All Systems & Interiors news – Page 792

  • News

    Europe and USA start Galileo connection talks

    1999-03-31T00:00:00Z

    Europe and the USA have started discussions to ensure Europe's Galileo global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is interoperable with the US global positioning system (GPS). In February, the European Commission (EC) announced plans to develop Galileo as an open, global satellite navigation system independent from the GPS. Although the USA ...

  • News

    SIA buys into Ansett Australia

    1999-03-31T00:00:00Z

    Paul Phelan/MELBOURNE Singapore Airlines (SIA) is to share ownership of Melbourne-based domestic carrier Ansett Australia with Air New Zealand after agreeing to buy out the 50% stake in Ansett Holdings held by the News Limited media group. The deal means that the two flag carriers will also hold equal stakes ...

  • News

    Airbus and Messier-Dowty test fix for A330/A340 landing gear

    1999-03-31T00:00:00Z

    Airbus Industrie and Messier Dowty are testing a fix for the main landing gear of the A340 long-range airliner, which, if successful, will enable the removal of operating restrictions on all A330s and A340s. The work follows the incident involving a Sabena A340 in August in which the right ...

  • News

    Meet the family

    1999-03-24T12:03:00Z

    Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS Sabena of Belgium has begun its transition to an all-Airbus fleet, and is coming to grips with new procedures With the delivery of its first Airbus Industrie A321 on 2 March, Sabena began its conversion to an all-Airbus airline - the biggest re-equipment programme in ...

  • News

    Loran-C reprieved as USA sets timetable for move to sole GPS

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC It will take at least 10 years for the USA to complete its transition from ground-based navigation aids to the satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) for "sole means" navigation, according to US aviation officials. Meanwhile, Loran-C, which is operated by the US Coast Guard for en ...

  • News

    Bombardier adds more names to Continental as launch nears

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    Bombardier has named further risk-sharing partners for its Continental business jet programme. Launch of the "super mid-size" Continental is expected by the time of the Paris air show. France's Intertechnique will provide the fuel system, and ECE - a Group Intertechnique company - will supply the electrical system. AlliedSignal ...

  • News

    Trimble terminates GA avionics production

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    Trimble is planning to halt general aviation avionics production by May, following the rumoured collapse of a deal to sell its product line. The sale by Trimble of subsidiary Terra, set up four years ago to handle the Terra avionics product line, is also expected to fall through. Sunnyvale, ...

  • News

    A340 reduced stability flight tests set to cut A3XX weight

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    Julian Moxon/PARIS Airbus Industrie is about to begin flight testing a specially equipped A340 to show that the new A3XX can fly with less static and dynamic stability than its current fly-by-wire aircraft. Engineering and product vice-president Robert Lafontan says the consortium is also considering a fly-by-wire flight ...

  • News

    Boeing bids for more modification work

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    Boeing is seeking to take a larger share of the market for modification of its airliners. It is forming a business unit to provide conversion, upgrade and engineering services to airlines and maintenance centres. The new Boeing Airplane Services unit is built around the company's Wichita, Kansas-based 747 passenger-to-freighter conversion ...

  • News

    UPS contract leads Thomson to Windows NT

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    Thomson Training &Simulation (TTS) has launched a Windows NT-based full flight simulator with an order from United Parcel Service. TTS says the simulator, for the Airbus A300-600R, will be the world's first to feature a PC-based real-time computing architecture using the Windows NT operating system. Presently, the company uses ...

  • News

    Mergers

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    LSG Lufthansa Service, a division of the German flag carrier, has increased its stake in fellow in-flight caterer Sky Chefs from 24% to 48% in a deal worth $268 million. LSG bought the stake from Toronto-based Onex, which will retain a 48% holding. LSG has the right to buy the ...

  • News

    Sibir bounces back with turnover up 10%

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    Paul Duffy/MOSCOW Former Aeroflot carrier Sibir is showing signs of rebounding from the Russian economic collapse, with traffic and financial figures showing improvement during 1998. The Novosibirsk-based airline carried 620,000 passengers last year, up 3% on 1997, while cargo volumes were up by 5%, to 5,800t. Sibir's success is all ...

  • News

    Airbus counts cost of short-haul price war with Boeing

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    Chris Jasper/LONDON Airbus Industrie has made provisions for losses totalling £400 million ($650 million) as a result of the mid-90s price war with Boeing over shorthaul airliner sales, the European manufacturer has revealed. Around £200 million of the charge was absorbed last year, resulting in a loss to the ...

  • News

    US carriers optimistic as market shows recovery

    1999-03-24T00:00:00Z

    ChrisJasper/LONDON The USA's major carriers are suddenly more bullish about their financial prospects for the rest of the year following a modest improvement in overall market conditions and better than expected performance in the first quarter. Most of the country's big airlines expressed serious concerns about their likely fortunes ...

  • News

    Escape route

    1999-03-17T00:00:00Z

    Reducing the number of cabin exits to accelerate emergency passenger evacuation sounds like a contradiction in terms. That is, however, what Airbus Industrie is arguing as it tries to persuade European and US regulators to change the certification rules which affect the exit layout for its stretched A340, the -600 ...

  • News

    C-295 avionics

    1999-03-17T00:00:00Z

    CASA has selected Sextant Avionique's Topdeck avionics for its new C-295 light tactical transport aircraft. Topdeck consists of four liquid crystal displays and control units, an integrated standby instrument, flight management system module, two multifunction control and display units and two attitude and heading reference systems. The new avionics suite ...

  • News

    Safety boards act on cockpit recorder safety

    1999-03-17T00:00:00Z

    Canadian and US safety boards are recommending changes to cockpit voice and flight data recorders (CVRs and FDRs) to prevent power interruptions which have complicated recent accident investigations. Canadian investigators say their efforts to determine the cause of last September's Swissair Boeing MD-11 crash have been compromised by missing ...

  • News

    Airlines move to fill Channel Islands vacuum

    1999-03-17T00:00:00Z

    Herman de Wulf/BRUSSELS Aurigny Air Services and VLM are looking to capitalise on KLMuk's decision to reduce its Channel Islands operations, with new routes to the UK mainland and Continental Europe. Channel Islands-based Aurigny has applied to replace KLM uk on services between Guernsey and London Stansted from April. Jersey ...

  • News

    Lufthansa plans capacity rise despite decline in yields

    1999-03-17T00:00:00Z

    Andrew Doyle/BERLIN Chris Jasper/LONDON Lufthansa is planning to buck the European trend and increase capacity by 13% with the introduction of its summer schedules, despite sharing industry concerns over declining yields. Other European - and US - majors have been saddled with excess capacity over the past 12 months ...

  • News

    Airbus seeks exit rule changes

    1999-03-17T00:00:00Z

    Andrew Doyle/MUNICH David Learmount/LONDON Airbus Industrie is trying to persuade European and US regulatory authorities to modify certification rules to allow it to build the A340-600 with the same number of emergency exits as the smaller -300, despite the fact that the new variant seats nearly 100 more passengers. To ...