All Safety News – Page 1367
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Keeping promises
Emma Kelly/London The in-flight-entertainment (IFE) industry has undergone a radical change this year, with the leading hardware providers finally conceding that they are guilty of over-promising and under-delivering to their airline customers. After years of trying to meet airline requests for ever-more ambitious IFE applications, the makers have ...
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Asiana gains widebody approval
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Asiana Airlines has finally been given government approval to order its first tranche of 14 new Airbus and Boeing widebody aircraft, following commitments from the manufacturers to meet last-minute South Korean demands for offset work. Tentative agreement on the question of industrial concessions has ...
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Dasa's Airbus conversion orderbook expands
Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) Airbus will subcontract six Airbus A300B4 cargo conversions to its French partner Sogerma in 1998, as its orderbook swells and it seeks additional conversion capacity. The company expects its A300B4 conversion to be certificated by mid-September. It has recently taken orders and commitments for a ...
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Garuda take-off abort was 'a mistake'
Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission (AAIC) is reportedly set to blame the pilot for the June 1996 fatal crash of a Garuda Indonesia McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 at Fukuoka, southern Japan. Japanese newspaper reports say that the AAIC investigators have concluded that the captain incorrectly decided to abort the ...
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SAS postpones decision on replacements for 767 fleet
The decision by SAS on a possible replacement for its long-haul fleet of 14 Boeing 767s is now not expected until 1998. A final decision could run into 1999 as the airline looks hard at the cost justification for the investment. The Scandinavian airline expects to take 15-20 ...
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ValuJet probe shows cockpit shortcoming
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Improved cockpit emergency training might have prevented pilots of a ValuJet McDonnell Douglas DC-9 from being overcome by smoke and fumes from a cargo fire, says the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The verdict follows its probe into the fatal crash of ...
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World 'ignores' life-saving equipment
The Korean Air (KAL) Boeing 747-300 fatal crash at Guam on 6 August has highlighted the need for use of minimum safe-altitude warning (MSAW) systems at airports worldwide, says the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF). There was a fault in the Guam MSAW software when KAL's 747 hit a ...
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Swissair and Lufthansa study 747 replacements
Airbus could land two more prestige customers for its A340-600 later this year, as Swissair and Lufthansa examine the aircraft to replace their Boeing 747 "Classic" ßeets. Swissair says that it expects to make a decision on the long-term future of its 747-300 ßeet by the year-end. The Ìve aircraft ...
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Global Aircraft puts flexible propeller under test
A flexible self-optimising propeller which combines the advantages of fixed-pitch and constant-speed units is being tested by US firm Global Aircraft of Starkville, Mississippi. Production of the Quasi-Constant-Speed (QCS) propeller, priced at $3,500, is set to start this month, initially aimed at experimental aircraft. Production of units certificated for general-aviation ...
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Two captains could enhance safety
Sir - The crew of the Korean Air Boeing 747 which crashed 5km (2.5nm) short of the runway at Guam on 6 August was executing a non-precision approach at night and in poor visibility. The instrument-landing-system glidepath was known to be inoperative, and there were no visual-approach-slope indicators. ...
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Fokkers out
Indonesian regional carrier Merpati Nusantara has been told by the government to replace its 13 Fokker F27s with British Aerospace BAe146-100s, while private carrier Sempati has decided to sell its F27s. The moves follow a fatal crash of a Sempati F27 in late July, as well as concerns about spare ...
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Marginal gains
Given the usual distortions caused by special items, from restructuring costs to investment write-downs, all summaries of airline profitability have to be read carefully. The overall impression from this year's Airline Business 100 is that 1996 was a great year for some, but others have a long way to go ...
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Ins and outs
Five major airlines were unable to provide 1996 revenue figures, and they have been eliminated from the main Airline Business 100 list because it is unrealistic to attempt to estimate revenues for several years in a row. Had data been available, Garuda's revenues of around $2 billion would ...
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Marking time
It's time to open those bottles of champagne again, as Airline Business reports another year of airline profits. With the 100 largest carriers achieving a collective net profit of nearly $5.5 billion, 1996 looks like another vintage year. Hold on. Before you are overcome by frothy bubbles, take a sober ...
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Traffic leaders
Last year was another relatively strong year for growth. The 100 largest airlines achieved a 5.3 per cent increase in passenger numbers, but as average journey distances increased revenue passenger km jumped by 8.7 per cent. A disappointing freight performance held the growth in total tonne km back to 6.5 ...
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BA strikes up Spanish talks
After a damaging three-day strike forced British Airways back to the negotiating table, management set about leaking plans for a low-cost carrier in a bid to raise the pressure on the cabin crew union. At the same time, BA has started talking with Iberia about a possible alliance, following a ...
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Time to sprint
The pace of business life in Brazil is slow. The Brazilians tend to advocate the 'Mañana' approach introduced by their Portuguese forefathers and add an extra week onto the deadline for virtually any urgent task. Liberalisation is proceeding at a leisurely pace. 'Any new step towards open skies will ...
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Strong debut for Southern
Fresh from its strong debut on the Hong Kong and New York stock exchanges in late July, China Southern Airlines has revealed plans to spend nearly US$1.3 billion on a fleet expansion and general modernisation programme over the next three years. The carrier will spend some US$560 million ...
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Time to worry: the economy is fine
The time to feel most worried about the global economic condition is when things seem to be going well. Take the most recent International Monetary Fund analysis of the global economy. Written in almost poetic terms, it talked of the most favourable economic conditions in recent memory 'underscored by the ...
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How much value on human life?
Despite a strong safety culture, accident rate must improve to avoid more deaths. Ask an airline chief what his or her number one priority is, and the reply will probably be: 'Safety'. It certainly should be. While they struggle with all the other priorities, from service standards to costs and ...