All news – Page 7248
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WAAS negotiations
Hughes Aircraft expects to complete negotiations with the US Federal Aviation Administration on a wide area augmentation system (WAAS) contract before the current "bridge" contract expires. The firm received the short-term contract in May when the FAA dropped Wilcox Electric as the WAAS prime contractor and substituted Hughes Aircraft - ...
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Sabena links with Virgin Express for Heathrow route
Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS Virgin Express is launching scheduled services between Brussels and London Heathrow, in a code-share deal with Sabena under which it will replace the Belgian flag carrier on the route. The low-cost Brussels-based airline launched services on 27 October with nine daily return ...
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Westpac orders 737s and takes options on -700
Western Pacific Airlines (Westpac) has finalised its expected order for new Boeing 737s, with an agreement for up to 12 aircraft, including options on the next-generation -700. The fast-growing, low-cost start-up, which has been in negotiations with Boeing for some months, has now placed a firm contract for ...
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US moves towards "free-flight" air-traffic
US moves towards "free-flight" air-traffic management were to the fore at the Air Traffic Control Association convention in Nashville on 13-17 October. Graham Warwick reports. Source: Flight International
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Japan seeks GPS
Japan is expected to issue a request for proposals in November for a system to improve the accuracy, avail- ability and integrity of the global-positioning system (GPS). The system, dubbed MSAS, is Japan's equivalent of the US wide-area augmentation system. It will be operational by the end of 1998, providing ...
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Iberia emerges fighting as profits come into view
Iberia is gearing up to fight increasing competition on its international and domestic routes, with "a new aggressive commercial policy" says, chairman Xabier de Irala. "A lot of things are going to change-We will defend our leadership with all the weapons available," he pledges. Iberia has waded into ...
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Smiths expands with Leland acquisition
Smiths Industries has made its first major aerospace acquisition in years, with a $30 million deal to purchase Leland Electro-systems, a US manufacturer of high-performance electrical generators, which will sit alongside the UK group's growing business in power-management systems. The UK group, which has diversified into medical and ...
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CRJ-X project wins launch aid
Brian Dunn/MONTREAL Bombardier is to receive launch aid worth C$87 million ($64 million) from the Canadian Government to help develop the CRJ-X stretched, 70-seat, derivative of the Canadair Regional Jet. The Canadian group has not formally launched the CRJ-X, but began taking orders for the ...
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IAI privatisation date is due in 1998
Privatisation of Israel Aircraft industries (IAI) is on course to begin in 1998. An overhaul of the group's structure will be embarked upon as an intermediate step, says the group's chairman, Yanuch Ben-Gal. He says that IAI will be reshaped into a holding-company structure, with each of the ...
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DASA rethinks French missiles ties
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) is rethinking its plans for a missiles tie-up with Aerospatiale following the French Government's approval of the Lagardère group's bid for Thomson. If, as expected, the French privatisation committee approves Lagardère as the favoured bidder, the Thomson-CSF missiles business will be absorbed ...
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BA moves closer to control of Air Liberte
Julian Moxon/Paris British Airways appears to have come a step closer in its bid to take over ailing French independent carrier Air Liberte after the unexpected withdrawal of a competing offer from a consortium led by French travel group Nouvelle Frontieres. One of the consortium members, the Banque ...
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White knight rides in for Kiwi
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Kiwi International Airlines, facing permanent shutdown of scheduled passenger services after filing for bankruptcy-court protection, has been rescued by Wasatach International, a Florida-based investment concern. The low-fare US carrier, which filed for Chapter 11, on 30 September and forced to suspend, scheduled ...
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Lockheed Martin assembles F-22 fuselage
Lockheed Martin has assembled the fuselage of the first F-22 following delivery of the aft-fuselage section from partner Boeing. The aft section was flown in a Lockheed C-5 from Seattle to the Marietta, Georgia, final-assembly site on 16 October and mated to the centre and forward-fuselage section. ...
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PZL-Mielec aims to fly modified Iryda I-22 'by the end of year'
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Polish aircraft manufacturer PZL-Mielec is hoping to fly an upgraded prototype of its I-22 Iryda jet trainer by the end of the year, says the aircraft's chief designer Marek Potapowicz. The first upgraded prototype will incorporate aerodynamic modifications, but will not have the ...
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NH90 production figures shrink
Final planning figures for the industrialisation phase of the four-nation NH90 military-helicopter programme, reveal that the programme has shrunk from the original 726 machines, to 647, with delays to the in-service date for the French Army to 2010. The numbers, were given to NH Industries, in July ...
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Litening Zeiss
Germany's Zeiss is offering the Israeli Rafael Litening laser designator pod (LDP) to the Swedish air force, to meet its requirement for the Saab JAS39 Gripen fighter. Zeiss has already successfully teamed with Rafael in offering the Litening pod for the German air force's Panavia Tornados. Source: Flight ...
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France funds missile project
Julian Moxon/LE Bourget France is pushing on unilaterally with development of a next-generation family of supersonic attack missiles, despite serious doubts over Germany's commitment to the joint programme. France has awarded Aerospatiale a Fr1 billion ($200 million) pre-development project, dubbed the VESTA, to demonstrate propulsion ...
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JSF will save billions, claims Kaminiski
Up to $76 billion in development and operational costs could be saved by developing the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), says US Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition and technology under secretary, Paul Kaminski. Of the total, some $60 billion in life-cycle costs would be saved, said Kaminski, speaking at ...
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The tangled web
As free flight comes closer to reality, all parties involved in the concept find the final details difficult to agree. Julian Moxon and Kevin O'Toole/AMSTERDAM Few concepts have caught the aviation industry's collective imagination as strongly as that of "free flight". The prospect of aircrews being able ...
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CNS/ATM programmes in Europe
PROGRAMME FOR HARMONISED AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT RESEARCH IN EURO-CONTROL (PHARE) Aimed at demonstrating the feasibility and merits of a future air-to-ground integrated air-traffic-management system in all phases of flight. Now part of Euro-control's European Air Traffic Management System initiative. The last of three demonstrations in 1998 will include ...