MRO – Page 514
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News
Good business
Air Namibia plans to make its fortune by cutting costs, increasing income and building partnerships Stewart Penney/WINDHOEKA new managing director at Air Namibia is determined to reverse the carrier's flagging fortunes and prepare it for privatisation by aggressively attacking costs while increasing income and creating a series of alliances. The ...
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Meet the family
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 ...
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Eaglet approval set back to later this year
Kate Sarsfield/LONDON EURO-ENAER has pushed back certification of its two-seat single-engined Eaglet trainer to the second half of the year. The manufacturer blames delays in the flight testing programme caused by "poor weather" and teething problems with European Joint Aviation Requirement (JAR) 23 certification procedures. "We were planning to certificate ...
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Boeing bids for more modification work
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 ...
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First MD-10 is rolled out at Long Beach
The first McDonnell Douglas DC-10 converted to MD-10 specification for the FedEx conversion programme was rolled out at Boeing's Long Beach site in California on 19 March. The ex-United DC-10-10, dubbed "T-1", is the first of three test aircraft to be fitted with the advanced two-crew digital flightdeck at ...
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Engine tie-up
SIA Engineering has signed a deal with Rolls-Royce and Hong Kong Aero Engine Services (HAESL) to set up a repair and overhaul centre for the Trent in Singapore. The company, known as Singapore Aero Engine Services, is due to begin operations in 2002 at a site near Changi Airport. The ...
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CFM prepares advanced fan for new tests
CFM International plans to begin crosswind tests of its experimental swept fan blade design in June, as it approaches the half-way point of its three-year Tech56 advanced technology development effort. Tech56 is aimed at improving the CFM56 engine family across the full 20,000-35,000lb thrust (89-156kN) range, as well as ...
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Turnaround target
Turboméca says overhaul and repair turnaround times on its Arriel 1 turboshaft - averaging 89 days last year against a target of 28 days - are reducing as it increases capacity and overcomes parts shortages. The company was shipping at least 20 engines a month by the end of last ...
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FAA rules out 737 rudder malfunction crash link
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Recent Boeing 737 rudder malfunctions are not being linked to rudder control unit failures suspected of causing fatal 737 crashes in 1991 and 1994, senior US Federal Aviation Administration officials say (Flight International, 3-9 March, P13). Preliminary rulings refer to a MetroJet Boeing 737-200 incident on ...
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PIA turns to Cathay Pacific for 747-300 lease
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has signed a letter of intent with Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways for the lease of five Boeing 747-300s as interim replacements from mid-April for the carrier's six 747-200Bs. PIA has long been planning a 747-200 replacement programme, examining the Boeing 747-400 and 777 and Airbus ...
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AMR Combs and Signature talk about combining FBO chains
Teams from AMR Combs and Signature Flight Support have started talks on combining their fixed-base operation (FBO) chains after Signature parent company BBA Group completed its $170 million acquisition of the former AMR subsidiary. A decision on how the combined chain will be branded is expected by the end ...
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SR Technics targets Thai joint venture
SR Technics of Switzerland is talking to Thai Airways International about creating an aircraft maintenance joint venture, and hopes to wrap up a deal by the end of the year. This would be a major step towards globalising SAirGroup's overhaul business, following similar moves by its rivals, including Lufthansa ...
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KLM completes testing of 747 cockpit upgrade
KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Canadian Marconi have completed flight tests of a Boeing 747 Classic cockpit upgrade, and have achieved supplemental type certification. The upgrade will extend the life of KLM's fleet of 13 747-200/300s beyond 2010. The cockpit upgrade is built around three Canadian Marconi CMA-900 flight management ...
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PW4000 operators face surge inspection
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Operators of more than 560 Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered Airbus A300/ A310s, Boeing 747s, 767s and MD-11s are starting inspections for potential surge problems. The problems are restricted only to 2.37m (94in)-diameter fan versions of the PW4000. The move follows a suspected double surge event ...
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SEC clears PAL to resume 737 payments
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the resumption of payments by debt-ridden Philippine Airlines (PAL) on four leased Boeing 737-300s. Monthly payments of $220,000 for each aircraft will restart to Airplanes Finance, GE Capital Aviation Services and the GPA Group. The go-ahead staves off ...
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SAA chief receives death threat following corruption clean-up
Hilka Birns/CAPE TOWN Dave Birch/LONDON Efforts by South African Airways' recently appointed chief executive Coleman Andrews to wipe out corruption in the airline could lead to a violent backlash. Meanwhile, SAA has dismissed concerns that corruption within its maintenance division is affecting safety. Andrews and his cargo manager ...
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CHC takes 25% stake in Norway's HSG
Canada's CHC Helicopter has acquired a 25% stake in Norwegian operator Helicopter Services Group (HSG). Stavanger-based HSG is the parent company of North Sea operators Helikopter Service and Bond Helicopters, Australia's Lloyd Helicopter Service and South Africa's Court Air Holdings. It also owns stakes in Germany's Wiking Helikopter Services ...
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Alleged rule bending stymies BA plans to start Italian airline
Chris Jasper/LONDON Paul Phelan/CAIRNS Secret British Airways plans to establish a franchised airline in Italy have been hit by allegations that Australian regional carrier National Jet Systems (NJS), which had aimed to launch the service, has been trying to circumvent European regulations to gain an air operators certificate ...
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Lockheed Martin sees red hot future for laser manufacturing
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin has begun making prototype parts using a laser direct manufacturing process that it believes could eventually be used to produce complete wing and fuselage structures as single pieces. Under Project Lightspeed, the company has set up a research facility on the factory floor at ...
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On the offensive
Guy Norris/LONG BEACH Boeing's campaign to secure the future of the 717 is going into overdrive Boeing's efforts to establish the 717-200 in the marketplace were boosted on 24 February with the first flight of the premier production example, P-1, at its Long Beach division in California. Even ...