All Systems & Interiors news – Page 862

  • News

    People movers

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    Hang on. The flight attendant in the blue Delta Air Lines uniform has an unmistakable Dublin accent, akin to that of her green-clad colleagues on the Aer Lingus Dublin-JFK flight. Either 100 years of Irish immigration to the US have failed to alter speech patterns or airline alliances are taking ...

  • News

    Much ado about nothing?

    1997-03-01T00:00:00Z

    The countdown to full European deregulation has begun, so where's the rush to the starting post? When the final hurdle to full deregulation is swept away on 1 April all airlines in the European Economic Area gain access to cabotage rights, enabling them to fly between any two domestic points ...

  • News

    Alitalia and Honeywell/Racal to run Aero-1 satcoms trial

    1997-02-26T15:04:00Z

    Alitalia is to run a single-aircraft trial of new-generation satellite-communication (satcom) avionics intended to reduce call charges drastically. The Italian flag carrier has agreed with the Honeywell/Racal Avionics satcom team to put the Aero-I equipment on a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 once the new service is implemented by Inmarsat - ...

  • News

    Qatar finalises fleet renewal plan

    1997-02-26T14:48:00Z

    Qatar Airways has arranged to lease two Airbus A300s to replace its fleet of Boeing 747s on long-haul services from its base in Doha. The airline, which underwent a major management and strategic revamp late in 1996 (Flight International 11-17 December 1996, P10), will introduce two ex-Garuda Pratt & ...

  • News

    Tiny aircraft come under study

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is considering funding research into so-called micro air vehicles - aircraft with wingspans which measure just 150mm - which scientists believe could be used for tasks such as surveillance and detection of toxic chemicals on the battlefield. The aim is ...

  • News

    A340 switches: re-active or pro-active reaction?

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    Sir - In the article "Airbus fits switch guards after A340 hydraulic incident" (Flight International, 12-18 February, P16), Airbus Industrie describes the move to install guards as part of its "pro-active" stance on cockpit safety. If that stance were really pro-active, would not the A340 switch guards have ...

  • News

    Manx Airlines selects EMB-145

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    Manx Airlines has finalised its long-awaited regional-jet order with a contract for up to five Embraer EMB-145s, the first of which will be delivered in June for operation on the airline's British Airways Express franchise services. The airline selected the Brazilian regional jet after a three-way fight involving ...

  • News

    Brit'Air order launches Canadair stretched CRJ

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    FRENCH REGIONAL airline Brit'Air is the launch customer for the stretched, 70-seat Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ)Series 700, with a firm order for four aircraft. The Canadian company says that it has options and conditional orders for a further 28 aircraft, plus memoranda of understanding for another 35, ...

  • News

    Fokker hopes focus on Malaysian rescue

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    Fokker's assembly lines face final closure in May, unless administrators running the bankrupt Dutch manufacturer succeed in pulling off a last-ditch rescue plan. Hopes of saving the company centre on talks with a coalition of Malaysian and Dutch investment groups. The latest report from the Fokker administrators says ...

  • News

    Greenwich absorbs UNC to create overhaul giant

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    Greenwich Air Services is poised to make its biggest acquisition to date with agreement to take over UNC. The combined group will become the world's largest independent engine-services operation, with annual sales of around $1.8 billion and more than 10,000 employees. Greenwich chairman Eugene Conese says that the ...

  • News

    Extra investigates turboprop EA 400

    1997-02-26T00:00:00Z

    German aircraft manufacturer Extra Flugzeugbau is investigating a turboprop version of its six-seat EA 400 tourer machine. According to Extra, the idea has attracted strong interest from potential customers, particularly in the light of the US Federal Aviation Administration's forthcoming repeal of the ban on commercial, instrument-flight-rules (IFR), ...

  • News

    Falcon 20-B retrofit

    1997-02-19T17:29:00Z

    Garrett Aviation and AlliedSignal have formed an exclusive partnership under which the latter will continue to market the TFE731 engine retrofit to CF700-powered Falcon 20 operators. Garrett will put its own Falcon 20s into the programme, retrofit and refurbish them, and offer the re-engined -20Bs for sale to non-Falcon 20 ...

  • News

    Gore Commission pushes for user fees

    1997-02-19T00:00:00Z

    The White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, being led by vice-president Al Gore, has come out in favour of replacing the US ticket tax with user charges as the best way to fund the new satellite-based National Airspace System (NAS), which it says should be brought in seven ...

  • News

    Maintenance Directory Part 1, The Americas

    1997-02-19T00:00:00Z

    MAINTENANCE AND overhaul companies in North and South America are benefiting from the return to profitability of the region's airlines. While cost-cutting measures such as outsourcing main- tenance have slipped down the airlines' priority lists as profits have soared, overhaul companies say that business has improved since the recession's end. ...

  • News

    SITA: Dedicated to communicating

    1997-02-19T00:00:00Z

    From the start, airlines could not be efficient without good contactability. The need for better company communications, over developing long routes, gave birth in 1949 to SITA (once known as the Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques) - a non-profit-making co-operative, among major airlines - to provide self-managed communications. It has ...

  • News

    Aeronet: Development of a network

    1997-02-19T00:00:00Z

    SITA's AeroNet is a centrally managed data network capable of handling and routeing high volumes of complex - and often commercially sensitive - digital data streams from sophisticated applications. It might be compared with the newest databus in civil aircraft - where a point-to-point bus system, such as the Arinc ...

  • News

    Airbus suffers setback as GE walks away from A340-600

    1997-02-19T00:00:00Z

    Airbus Industrie has suffered a setback in its efforts to launch the proposed A340-500/600 growth derivatives in time for a 2001 service-entry date, after exclusive discussions with General Electric over the aircraft's powerplant were abandoned this month. The collapse of talks with GE, which began in April 1996, ...

  • News

    Boeing kicks off flight tests of next-generation 737 family

    1997-02-19T00:00:00Z

    Boeing's flight-test programme for its next-generation 737 family began smoothly on 9 February, with the 737-700 having a problem-free maiden flight from Renton, Washington. The flight marks the start of an eight-month test effort for the 737-700 which will include 1,200h of flying. Certification is planned in September, ...

  • News

    BAe flies its first converted A300B4 freighter

    1997-02-19T00:00:00Z

    British Aerospace's Filton, UK-based division, BAe Aviation Services, flew its first converted Airbus A300B4 freighter on 23 January, and hopes to be able to secure approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration and UK Civil Aviation Authority approval by the end of March. The conversion of the first ...

  • News

    Turkey signs up for further 30 Cougars

    1997-02-19T00:00:00Z

    The Turkish Government has signed a contract for the purchase of 30 Eurocopter Cougar Mk1s, coupled with an agreement on local production. The contract, worth Fr2.5 billion ($434 million), covers ten AS532-ULs for the Turkish army, complementing the 20 ordered at the end of 1993, plus 20 AS532-ALs ...