All Safety News – Page 1279

  • News

    US probes launches

    1999-05-26T00:00:00Z

    The US launcher industry may be grounded for up to six months as President Bill Clinton has ordered Defense Secretary George Cohen to investigate recent launch failures of Lockheed Martin Titan IV, Athena and Boeing Delta III boosters. Six failures between July 1998 and May this year have cost over ...

  • News

    US Q400 order on horizon as targets are bettered

    1999-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON Bombardier and US regional carrier Horizon Air are negotiating a deal for at least 20 Dash 8 Q400 turboprops. An order from Horizon would represent a critical breakthrough in the North American market for the Canadian manufacturer. Although not confirmed by either party, ...

  • News

    Aeroflot bucks trend as Russian airlines suffer declining market

    1999-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Paul Duffy/MOSCOW Jens Flottau/MOSCOW Passenger traffic figures for Russia's many airlines reveal that most suffered a significant decline last year, with Aeroflot Russian International Airlines one of the few to have bucked the trend. The flag carrier reported an increase in emplanements and claims to have returned a profit, albeit ...

  • News

    Tow-barless tests

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    At some airports in Europe and the USA, tow-barless tractors have replaced many of the conventional tugs used for moving aircraft. They are particularly efficient in towing aircraft between docking points and hangars or engineering areas, because they can do so at taxiing speed without needing a crew on board ...

  • News

    A charged affair

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Sky-high landing and navigation charges are driving airlines from key Japanese airports Andrejz Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Japanese "capsule" hotels which offer their guests space not much bigger than a mortuary drawer are symbolic of the overcrowding and overpricing of Tokyo and other Japanese population centres. The lack of available space ...

  • News

    Partnership imperative

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Latin American carriers are searching for international partners and injections of capital to survive into the 21st century Paul Lewis/MIAMI Financial reform, regulatory liberalisation and growing competition are transforming the face of air transportation in Central and South America. As political barriers are lowered progressively, airlines from Mexico to Chile ...

  • News

    AlliedSignal launches general aviation EGPWS

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    AlliedSignal has extended its enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) product line with the launch of a compact system designed for the general aviation market. First deliveries of the GA EGPWS, which will cost less than $10,000, are planned for early next year. The new GA EGPWS, which will ...

  • News

    Rising Star

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Global alliances are in style, but their benefits are only now becoming clear Chris Jasper/SYDNEY Global airline alliances are the height of fashion, with two major groupings operating and possibly two more hurrying to enter the fray. Yet despite this scramble, the true importance of alliances has been ...

  • News

    European airlines' profits slip

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Julian Moxon/BRUSSELSEuropean airlines remained profitable last year and ordered record numbers of aircraft, but it was a "black" year for punctuality, according to the Association of European Airlines (AEA) Operating profits, at $1.94 billion, were $400 million lower than for the previous year. Although 1997 figures were a record, much ...

  • News

    Fairchild Aerospace predicts business boom

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Buoyed by its recent Lufthansa 728JET launch order, Fairchild Aerospace says its option and order backlog will exceed $10 billion by the end of 1999. The company predicts "substantial" new business for its 328JET/428JET family, particularly in North America, where scope clauses changes are expected. "We think it's the ...

  • News

    Embraer expands ERJ designs

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Embraer has revealed a surprise, 108-seat, stretch of its ERJ-190 regional jet which effectively provides the Brazilian manufacturer with a direct competitor to Bombardier's proposed BRJ-X. The move comes in response to input from Embraer's recently completed airline advisory board survey which helped freeze the smaller ERJ-170 design at ...

  • News

    GE outlines development plans for CF34-8 family

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    General Electric is finalising development plans for a 17,000-18,000lb-thrust (75.6 -80kN) growth derivative of the CF34-8D, dubbed the -8XX, for Fairchild's 928JET programme. The engine is expected to make its first test flight in mid-2003, and could be certificated by the US Federal Aviation Administration as early as the fourth ...

  • News

    ICAO to upgrade Warsaw Convention

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is aiming to upgrade the Warsaw Convention with increased compensation and a modernised legal framework by the end of this month. The 70-year-old treaty, which limits airline liability in an accident to $10,000 per passenger, is being overhauled at a three-week ICAO meeting ...

  • News

    FAA introduces WAAS to Asia with Singapore flight trials

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration demonstrated the capabilities of its Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) in the Asia-Pacific region for the first time earlier this month. The flight trials were conducted on the FAA's Boeing 727 equipped to perform navigation and landing operations using a global positioning system (GPS) ...

  • News

    Smoke study reveals safety advantages of head-up display

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Marconi Electronic Systems and Embry Riddle University plan to release by 21 May the results of a safety study which shows that head-up-display (HUD) systems can significantly increase safety in the event of smoke and poor visibility on the flight deck. The study, undertaken after the Swissair Boeing MD-11 accident ...

  • News

    Malaysia Airlines low-fuel danger spans two years

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    David Learmount/LONDON The UK Civil Aviation Authority claims to be unable to find reports which British Airways says it filed on a series of incidents involving Malaysia Airlines (MAS) 747-400s that arrived critically low on fuel at London Heathrow Airport. BA is the engineering service provided at the airport ...

  • News

    Alitalia move brings Wings alliance closer

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Alitalia has joined the Northwest-KLM alliance, bringing a step closer a third major global airline grouping to compete with the Star Alliance and oneworld. The three-way grouping is expected to lead to the formation later this year of the global Wings Alliance, which could include part Northwest-owned carrier Continental ...

  • News

    Israeli authority opens up local aviation market options

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    The Israeli civil aviation authority has recommended that the country's private airlines be allowed to operate 13 regional routes from Tel Aviv. The approval follows a decision by the Israeli Government in August 1997 to open up the local aviation market. The recommendations, which still require final approval ...

  • News

    American faces anti-trust suit

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The US Government is to take American Airlines to court over alleged predatory behaviour at its Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, hub. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) charges that American repeatedly sought to drive start-up airlines out of D/FW by adding flights and cutting fares, then reducing service ...

  • News

    USA establishes advisory flight data committee

    1999-05-19T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and aviation safety experts are forming the Future Flight Data Committee to identify new technologies for flight data collection. Formation of the advisory group follows the FAA's decision to require upgraded flight data recorders on newer Boeing 737s a ...