News from FlightGlobal – Page 2296
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News
Spanair in the works
Straddling the charter-schedule boundary, Spanair is making a name for itself in Europe while also trying to gain a foothold in the transatlantic market. This will be a pivotal year for Spanair, Spain's fast-growing, charter-cum-scheduled airline. Eleven years old this spring, Spanair started scheduled flights just five years ago, ...
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Premium Sales
With the worst over in the airliner discount wars, John Leahy is focused on securing a premium for Airbus technology. Salesmen stuck with a mundane commodity product must look with green-eyed longing at the airliner market. What could be further from the stack it high and sell it cheap philosophy ...
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The size equation
Airbus forcasts show that demand for the A3XX rests partly on the shifting balance between high and low yield traffic. Few new airliner births can have had such an agonisingly slow and controversial labour as that which has accompanied the launch of a new large aircraft. After almost a ...
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All kinds of everything
Boeing believes its comprehensive range of airliners sets it up well for the next industry upturn, when each airline will seek out the product that most closely matches its requirements. All the sizes in all the colours. If Boeing's product range was available in the local department store, even the ...
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Get your aircraft economics right
Operating ageing aircraft can be an expensive business, as cost figures for the US majors clearly demonstrate. But how great is the cost difference between old and new? There has always been a trade-off between the cheap acquisition cost of older aircraft and the slick operating economics of modern types. ...
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Iberia gets down to business
With the BA equity deal all but sealed, membership of oneworld under its belt and full privatisation slated by year end, Iberia has much to be cheerful about. But while the Spanish flag carrier reinvents itself as a serious international business airline, it will need to keep a close eye ...
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Food for thought
Most airlines are contracting out in-flight catering and are increasingly looking for suppliers with a global presence. When casting around for ways to reduce costs and strip out non-core businesses, airline chief executives did not take long to focus on the opportunities to be had from outsourcing their in-flight ...
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Safety in numbers?
Until now, Air Namibia's future looked limited and its finances precarious. But hopes are pinned on a new managing director, a restructuring programme and an alliance with South African Airways. Jaafar Ahmad freely admits that his first reaction when asked to head up struggling carrier Air Namibia was: "What ...
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Maintenance gets smart
Every business has its dark corners. Secret fiefdoms or forgotten Cinderellas, where planning is a black art and true costs difficult to pin down. By tradition, maintenance has been one such corner of the airline industry. The label may be an exaggeration, but the boardroom drive to get a stronger ...
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Vanishing act
Perceptions of the job of the airline pilot are changing and not in a way which is going to be good for the industry. For some cultures, notably in the Far East and Middle East, it has never been seen as glamorous or prestigious to be an airline pilot. But ...
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High court ruling leaves European slot allocation system in confusion
Europe's slot allocation system has been thrown into confusion after a UK High Court ruling which, while not specifically permitting slot sales, seems to have given the all-clear to exchanges "where money changes hands". Delivering a decision on a case concerning the transfer of slots at London Heathrow from ...
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Proposed US-EU dialogue may ease tensions
Alan George/BRUSSELS The European Union and the US Government have discussed the establishment of a 'structured dialogue' aimed at defusing aviation tensions between the two sides. The talks, between EC Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock and US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, took place in Brussels last week. Slater went to ...
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Turkish carriers sign for Next Generation 737s
Istanbul Airlines and SunExpress Airlines have become the latest Turkish carriers to make major commitments to the Boeing Next Generation 737 family, with plans to acquire a total of 26 aircraft between them. A firm order for 12 737-800s has been placed by Istanbul Airlines, with options on a further ...
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Devaluation forces Varig aircraft and route cuts
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON Brian Homewood/RIO DE JANEIRO Varig Brazil has announced cuts in international services to the USA and Europe and plans to withdraw its fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 passenger aircraft by the end of the year as a massive Brazilian currency devaluation begins to affect airline traffic. ...
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Marketplace
Delta Air Lines has taken delivery of its first Boeing 777-200ER ahead of a planned entry into commercial service on transatlantic routes from 1 May. The 277-seat Rolls-Royce Trent-powered aircraft will initially be operated between Atlanta and London and, from September, between Cincinnati and London and Atlanta and Frankfurt. The ...
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Mergers
The UK's Dowty Group has bought GE Aircraft Engines subsidiary Tri-Manufacturing for $58 million. The Indiana-based aero-engine components fabricator will be incorporated into TI Group member Dowty's Turbine Engine Components (D-TEC) business. HeavyLift Cargo Airlines, the world's largest outsized-freight operator, has been acquired in a management buyout which values its ...
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Insurers counting on a rise in premiums by end of year
Chris Jasper/LONDON The aviation insurance industry is becoming convinced that the headlong fall in premiums may be poised to hit bottom or even begin a slow recovery, with the market's massive over-capacity also set to be reduced as part of the same process. Since premiums last hit a peak ...
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Japan identifies MD-11 autopilot defects after crash probe
Japan's Ministry of Transport (MoT) is expected to recommend to the US Federal Aviation Administration that improvements be made to the programming of Boeing's MD-11 autopilot system, according to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun daily newspaper. This follows the investigation of a Japan Airlines (JAL) MD-11 incident over the Shima Peninisula ...
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Eurocontrol pushes users on 8.33kHz
Emma Kelly/PALMA Eurocontrol is stressing that no further delay is possible in the implementation of 8.33kHz channel-spacing in European airspace, despite concerns over the low level of equipment installation by operators. The introduction of 8.33kHz channel-spacing, which will free additional radio frequencies to meet increasing air traffic management ...
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SAA widens alliance with Ghana Airways
South African Airways and Ghana Airways are to extend their codeshare ties into a wider long-term commercial alliance. Signing the memorandum of understanding on the deal in Johannesburg, SAA chief executive Coleman Andrews said Ghana Airways will become a key partner in the South African airline's networking plans in ...