News from FlightGlobal – Page 2203

  • News

    Alitalia defends Italy

    1999-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Alitalia is considering setting up a southern Italian regional operation which observers believe may be a defensive action against similar plans by British Airways. Alitalia is carrying out a feasibility study, to be completed in June, into setting up a regional operation connecting southern Italy with other destinations ...

  • News

    News in Brief

    1999-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Slot exchange - A UK high court has ruled that the former Air UK, now KLM uk, did not illegally sell its Guernsey slots at London Heathrow to British Airways. According to the presiding judge in the case brought by Guernsey, the fact that the exchange was unequal - Air ...

  • News

    LOT sell-off revived

    1999-05-01T00:00:00Z

    The Polish Government has revived plans to privatise its national carrier LOT, six years after the sell-off was first announced. It aims to raise capital for the carrier and get it into a global alliance. According to Treasury Minister Alicja Kornasiewicz, a search for a partner is to ...

  • News

    Time to talk about the scope clause

    1999-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Union limits on the scale and scope of regional flying are due to be brought out into the open as US regional carriers prepare to meet in Phoenix. How times have changed. In the not too distant past, regional airlines were the minnows of the aviation world, flying on "hometown" ...

  • News

    Link to the future

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Europe's air traffic control datalink work is forging on Kieran Daly/COPENHAGEN and STOCKHOLM Processing in loose line astern up the east Swedish coast through the broken cloud of a winter Sunday morning, our four-strong formation is something of an oddity: a light twin turboprop flat out at 240kt (440km/h), tailed ...

  • News

    Air China joins prospective A318 launchers

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Air China has signed a tentative agreement with Airbus Industrie and Pratt & Whitney to order eight PW6000-powered A318 twinjets as a trade-in for four Boeing 747SPs. A second potential launch customer, Air France, has asked CFM International to offer the CFM56-5A as an alternative powerplant (Flight International, 21-27 ...

  • News

    Old pals act

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Just when it seemed that Philippine Airlines was on a plausible road to recovery, the road has been spiked by the carrier's major shareholder. Controversial beer and tobacco mogul Lucio Tan is one of the wealthiest men in the Philippines. He already owns about 70% of the Philippines national ...

  • News

    Herculean task

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The European Commission's air transport liberalisation programme can justly claim to have succeeded with its legal framework to allow airline competition. To critical observers, the results can be clearly seen through improved attitudes to the passenger and to quality of service, aircraft condition and operational efficiency. The architects ...

  • News

    New York's New Air aims for new year start with Airbuses

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC New Air, which plans to launch low-fare services from New York Kennedy International in January, has ordered 25 Airbus Industrie A320 family aircraft worth an estimated $1 billion. The new US entrant also holds 25 options and 25 purchase rights on A320 family aircraft, with ...

  • News

    Varig shakes up aircraft plans as economy bites

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Paul Lewis/RIO DE JANEIRO Varig has dropped plans to lease two new Boeing 777s and is negotiating with the manufacturer to reschedule deliveries of other newly ordered aircraft. The airline is also planning to restructure further its ancillary operations in the face of Brazil's recent economic difficulties. The Brazilian flag ...

  • News

    African Star ships in aircraft as it claims licence approval

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Hilka Birns/CAPE TOWN South Africa's first independent and majority black-owned international airline, African Star, may have jumped the gun by announcing that the government has granted it an international air service licence. According to sources at the country's transport department, Pretoria's Air Services Licensing Council has given only ...

  • News

    European airlines call for ATC rethink

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Emma Kelly/LONDON The Association of European Airlines (AEA) has called for a radical rethink on European air traffic control (ATC), after the latest capacity and delay predictions. European air navigation organisation Eurocontrol had originally targeted accommodating 8% more traffic this year, compared with the previous year, with a ...

  • News

    Cargolux takes stock exchange route for fleet recapitalisation

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Freight airline Cargolux plans to go to the stock exchange later this year, with the aim of raising $100-$150 million to help fund the expansion of its fleet from seven to 12 Boeing 747-400Fs by 2002. The Luxembourg carrier's vice-president for strategy, Lucien Schummer, says the cash will be raised ...

  • News

    Humbled Korean Air stages management upheaval

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE After the latest of a string of air safety disasters, Korean Air (KAL) is undergoing a management shake-up in an attempt to convince politicians, passengers and partners that it is turning over a new leaf. Chairman and founder Cho Choong-Hoon has resigned, "taking the entire responsibility ...

  • News

    Alliance attacks US pilot scope clauses

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Pilot contract scope clauses, which limit the number of regional jets US airlines can operate, are to come under attack from a widely based alliance to be unveiled at the US Regional Airlines Association meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, in May. The "Proposition RJ" alliance plans to lobby ...

  • News

    Subduing the shunto

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    With crisis gripping Japan's airlines, even the trade unions are unwilling to fight cost-cutting measures Andrzej Jeziorski/TOKYO Springtime in Japan is traditionally marked not only by the flowering of cherry blossom, but by the stirrings of industrial unrest. This year's strike season, known locally as "shunto", should be well under ...

  • News

    US majors beat expectations

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Chris Jasper/LONDON Most large US carriers have reported a stronger-than-expected performance for the first quarter of this year on the back of strong domestic demand and improving international markets. Bad winter weather took its toll, but while several airlines posted poorer results than for the same period last year, ...

  • News

    CIT steps up with Airbus buy

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC The CIT Group has signalled its intent to compete as a major international aircraft lessor with its first direct purchase of 30 Airbus Industrie A320 and A330s. The portfolio is expected to be supplemented shortly with a similar size order for new Boeing Next Generation 737s. CIT ...

  • News

    Marketplace

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Trans World Airlines has leased three used Boeing 767-300ERs from GE Capital Aircraft Services, one for delivery in August and two in February. TWA has sold GECAS five 767-200s, which it is leasing back until delivery of the -300ERs. The airline realised net cash proceeds of $31 million, plus $5 ...

  • News

    Pan Am buys Reflectone centres

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Pan Am International Flight Academy (PAIFA) is to acquire Reflectone's training centres at Washington Dulles International Airport and St Louis, Missouri. The former British Aerospace facilities house simulators for the BAe 146 and for the Jetstream 31 and J41. The Dulles site will accommodate the ...