s originally built for Philippines Airlines. Two General Electric CF6-80C2-powered 747-400s were delivered at the end of 1998 after nearly three years ...
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SIA abandons plan to buy stake in China Airlines
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Singapore Airlines (SIA) has abandoned plans to buy a stake in Taiwan-based China Airlines (CAL), ending proposals for a strategic tie-up, including codesharing, frequent flyer links and lounge sharing. In August 1998, SIA announced a memorandum of understanding with CAL, covering a wide-ranging alliance, with SIA ...
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Thai authorities push for ILS at regional airports
The Thai Civil Aviation Department is pushing for government funds to upgrade landing aids at 16 provincial airports, following the recent crash of a Thai International Airbus A310 on approach to Surat Thani. The instrument landing system (ILS) at Surat Thani had been out of commission for two years ...
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Software problems delay WAAS implementation
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has delayed initial fielding of the Raytheon Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) by at least 14 months because of software development problems. The WAAS was to have entered service in July 1999, but the FAA says this has been pushed back to September ...
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BMW R-R to double production as 717 orders rise
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH BMW Rolls-Royce (BMW R-R) is gearing up to double the production rate of its BR700-series engines over the next two years as prospects for the Boeing 717 programme finally begin to improve. The 717 - the only airframe application to date for BMW R-R's BR715 turbofan - attracted ...
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JAL shareholder calls for senior management resignations
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE The biggest single shareholder in Japan Airlines (JAL) has called for top management resignations following the airline's drop in profit and turnover in recent years. Eitaro Itoyama who owns about 4% of the airline, has demanded that the company's board of directors and president Isao Kaneko ...
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Baltic buy-out
Scandinavian Airlines Systems has purchased the 8.02% holding in Air Baltic held by Baltic International USA. SAS already holds a 28.5% share in the Latvian -based carrier. Some 51% of the airline continues to be held by the Latvian government. The airline operates Avro RJ70s and Saab 340s to destinations ...
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Belt and braces
Achieving a satisfactory level of safety used to be considered straight-forward: build good aeroplanes, train good pilots, respect an aircraft's limitations in the face of the elements, and take off, trusting that nothing beyond the capabilities of the aircraft/pilot team will occur. Key words in the traditional approach included "belt ...
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USAF moves towards 'electric' aircraft
The US Air Force is planning to flight test a power-by-wire controlled aircraft following the successful test of advanced electrically powered actuators on NASA Dryden's Systems Research Aircraft (SRA) Boeing F-18. The tests were part of the electrically powered actuation design (EPAD) programme, a jointly funded development effort conducted ...
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BAe begins Hawk fuselage rebuild contract
British Aerospace has secured a £100 million ($166 million) deal from the UK Ministry of Defence to supply replacement forward, centre and rear fuselage sections for the RAF's Hawk trainers.The 80-aircraft Fatigue Life Extension programme was begun after the RAF found a high level of structural fatigue in the trainer. ...
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US fighters tangle with Iraqi
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The first air-to-air engagements between US and Iraqi fighters since 1992 were inconclusive after all six missiles fired at MiG-25 interceptors in the no-fly zone over Iraq missed their targets in two incidents on 5 January. The US Department of Defense said it would not ...
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Japan considers tanker buy
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE The Japanese Defence Agency (JDA) is considering an Y80 billion ($710 million) purchase of four Boeing 767 or similar tanker aircraft, despite a decision to speed up planned procurement spending cuts. The JDA says no firm decision has been made on buying tankers. Money is expected ...
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F-22 production
The US Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin/Boeing and Pratt & Whitney contracts to build the first two production F-22 Raptor fighters. Lockheed Martin/Boeing has received a total of $504 million to build the two so-called Production Representative Test Vehicles to be used for operational flight testing. Nearly $190 million ...
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Ka-60 makes first flight
The Kamov Ka-60 Kasatka multirole utility helicopter made its first flight from Kamov's Lyubertsy works on 24 December, 1998. The helicopter, which has a design payload of 2,500kg, was built to a requirement from the Russian army for a light utility design capable of training, medevac, paradrop and supply roles. ...
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Predator UAV prowls through comms testing
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC General Atomics has demonstrated the ability of the Predator unmanned air vehicle (UAV) to communicate directly to air traffic control centres over a voice-radio relay link through a digital line of sight datalink. The trial is part of an effort to enable UAVs to fly in ...
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RAF considers SAR radar pod for Tornado and Eurofighter
Howard Gethin/LONDON The Royal Air Force is considering the possibility of giving its Eurofighter EF2000 and Panavia Tornado fleets a new all-weather day and night penetrating reconnaissance role early in the next century. The UK Defence Research Agency (DERA) has been tasked with conducting a technology demonstrator programme ...
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Israel clears Silver Arrow unmanned air vehicle for export
Israel has released for export the Silver Arrow-developed Hermes series of long-endurance unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). The systems have previously been classified. Silver Arrow UAVs are operated by the Israeli Defence Forces in long-range intelligence missions complementing data gathered by the Offeq-3 spy satellite. The firm is considered to be ...
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ST Aero selected to join Brazilian F-5 upgrade team
Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) is to participate as a consortium partner in the F-5 upgrade programme for the Brazilian air force. The upgrade is led by Elbit Systems, and also includes Embraer, a radar manufacturer and an electronics warfare systems supplier. The consortium has recently entered final contract ...
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Pakistan plans to push ahead with Chinese Super 7 fighter
Paul Lewis/ISLAMABAD Pakistan is preparing to push ahead with full scale joint development with China of the Chengdu FC-1/Super 7 fighter as the US Government agrees to refund payments made on 28 embargoed Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs. The two countries are negotiating a detailed working agreement following the signing ...