News from FlightGlobal – Page 2308
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Iberia picks Airbus A320 family for short haul fleet
Iberia is to standardise on Airbus Industrie aircraft for its short haul fleet, following a decision to place orders for up 76 A320 family aircraft. The airline is to add 16 additional Boeing 757s for its short term needs, however. The Spanish flag carrier has signed a memorandum of ...
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Boeing nears 737-700 European approval
Boeing is hoping that last minute flight demonstrations of "small system changes" on a 737-800 test aircraft will clear the way for European certification of the -700, after a four to five month delay. Boeing hopes to have certification in time to start deliveries to European launch customer Maersk Air ...
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ICAO examines global aviation impact model
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is considering adopting a model developed by Dutch civil-aviation authority, the RLD, to predict the environmental and socio-political effects of aviation regulatory decisions. Richard Hancox, project manager for UK transportation modelling specialist MVA, believes that Project AERO represents "the only detailed global model ...
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Regional revolution
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Regional aircraft manufacturers must, by now, be getting used to living in a perpetual state of revolution, and 1997 was no disappointment. The year began with Fokker delivering its last few aircraft and ended with the loss of another famous name, as Saab Aircraft announced its retreat ...
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Jet age dawns for 328
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH When the completed Fairchild Dornier 328JET was first shown to Reinhold Birrenbach, head of the 328 project since its turboprop days, he must have felt a little self-satisfied. "This is the way the aircraft always should have looked," he said, observing the clean lines of the newly fitted ...
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Brit float
French regional airline Brit Air has floated 37% of its shares with the aim of raising around Fr150 million ($25 million) to help finance its new franchise operations for Air France. Under a deal signed in October, Brit Air will operate franchise services on 32 domestic routes. It is also ...
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Alliance Express
Alliance Air has confirmed that it has taken a 49% stake in Air Rwanda, which it will run as Alliance Express. The new airline will start operations on 1 March from Rwandan capital Kigali, using a leased Boeing 737-200. Alliance hopes to establish an African feeder network to support its ...
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Air Europa focuses on feeding Balearic Islands
Air Europa has revised its involvement in its regional subsidiary, Air Europa Express, focusing on feed within the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. Air Europa Express began operations in early 1997 as a 50:50 joint venture between Air Europa and Canary Islands start-up Canarias Regional Air (CRA). It initially operated ...
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Boeing weighs up crisis in Asia
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Boeing expects to deliver 60 fewer aircraft, mainly 747s and 777s, to Asian airlines over the next three years, because of the region's economic downturn. The revised forecast implies the near-term cancellation or deferral of orders in hand from Asian airlines, but the company has yet ...
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Qantas and Virgin compete for Cathay's surplus 747-200s
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Cathay Pacific Airways has entered into detailed discussions with Qantas of Australia and Virgin Atlantic Airways to sell its fleet of seven surplus Boeing 747-200 passenger aircraft. Qantas is also being offered an interim development of the proposed 747-400 increased-gross-weight (IGW) variant by Boeing to meet the carrier's ...
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Emirates nears A340 decision
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Emirates Airlines is preparing to make a decision on its long-awaited requirement for ultra-long-range aircraft. The airline signed a letter of intent (LoI) with Airbus for up to A340-500s in November 1997, but has kept the manufacturer waiting because of Boeing's last-minute attempt to meet performance demands ...
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CFMI takes lion's share of 1997 orders
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES The General Electric/ Snecma alliance CFM International (CFMI) won orders for 1,314 CFM56 engines in 1997, selling more for 100-seat-plus aircraft than all other large-civil-engine manufacturers combined. Although there is some dispute over the exact figure for the year, with some independent analysts claiming that ...
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Marketplace
-Egyptair has signed a firm contract with Airbus Industrie for four A340-600s, including two orders and two options. It will introduce the 400-seat, Rolls-Royce Trent 500-powered A340 in 2003. -Southern Air Transport has taken delivery of a Boeing 747-200F, acquired from Northwest Airlines, which is being operated ...
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South African long-haul airline prepares to launch
A new South African airline, Air South Africa, plans to launch services between Johannesburg and London with a Boeing 747 during the third quarter of this year. Although Air SA's licence was approved by Pretoria's Air Services Licensing Council in 1997, the launch has been postponed twice after delays in ...
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Ratioflug grounded
The German civil-aviation authority (LBA) has withdrawn the operating certificate of Cologne-based Ratioflug because of unspecified financial problems. Ratioflug now has six months to bring its house in order, otherwise "one can assume that the company has ceased operations", says the LBA. The charter carrier operates two Fokker F27s two ...
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Routes
-Northwest Airlines is suspending its three-times-weekly services between Detroit and Seoul, South Korea, from the beginning of February because of the economic downturn in the region.. -Frontier and Mountain Air Express (MAX)will start codesharing on 4 March at Denver International Airport, Colorado. -Canadian Airlines and LanChile will begin an ...
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Workshop
-Pemco Aeroplex has been awarded a maintenance contract by Mesa Airlines to carry out line maintenance, technical support and transit checks in support of Mesa's Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets in operation through Birmingham International Airport, Alabama. -AeroCorp has signed a contract with Continental Airlines to undertake heavy scheduled maintenance of ...
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US airline profits are 'best ever'
The major US airlines ended 1997 with their strongest profits on record, but the celebrations were accompanied by the promise of more turbulence ahead, with the fall-out from Asian economic crisis and the prospect of a renewed round of consolidation closer to home following the Continental/Northwest Airlines tie-up. With only ...
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US giants digest their mergers
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON After five years of breakneck consolidation, positions are firming up at the top of the US aerospace league, but attention now turns to digesting the latest, and probably last, series of mergers and acquisitions. With the 1997 round of annual financial results, Boeing reclaims its position at the ...
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Cockpit inadequacies
David Learmount/LONDON Those who argue that there is a degradation of basic flying skills in line pilots ascribe it to many things, the favourite being flightdeck automation. Parc Aviation consultant Capt Russell Kane, a former Aer Lingus captain, says that there is evidence that giving undue importance to cockpit ...