News from FlightGlobal – Page 2439
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Family favourites
Boeing's new-generation 737is the same, only different Guy Norris/SEATTLE EXACTLY 30 YEARS ago, the first Boeing 737 was taking shape at the company's plant in Renton, Washington. At the time, not everyone was convinced that the "Baby Boeing" gamble would be a winner. The concern ...
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The curtain rises
Coming soon - the next installment in an exciting tale of aircraft engines and orders. Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES This year's Farnborough air show provides the stage for an extraordinary drama, the cut and thrust of which would defy even the most imaginative playwrights of the West End ...
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Slow progress
Progress towards achieving a US/Russian bilateral airworthiness agreement remains slow. Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE USA AND RUSSIA will break no speed records in their marathon efforts to complete a bilateral airworthiness agreement, say US aviation officials involved in the negotiations. While some progress is reported ...
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Regional rivalry
The Embraer EMB-145's Farnborough debut will help to focus attention on regional airliners. Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON WHILE THE 1996 show is the first occasion on which the three major airliner manufacturers - Airbus Industrie, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas (MDC) - will be exhibiting their latest commercial wares at ...
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X-tended players
Airbus Industrie, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas are all poised to move forward with their X projects. Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDONGuy Norris/LOS ANGELES THE LATEST AIRCRAFT models of the big three airliner manufacturers are all now carrying revenue passengers, and the industry is standing by for the next ...
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Former EBA team sets up long-haul charter
BELGIAN entrepreneur Victor Hasson, who established Euro- Belgian Airlines (EBA) as one of Europe's first low-cost carriers, is preparing to launch a new charter business based on the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. Details of the new operation will be revealed shortly, but Hasson is understood to be considering a ...
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Australia and South Africa reach agreement on capacity boosts
Paul Phelan/CAIRNS AUSTRALIA HAS AGREED to several capacity increases on international routes, which will enable carriers to step up the number of services operated. South Africa and Australia have lifted capacity restrictions and approved codeshare arrangements between the two countries. This will enable a fourth ...
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Ireland launches scheduled services
IRELAND AIRWAYS STARTED OPERATIONS on 16 August, using a 24-seat Shorts 330, on scheduled services between Dublin and Donegal. A Dublin-Sligo service, using a soon-to-be-acquired 44-seat Fokker F27, may be added in October. Ireland Airways, was formed by Dublin-based charter company EI-Air Exports, which aims to create Ireland's third major ...
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Passenger/baggage matching system planned
MICRON Communications has signed a co-operative research-and-development agreement with the US Federal Aviation Administration to develop a prototype positive passenger-baggage matching system. The objective is for the system to recognise automatically when baggage has been placed on an aircraft without the associated passenger, says Boise, Idaho-based Micron. ...
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Relative safety
Europe is joining the USA in pressing less-powerful nations to put aviation safety at the top of their national-budget priorities. David Learmount/LONDON THE EUROPEAN UNION decision to join the USA in invoking its own aviation-safety assessment rules will raise the pressure for the less- powerful nations of ...
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Seoul Air calls a halt to turboprop operations as BAe reclaims aircraft
SEOUL AIR International has ceased its turboprop-aircraft operations amid serious financial difficulties, and most of its aircraft have been returned to lessor British Aerospace. The South Korean airline acquired two ATPs and one Jetstream 41 in early 1995, directly from Jetstream Aircraft. Two used Jetstream 31s were also ...
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GE prepares Snecma invitation to A340-600 engine project
Julian Moxon/PARIS GENERAL ELECTRIC Aircraft Engines says that Snecma will "-definitely be invited" to join development of a power plant for the Airbus A340-600, if Airbus Industrie accepts the US company's proposal to supply an engine for the aircraft. Under a six-month exclusivity deal signed ...
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Air France looks to year-end for US link
Julian Moxon/PARIS AIR FRANCE has set the end of the year as its preferred deadline for a commercial alliance with a US airline. The French state-owned carrier says that a deal is the final priority in its restructuring plan, which is otherwise coming close to completion, although ...
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Cargo and Catering departments face Sabena axe
Herman de Wulf/BRUSSELS SABENA PLANS to shed its cargo and catering departments, with the possibility that they will be merged into the larger operations being run by the carrier's alliance partner and effective owner Swissair. Paul Reutlinger, who was brought in as Sabena president by Swissair ...
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Dollar rise takes toll of SAS profit
SAS HAS BECOME the latest of the northern European carriers to suffer a slump in operating profits, largely blamed on the rise of the US dollar. The Scandinavian carrier ended the first half of the year with operating profits down by nearly 40% at SKr930 million ($142 million) ...
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A sticky problem
THE WORLD'S LARGEST and most profitable airlines are facing an all-time-great dilemma as the Farnborough Air Show approaches. Should they bow to Boeing's pressure and sign now for its new stretched 747-500/ 600, or should they await the Airbus A3XX? If they buy the Boeing now, they ...
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FDR upgrade
Southwest Airlines is to upgrade the flight-data recorders on its Boeing 737s at a cost of $20 million. Two-thirds of the fleet will be upgraded by the end of 1996, the Dallas, Texas-based airline says. The upgrade will double the number of parameters recorded, to 22. Source: Flight ...
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Alaska spurns MDC for Boeing
ALASKA AIRLINES is negotiating for a fleet of new-generation Boeing 737s, following an apparent decision to sell off its large McDonnell Douglas (MDC) fleet and become all-Boeing by 2000. If confirmed, the move will mean the end of MDC's long-running battle with Boeing to supply Alaska with new ...
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Lufthansa to sell 737-400 fleet in cost-cutting move
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH LUFTHANSA IS TO SELL its fleet of six Boeing 737-400s as part of a major cost-cutting programme under way at the German national airline. According to Lufthansa, cost-cutting probes have exposed unnecessary capacities and unprofitable routes. "We have pinpointed the 737-400 as an ...
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ValuJet misses 23 August target date for service resumption
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC VALUJET AIRLINES has failed to resume flights by the 23 August start-up target, which it had set earlier in the month. The carrier says that "proving runs" were to take place on 20-21 August for the benefit of US Federal Aviation Administration inspectors. ...