All news – Page 7484
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France agrees to fund unprofitable services
FRANCE HAS approved state financial support to maintain air services on 22 internal routes where there is insufficient traffic to ensure profitability. The money will be provided from a Fr3 (60¢) levy on each passenger ticket sold for travel within France. The European Commission introduced the idea of ...
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V-22 undergoes structural load calibration
STRUCTURAL LOAD CALIBRATION of a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft is being performed at Bell Helicopter Textron's Flight Research Center at Arlington Municipal Airport in Texas. Stresses and strains are applied to the structure to simulate in-flight loads, allowing the calibration of various sensors to ensure that tolerances are ...
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Russia enters digital communications age
Tim Furniss/LONDON RUSSIA LAUNCHED the first three spacecraft, of a planned $200 million, 36-satellite constellation, commercial- digital communications system on 19 February. The Gonets D1 F1-3 satellites were part of a cargo of six satellites aboard a three-stage Tsyklon booster launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. ...
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Gomez goes as France outlines plans to press ahead with Thomson privatisation
ALAIN GOMEZ HAS resigned as chairman of the Thomson defence and media business, following the French Government's announcement that it plans to privatise the group with its present, tangled, holding structure in place. The privatisation has been pending for at least two years, but Gomez has argued that ...
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Four were killed in Long March crash
THE LONG MARCH 3B booster (LM3B) which exploded and crashed 1.5km downrange from the Xichang launch centre, China, T+25s after launch on 14 February, killed four people and injured 52, China Great Wall Industry (CGWIC) has confirmed (Flight International, 21-27 February). The failure resulted in the loss of the Intelsat ...
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Skynet order confirmed
MATRA MARCONI Space (MMS) has confirmed receipt of an order from the UK's Ministry of Defence for a sixth Skynet 4 military communications satellite (Flight International, 29 November-5 December, 1995). The launch of the Skynet 4F, which is similar to the model seen here undergoing electromagnetic compatibility tests at MMS ...
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Near far away
NASA's first Discovery programme spacecraft, the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), was launched successfully by a Delta 2 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 17 February. The NEAR will become the first craft to orbit an asteroid, Eros, in 1999 (Flight International, 17-23 January). Source: Flight International
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US airlines back in profit - for now
US airlines are back in profit, but the lessons of recession linger on. Kevin O'Toole/LONDON THE NOTORIOUS business cycles of the airline industry have at last come full circle for the US carriers. Just two years ago, three of the majors were fighting their way out of ...
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Canadian consortium plans cargo operations
A WINNIPEG, CANADA-based cargo consortium is negotiating to set up an international freight operation, using two wet-leased Boeing 747-200 Combis, which Air Canada is due to retire in 1997. The Winnport consortium plans to convert the aircraft to full freighters. Air Canada would maintain the aircraft and be ...
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Macau link
Korean Air (KAL) has launched a scheduled service three times a week from Seoul to Macau's recently opened airport. KAL has been operating charter flights to Macau since the airport opened on 9 November. A 258-seat Airbus Industrie A300-600R will be used on the new service. Source: Flight ...
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Lockheed Martin claims edge over JAST rivals
Guy Norris/Fort Worth LOCKHEED Martin is claiming the edge over rivals for the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) programme after successful tests of its large-scale powered model at the NASA Ames, California, wind tunnel site at the end of February. Speaking on the eve of ...
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AirMove gets removal on the move
A CALIFORNIA-BASED airline planning to specialise in house removals begins intra-US and transcontinental operations in June with a Lockheed L-1011. Greg Ingles, chief executive officer of La Jolla-based AirMove, explains: "Household and trade-show shipments will be moved much faster." AirMove's aim is to cut by more ...
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Taking shape
Boeing began major assembly of the first 777-200 increased-gross-weight (IGW) version on 20 February. The aircraft will be rolled out in the middle of this year, before delivery to British Airways in early 1997. The 777-200IGW has a take-off weight of 286,900kg and a range of 13,400km (7,230nm), compared with ...
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American warns on pilfered 757 parts
AMERICAN AIRLINES HAS issued a warning to the air-transport industry that "...stolen and damaged Boeing 757 parts are entering the surplus market". The airline says that there has been extensive looting from the wreckage of its 757 which crashed in mountains near Cali, Colombia, on 20 December, 1995. ...
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PHI wins race to operate Atlanta Olympics service
Karen Walker/ATLANTA PETROLEUM Helicopters (PHI), the world's largest commercial helicopter operator, will provide the short-haul transport service in Atlanta, Georgia, when the city hosts the Olympic Games in the middle of this year. PHI, based in LaFayette, Louisiana, and which has a fleet of 265 ...
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Lauda and Austrian make peace
AUSTRIA'S TWO largest airlines, Lauda Air and Austrian, have decided to end years of in-fighting with a plan, to co-operate in some areas. The two airlines have been talking for several months, according to Lauda president and chief executive Peter Thoele, and have now agreed to co-operate, ...
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AOM battles to stay at orly West
FRENCH INDEPENDENT airline AOM, is stepping up its campaign to stop the Paris airports authority Aeroports de Paris (ADP), forcing it to move from Orly West to Orly South at the end of March. The eviction move is viewed by many as part of a rearguard action ...
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THAAD shot down in $2 billion TMD programme revamp
THE US DEPARTMENT of Defense plans to save more than $2 billion by reshaping its ballistic-missile-defence programme. The plan, which faces Congressional scrutiny, emphasises development of defences against short-range theatre-ballistic-missile (TBM) threats and pushes back production of weapons, designed to intercept ballistic missiles at greater distances. The Pentagon ...
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Russia plans to restructure its aviation administration
RUSSIAN FIRST DEPUTY prime minister Oleg Soskovets, has confirmed that his Government is to establish a federal aviation administration, to improve state control of the civil-aviation industry (Flight International, 21-27 February). At a transport ministry meeting to review the results of the air-transport industry in 1995, ...
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Too little too late
THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT has finally declared that it is to consolidate its fragmented aerospace industry. The move is hardly surprising. Tough markets, falling defence budgets and the threat of emerging US giants, have raised the urgency of consolidation throughout Europe. Neither is it particularly revolutionary. The UK ...