Networks – Page 1294

  • News

    Wide smiles at Sabena

    1996-11-01T00:00:00Z

    It's happy families in Brussels, on the surface at least. Sabena's management appears to have won the support of the unions for the airline's 'Horizon '98' restructuring plan, which will lead to lower labour costs and to more flexible working hours. All four Sabena unions have signed a ...

  • News

    Slots wrong for regionals

    1996-11-01T00:00:00Z

    Not surprisingly Europe's regional carriers are up in arms over the European Commission's revision of its slot regulation, which is likely to come down in favour of slot trading. And alternative proposals circulating in Germany have heightened the dismay. The board of airline representatives in Germany (Barig) appears ...

  • News

    SAS Express is so simple

    1996-11-01T00:00:00Z

    SAS has responded to the threat of competition on its profitable Nordic services by piloting a new simplified product, SAS Express. SAS Express is being used to brand 14 daily Stockholm-Oslo services for a three-month trial period from 22 October but could be extended throughout its Nordic and domestic network. ...

  • News

    Team works at Alitalia

    1996-11-01T00:00:00Z

    Alitalia is squaring up to its impending scrutiny by the European Commission with the launch of its low-cost operation, Alitalia Team. But the carrier remains dogged by allegations of predatory pricing and collusion on slots. Brussels opened an investigation into the airline's planned 3,000 billion lire (US$2 billion) ...

  • News

    Dragon fired

    1996-11-01T00:00:00Z

    Dragonair's owners have shelved the planned initial public offering until at least the end of 1997. Citic Pacific, one of the carrier's main shareholders, cited the impact of new route development which would not be fully reflected in the 1996 profits. Source: Airline Business

  • News

    Unions balk at BA plans

    1996-11-01T00:00:00Z

    British Airways is facing a serious confrontation with its two main unions in the wake of plans to slash US$1.5 billion from its cost base in three years. The UK carrier has also come under fire from employees and the financial community over the apparently unfocused nature of its proposals, ...

  • News

    US startups lose value

    1996-11-01T00:00:00Z

    Two low-cost US airlines launched service within a week of each other in late September, including a reborn ValuJet. But the experience of long-ailing Kiwi, which filed for Chapter 11 in early October, seems the more likely barometer for this sector. Some three months after ValuJet was shut ...

  • News

    Aviastar Asia ties up deal for 20 Tu-204s

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    Paul Duffy/SHANNON Aviastar Asia (AAC), the new joint venture set up in Taipei to market the Tupolev Tu-204 outside Russia, has now signed a contract for 20 aircraft, which is expected to be announced officially at Airshow China '96 at Zhuhai in November. Singapore-registered AAC brings ...

  • News

    BA ditches plans for British Mediterranean franchise

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    British Airways has abandoned proposals to operate its services to the Levant under a franchise agreement with British Mediterranean Airways (BMed), and both carriers say that they will continue to serve the Middle Eastern region independently. The two airlines struck a deal to operate joint services to Amman, ...

  • News

    Cargolux accelerates

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    Cargolux of Luxembourg has reached an agreement with Boeing to accelerate the delivery of its fourth 747-400 freighter from September 1998 to August 1997. Cargolux, which was the first operator of the freight version of the 747-400, will then operate four 747-400Fs and four 747-200Fs on its international cargo network. ...

  • News

    Sabena links with Virgin Express for Heathrow route

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS Virgin Express is launching scheduled services between Brussels and London Heathrow, in a code-share deal with Sabena under which it will replace the Belgian flag carrier on the route. The low-cost Brussels-based airline launched services on 27 October with nine daily return ...

  • News

    Japan seeks GPS

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    Japan is expected to issue a request for proposals in November for a system to improve the accuracy, avail- ability and integrity of the global-positioning system (GPS). The system, dubbed MSAS, is Japan's equivalent of the US wide-area augmentation system. It will be operational by the end of 1998, providing ...

  • News

    Iberia emerges fighting as profits come into view

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    Iberia is gearing up to fight increasing competition on its international and domestic routes, with "a new aggressive commercial policy" says, chairman Xabier de Irala. "A lot of things are going to change-We will defend our leadership with all the weapons available," he pledges. Iberia has waded into ...

  • News

    BA moves closer to control of Air Liberte

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    Julian Moxon/Paris British Airways appears to have come a step closer in its bid to take over ailing French independent carrier Air Liberte after the unexpected withdrawal of a competing offer from a consortium led by French travel group Nouvelle Frontieres. One of the consortium members, the Banque ...

  • News

    White knight rides in for Kiwi

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Kiwi International Airlines, facing permanent shutdown of scheduled passenger services after filing for bankruptcy-court protection, has been rescued by Wasatach International, a Florida-based investment concern. The low-fare US carrier, which filed for Chapter 11, on 30 September and forced to suspend, scheduled ...

  • News

    The tangled web

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    As free flight comes closer to reality, all parties involved in the concept find the final details difficult to agree. Julian Moxon and Kevin O'Toole/AMSTERDAM Few concepts have caught the aviation industry's collective imagination as strongly as that of "free flight". The prospect of aircrews being able ...

  • News

    CNS/ATM programmes in Europe

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    PROGRAMME FOR HARMONISED AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT RESEARCH IN EURO-CONTROL (PHARE) Aimed at demonstrating the feasibility and merits of a future air-to-ground integrated air-traffic-management system in all phases of flight. Now part of Euro-control's European Air Traffic Management System initiative. The last of three demonstrations in 1998 will include ...

  • News

    EC believes there is 'room for improvement' in open skies

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    Julian Moxon/PARIS Europe's air-transport liberalisation has resulted in cheaper fares, new airlines and more routes, but "-there is still room for improvement", says the European Commission (EC) in a report anticipating full liberalisation in April 1997. The EC says that it remains concerned about "excessive" ...

  • News

    Feel free

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    The end-of-term report on air-transport liberalisation, for the period 1993-6 from the European transport commissioner Neil Kinnock is full of praise for, and pride in, achievements and future plans. Liberalisation, it says, has worked well, with few major upsets, but, to be completed successfully, needs a little more effort in ...

  • News

    CAE Electronics prepares to equip India's FANS centre

    1996-10-30T00:00:00Z

    CAE Electronics is preparing to deliver a future air-navigation system (FANS) workstation to India, for installation in the Calcutta air-traffic-control centre. The workstation will enable India to offer fuel-saving routes over the Bay of Bengal to airlines operating Boeing 747-400s with FANS-1 avionics. The workstation is similar to ...