News from FlightGlobal – Page 2184
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French gamble on growth
Are Air France's fortunes looking up? Strong fourth quarter performance partially compensated for the pilots strike of mid-1998, limiting the damage to a 11% drop in profits. Higher load factors, meanwhile, have been aided by transatlantic codeshares and the its expanding Charles de Gaulle hub. The carrier has ...
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Alliances battle over LOT and Malev
Peter Bennett/VIENNA British Airways could be thwarted in its ambitions to buy an equity stake in Poland's LOT and Hungary's Malév, following better offers from Star Alliance and the Qualiflyer Group. British Airways was favourite to take a 38% equity stake in Lot, but relations between the two have deteriorated. ...
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Lack of interest stalls sell-offs
Despite renewed efforts at privatisation, airline sell-offs in the eastern Europe continue to be dogged by a lack of political will and scant interest from Western foreign investors. The Romanian Government is to begin searching for investors to buy a majority stake in its national carrier Tarom. ...
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UK cargo's agenda
As US-UK passenger talks begin, UK cargo carriers are pressurising the USA to include their demands on wetleasing rules in any new bilateral. The British Cargo Alliance (BCAA) points out that US cargo carriers "have a large and profitable business" leasing freighters to airlines such as British Airways - ...
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Cathay narrowly averts pilots strike
Nicholas Ionides ATI/SINGAPORE Cathay Pacific Airways narrowly avoided an all-out pilots' strike early in June by reaching an eleventh-hour agreement with cockpit crew on forced wage cuts. Cathay Pacific is widely seen as having won its longstanding dispute with cockpit crew over new contract terms, after narrowly averting an all-out ...
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Lufthansa links may help ease PAL's problems
Two Lufthansa units are in talks with Philippine Airlines (PAL) on business tie-ups as the troubled Asian flag carrier continues the battle to rehabilitate itself. Lufthansa chairman Jürgen Weber says Lufthansa Technik has "intensified" talks with PAL on a possible investment in its engineering operation at the carrier's ...
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News Corp pulls Ansett sale
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has been blocked in its attempt to buy half of Australia's Ansett Airlines. News Corporation withdrew its offer to sell its half share in Ansett amid signs that Air New Zealand (ANZ) will use its right to pre-empt its Singaporean partner. The News Corp decision to ...
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Australia eases foreign entry
Canberra has rejected a proposal to give cabotage rights to foreign carriers, but has approved recommendations designed to ease the entry of foreign airlines into Australia. Australia's federal cabinet gave its verdict on proposals to liberalise Australian aviation policy put forward by a government-appointed productivity commission. Qantas and ...
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Family matters
Report by Kevin O'toole and Karen Walker IN PARIS The launch of a new family of regional jets and a flurry of orders from European carriers took much of the limelight at the Paris air show. Four regional jet contenders, as well as Airbus and Boeing, now offer 100-seater jets. ...
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A touch of Swiss prudence
Jackie Gallacher/BRUSSELS Sabena is back in profit and experiencing one of the fastest growth rates in the industry. But under Swiss chief executive, Paul Reutlinger, there has been little fanfare surrounding the transformation. For a man who has just steered a foundering european flag carrier back to profits, Sabena's Paul ...
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Circling the globe
Jackie Gallacher Antitrust immunity has allowed many of the global alliances to pursue schedule co-ordination and joint pricing initiatives. But as the "customer-driven" oneworld hopes to prove, there is still plenty alliances can do without it. There are no prizes for identifying the main landmark in airline strategy over ...
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American justice?
Karen Walker/WASHINGTON DC Rather than wait for the Department of Transportation to define the thin line between fair and predatory competition, the Department of Justice has launched a high profile antitrust lawsuit against American Airlines. In this clash of the Titans, who stands to claim victory? If the US Department ...
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surfing for value
Nancy Schwartz and Michael Zea at Mercer Management Consulting in Washington DC Many airlines have begun using the Internet to market and distribute their products, but few have yet made a success of the medium. Internet-related market value has exploded over the past few years, especially in the USA, so ...
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African Express takes on international routes
Kenyan start-up African Express Airlines (AEA) has begun to bite into Kenya Airways' domestic market, and has taken its first step into international services with a flight to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Nairobi-based carrier began scheduled operations two months ago, after winning licences to fly Nairobi-Mombasa. AEA ...
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Ansett cuts services
Ansett Australia has reduced its British Aerospace 146 services in the Northern Territory and the northwest region of Western Australia, handing over under-performing routes to independent Darwin-based regional carrier Air North. Air North has acquired two Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias to operate 30 services a week on Ansett's behalf. "As ...
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Airtours introduces Airbus A330-200
Airtours International has become the second UK charter airline to introduce the Airbus A330-200, with the delivery of the first of four Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered examples. The 363-seaters will be operated on long haul routes to the USA, the Caribbean, Mexico, Australia and Asia. The UK airline division of tour ...
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Europeans boost Chinese industry with component work
Airbus Industrie and BMW Rolls-Royce (BMW R-R) are boosting relations with China's aerospace industry by handing out subcontracts to Chinese manufacturers. The move will see Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) participating in the new Airbus A318 development programme. Airbus, which has partnerships with Shenyang Aircraft and Xian Aircraft, ...
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Condor and British Airways to plug airliners into cyberspace
Emma Kelly/LONDONCondor Flugdienst is activating Rockwell Collins' Integrated Information System (I2S) on two Airbus A320s this month as part of a project to test technologies linking an aircraft-based intranet to airline terminal area databases. At the same time, British Airways is equipping the first of two Boeing 747-400s as part ...
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Upgrade will extend lives of 747 Classics
KLM and Canadian Marconi are finalising details of a turnkey cockpit upgrade package to offer operators of Boeing 747 Classics. The move follows the experience gained by the partners on the programme to upgrade KLM's own fleet of 747 Classics. The Dutch airline became the first to commit to ...
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Lufthansa Technik nears Manila goal
Lufthansa Technik (LHT)has taken a step closer to its goal of establishing a maintenance joint venture in Manila following the signing of letters of intent with Philippine Airlines (PAL)and logistics company MacroAsia. Formal approval of the plan by the boards of all three companies is expected "within a couple ...