All news – Page 6596
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Flight into the future
For the past 91 years, this magazine has reflected the shape of the industry of which it is part. In the beginning it was simply Flight, and the fledgling field of aviation was its sole purview. Now it is Flight International and the entire breadth of aerospace is its domain. ...
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Brazil's carriers do battle over frequent flier plans
BRIAN HOMEWOOD RIO DE JANEIRO Last year's deep recession forced Brazil's carriers to abandon their cut throat fares war but BTAM, VASP, Varig and Transbrasil have now all turned to heavy promotion of their frequent flier programmes. Varig says 2.5 million passengers are registered on its Smiles scheme, up from ...
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Buying Power
KEVIN O'TOOLE & TOM GILL LONDON The global alliances are only just starting to use their combined buying power. Airline analysts are not alone in anxiously awaiting signs of how the global alliances may change the industry's landscape. There are hopes and fears among service providers too over how the ...
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In the year of the dragon
Asia-Pacific's airline presidents were in more relaxed mood as they gathered for their annual assembly. Kevin O'Toole looks at the brighter figures which are fuelling their optimism. What a difference a year can make. When Asia-Pacific airline presidents met for their annual assembly a year ago in Manila, most were ...
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Partners in IT
KEVIN O'TOOLE LONDON IT suppliers are reworking their relationships with airline customers, looking for long-term partnerships based on measures of business success. SITA is joining the revolution Speak to a supplier of information technology (IT) these days and you are likely to hear some highly untechnical language. Once the talk ...
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Opening the door to space
Propulsion concepts under study may lead to a radical change in the way in which space is accessed In the 1951 science fiction classic When World's Collide, a rocket-powered spaceship hurtles down a ramp loaded with hapless escapees from Earth, gathering speed before making a boosted take-off to escape ...
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Designs for the future
Designs for tomorrow's unmanned vehicles will aim for light, affordable and almost silent aircraft If designers sat down at their computer screens on the first day of the 21st century and started work on a new combat aircraft - a follow-on to the Eurofighter or the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) ...
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Attacking options
Unmanned air vehicles may not be ready - yet - to replace manned aircraft in combat, but they are close to being able to take on more of the riskier missions During its lifetime, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will start operating routinely alongside unmanned combat aircraft. Unmanned vehicles will ...
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Future Vision
Imagine taking a trip from New York to Tokyo in just 90min; boarding a scramjet-powered reusable launch vehicle to explore space; deploying unmanned vehicles to patrol our cities; travelling door-to-door via tiltrotor; or zapping an incoming missile with a high-energy laser. The boundaries of aviation are expanding. The aerospace industry ...
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My view - Terry Stinson, Chairman and Chief Executive, Bell Helicopter Textron
As we enter the next millennium, it is worth reflecting on just how far the helicopter industry has come. This is truly a field in its infancy. It is only 53 years since the Bell 47 was certificated as the world's first commercial helicopter. With wooden blades and an old ...
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My view - John Farley, Former British Aerospace Harrier Test Pilot
The UK's Royal Air Force has been landing jet fighters vertically for the last 30 years. The US Marine Corps and five navies use Harriers as their only shipboard fixed-wing aircraft. Today five services are planning to co-operate on development of the Joint Strike Fighter, but only the Marines, ...
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Intelligent hope
Intelligent spacecraft are still a few years away, but robots and automated systems can meanwhile play a large part in extending space exploration The spaceflight industry has just one year year left to emulate Arthur C Clarke's HAL, the spacecraft computer that became too intelligent in 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...
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My view - Phil Condit, Chairman and Chief Executive, Boeing
The American people recently selected the three most significant aviation achievements of the 20th century. They chose the Wright brothers' first flight, Charles Lindbergh's crossing of the Atlantic, and the development of the Boeing 747. I think that is pretty good company. The 747 has helped make our world ...
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Perils of prediction
Predictions can prove embarrassing. And airlines are much more cautious these days If Flight International had polled airlines 30 years ago for their predictions on long-term developments within the industry, the answers would have been exciting, ambitious and possibly outrageous. They would also have born little or no relationship to ...
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Slow road to reusability
The shift to reusable launch vehicles will be far slower and more incremental than was once considered possible and desirable Over 30 years ago, in his film 2001: a space odyssey, director Stanley Kubrick gave us his vision of a future in which man could travel from the Earth to ...
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Built for speed
A resurgence in hypersonics research is being fuelled by growing interest in rapid-reaction strike missiles and reusable launch vehicles A black-coated vehicle the size and shape of a surfboard will carry the hopes for a rebirth of hypersonics technology when it flies later this year. If successful, NASA's X-43 ...
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My view - Micky Blackwell, Former President of Lockheed Martin's Aeronautical Sector
Dr Richard Whitcomb was already famous for the discovery of the "area rule" - the "coke bottle" fuselage shaping that allowed aircraft to go supersonic more efficiently - when I came to work for him at NASA. The discovery had won him the Collier Trophy, the USA's highest award for ...
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Research realities
The power of the marketplace rather than the promise of technological advances is tempering the ambition of designers As the 20th century closed, the airliner industry appeared to be dominated by derivatives, with few all-new designs on the drawing board or on the horizon. Researchers and engineers are not ...
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Clean and lean
Environmental issues and the demands of safety and reliability drive airliner design as much as technology Ever since the first powered machines flew at the start of the 20th century, aviation has been driven by the quest to improve aircraft efficiency. With extraordinary persistence, often surmounting seemingly impossible technical barriers, ...