Networks – Page 1266

  • News

    Gulf Air funding finally agreed as losses start to fall

    1997-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Gulf Air says that its state shareholders have agreed to $200 million in fresh funding, ending months of boardroom negotiations over shoring up the carrier's crisis-hit finances. The deal was finally struck at a board meeting held in Doha, Qatar, in April. Chief executive Shaikh Ahmed bin Saif ...

  • News

    South Africa draws up shortlist for Sun Air

    1997-05-07T00:00:00Z

    South Africa has drawn up a shortlist of potential bidders for Sun Air in the first phase of the regional airline's privatisation. The list includes Air France, Malaysian Airlines (MAS), Virgin Atlantic and South African domestic carrier Comair, which acts as a British Airways franchise operator. Alongside the ...

  • News

    Canadian pair plan shake-ups

    1997-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Canada's regional carriers face a shake-up following a decision by the country's two largest airlines to consider restructuring their domestic operations. Air Canada set the ball rolling by announcing a review of operations which could lead to a restructuring of four regional carriers - Air BC, Air Ontario, ...

  • News

    Slow domestic market makes ANA look abroad for growth

    1997-05-07T00:00:00Z

    All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced plans for a large-scale expansion of its international operations over the next five years, as the carrier faces the prospect of slower growth and increased competition at home. Under ANA's mid-term 1997-2001 corporate plan, international operations will be expanded from 30% to ...

  • News

    First Ilyushin Il-96T is rolled out at Voronezh

    1997-05-07T00:00:00Z

    The first series production version of the Pratt & Whitney PW2000-powered Ilyushin Il-96, a-96T freighter, was rolled out at the VASO plant in Voronezh on 26 April. The Russian prime minister, Victor Chernomyrdin, attended the ceremony, stressing the political significance of the event. Twenty of the PW2337-powered aircraft ...

  • News

    Lufthansa 747 'Classic' digital cockpit retrofit is certificated

    1997-05-07T00:00:00Z

    The first Boeing 747 "Classic" to be retrofitted with a digital cockpit has been certificated by the German civil aviation authority. The aircraft, an ex-United Airlines 747SPbelonging to the Brunei royal family, was modified by Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg, Germany (Flight International, 26 June-2 July, 1996). It has ...

  • News

    R-R will speed up Trent 8100

    1997-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Rolls-Royce has reached agreement with Boeing to advance the development and certification of its planned 445kN (100,000lb)-thrust Trent 8100 growth engine by nine months, allowing the powerplant to enter service on the proposed 777-200X and -300X derivatives by 2001. The revised Trent 8100 schedule is contained in a ...

  • News

    Financial results

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Company Period Net US$ mil Comp period Sales US$ mil % change Cathay Pacific Y Dec 31 492.5 385.0 4,187 6.3 China Airlines* Y Dec 31 46.6 45.0 1,887 ...

  • News

    Battle of wills

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Washington has changed tactics on Japan. When President Clinton wrote to Prime Minister Hashimoto last September to urge that Japan and the US replace their contentious bilateral with a new open skies agreement, that represented a change of thinking in Washington. For eight years the administrations had insisted on Tokyo's ...

  • News

    Korea opens with a catch

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    South Korea, long considered a non-starter in US efforts to forge open skies in Asia, is hinting that it may yet join the party, but Seoul's insistence on preconditions is likely to sit awkwardly in Washington. A Korean transport ministry official says his country is willing to sign ...

  • News

    Latin cargo tempts Asia

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Access to unlimited beyond rights is one of the main goals for the US in its global drive for open skies and now Asian carriers are discovering there may yet be benefits in return, in the booming Latin American cargo market at least. China Airlines will become the ...

  • News

    LOTs of luck at third try?

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    The management at LOT has got its hands full. Not only is this year crucial for the third attempt at a partial sell-off but the Polish carrier is also introducing five new aircraft, resulting in the biggest single capacity hike ever. After the government blocked the first attempt ...

  • News

    Eagle eyes regional jets

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    The long-running dispute between American Airlines management and its pilots seems likely to be resolved this month, but at a high cost to the airline. In return for compromises on the issue of regional jets, the pilots have won a wage increase that is almost double that of the previous ...

  • News

    Euro agents fight change

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    European travel agents are portraying their attempts at resisting the rising tide of commission cuts as a case of the biblical slaying of Goliath by David and, in most cases, they are right. But the tables are reversed in the case of low-cost operator Ryanair, which is one of the ...

  • News

    Having fun in Brussels

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    As Sabena throws itself into revamping its shaky operations it had better remember to watch its back. Both Virgin Express and City Bird are attacking the flag carrier's Brussels base with gusto. The two airlines claim to be revolutionising the services on offer in Europe with a cheap, ...

  • News

    China set to fuel mergers

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    China looks set to hike fuel prices to try to force further consolidation among its many unprofitable local carriers as local fares are set to rise. The authorities have already cleared airlines to raise air fares for local residents by up to 20 per cent from July following ...

  • News

    Chinas start strait talking

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    The countdown to Hong Kong's handover is starting to realign China-Taiwan aeropolitics. There has been little progress in the two years since Taipei predicted direct flights would start in 1997, but there are signs that China and Taiwan want better relations and are willing to take tentative steps towards direct ...

  • News

    Crossair tries back door

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Swiss regional carrier Crossair has taken a 35 per cent stake in a proposed French startup carrier, in an attempt to improve its access to the European Union market. Initially, Euro Continental Airways would operate two Crossair Saab 2000s from major French cities to the French sector of ...

  • News

    Digest

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Delta Air Lines has extended its SkyMiles FFP to Air France and Korean Air, while British Airways and American Airlines have extended their FFP links. British Airways introduced two daily flights from Manchester to Warsaw and two weekly flights from London/Gatwick to Krakow. In return LOT Polish Airlines ...

  • News

    American Eagle joins the jet set

    1997-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Phew. It was a tough negotiation, as all union talks are. A strike was avoided only after presidential intervention. Nobody is entirely happy with the outcome. But there is a palpable sense of relief throughout the industry that American Airlines and its pilots have, at last, reached an accommodation. ...