All Ops & safety articles – Page 1179

  • News

    Venezuela's Aserca moves togain access to USA

    1999-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Venezuela's Aserca Airlines is looking to its Caribbean subsidiary to expand a US presence otherwise frozen for Venezuelan airlines. Air Aruba, which is 70% owned by Aserca, is expanding its Aruba hub with three more McDonnell Douglas DC-9s, more flights to Caracas, and listings in more computer reservation systems. ...

  • News

    Virgin reluctanctly accepts alliances as a fact of life

    1999-12-01T00:00:00Z

    KEVIN O'TOOLE CHICAGO Even a maverick like Richard Branson is forced to admit that joining an airline alliance is fast becoming a "fact of life". Speaking during Virgin Atlantic's inaugural flight to Chicago, he revealed that contacts have taken place with three of the global groupings. "It's inevitable that ...

  • News

    Troubleshooting team probes 737-400 wiring

    1999-12-01T00:00:00Z

    A team from Boeing, the US Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board has been inspecting the wiring on 737-400s. The checks were ordered after an Alaska Airlines aircraft was forced to return to Portland, Oregon, when chafed wires triggered false low fuel pressure readings. As Flight ...

  • News

    Aviation industry ready for 2000?

    1999-12-01T00:00:00Z

    TOM GILL LONDON The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is "not anticipating any major" disruption over the new year period, following advances in preparations for the changeover to 2000, despite what appears to still be a patchy picture. More than 500 out of 800 airports audited by IATA have ...

  • News

    Premiair takes first A330-200 for long haul winter flights

    1999-12-01T00:00:00Z

    The first of two Airbus A330-200s for Scandinavian charter airline Premiair is poised to enter service on a six-month wet lease from sister company Airtours International. The Rolls-Royce Trent 772B-powered A330-200 has been delivered new to Premiair. The second A330-200 is due this month, while three Trent-powered A330-300s will arrive ...

  • News

    Tu-134 re-engining offered

    1999-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW A Tupolev-led consortium is proposing a cost-effective re-engining and refurbishment programme for the Tupolev Tu-134 twinjet, dubbed the "Tu-134M", to improve performance, efficiency and environmental compliance. Interavia, formed by a group of Russian, Belarussian and Ukrainian companies, hopes to secure contracts to refurbish around half the ...

  • News

    Guesstimation

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Accident investigation is in danger of getting a bad name. The three US authorities - the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) - associated with the EgyptAir flight 990 investigation deserve some understanding given the ferocity of the media ...

  • News

    Vulcan delivers Observer to Italian police force

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    VulcanAir has delivered its first Partenavia P68 Observer 2 to the Italian State Police, around 18 months after the Casoria, Naples-based company acquired fellow Italian company Aerocosmos, former owner of the P68 type certificate. The Observer 2 piston twin, an upgraded version of the standard Observer model, offers a ...

  • News

    Eurocontrol plan for congestion gets green light

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Julian Moxon/PARIS Eurocontrol's Provisional Council has approved the agency's plans to reduce air traffic congestion in the short-to-medium term after a year in which delays have been among the worst on record. Although the Kosovo crisis has been blamed for causing most of the delays from April-July, the ...

  • News

    Canadian regionals may merge

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Brian Dunn/MONTREAL A Toronto-based business group, Regional Airlines Holdings, aims to establish a new national airline by buying and merging the regional carriers of Air Canada and Canadian Airlines. The move would appear viable if the two majors themselves merge. Regional Airlines Holdings wants Ottawa to force Air Canada to ...

  • News

    UK plans partial ATC sell-off

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    David Learmount/LONDONUK air traffic control (ATC) is on course for partial privatisation by the middle of next year, with the government last week announcing plans to put a bill transforming the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) into a "public private partnership" before parliament during the 1999/2000 session. As the government ...

  • News

    EgyptAir data fail to supply any answers

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    David Learmount/LONDON Initial evaluation of the crashed EgyptAir Boeing 767-300ER cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) has failed to confirm the causes of the dive which began the fatal manoeuvre sequence, says US National Transportation Safety Board chairman Jim Hall. On 17 November, Hall released ...

  • News

    Southern Air ready to go after DoT vote

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Start-up cargo carrier Southern Air has won US Department of Transportation approval to begin operations, but will have to do so without routes from bankrupt Southern Air Transport (SAT). Services will begin next year. The Columbus, Ohio-based company plans to offer aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) wet-lease services ...

  • News

    Catching African bugs

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Age is beautiful for many African airports, which have avoided the biggest problems in becoming Y2K compliant Michael Wakabi/KAMPALA Africa is never short of contradictions. In the run-up to the year 2000, the very things that made some African airports the laughing stock of yesteryear are the reason that ...

  • News

    737 safety probe prompts tests

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing is modifying a 30-year-old ex-United Airlines 737-200 for ground and flight tests of the rudder system as part of a US Federal Aviation Administration-led safety evaluation. The 737 is being leased from Indiana-based Purdue University, which acquired the aircraft after United Airlines retired it in 1997. ...

  • News

    Leasing companies drop 767-400ER commitments after poor demand

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Leasing companies General Electric Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) and International Lease Finance (ILFC) have dropped their combined orders for seven Boeing 767-400ERs after failing to find sufficient market interest in the stretched twins. ILFC says it has switched its four remaining -400ER commitments for ...

  • News

    Boeing claims 747-X will catch A3XX

    1999-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing is claiming that its new stretched 747-400X design is capable of meeting and even beating the direct operating costs of the all-new Airbus A3XX. The startling assertion is based on revised performance estimates for the 747-400X, plus new, independent airline analysis of the latest A3XX proposals. ...

  • News

    Routes

    1999-11-17T00:00:00Z

    British Airways is launching a new three times daily route from London Gatwick to Hanover, operated by franchise partner CityFlyer Express. United Airlines is introducing 20 new daily nonstop flights to key Californian business destinations, including Santa Barbara, Medford, Reno, Palm Springs and San Diego, from its Los Angeles hub. ...

  • News

    Marketplace

    1999-11-17T00:00:00Z

    Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise has firmed up a commitment for 23 more A320 family aircraft, taking the Singapore Airlines/Boullioun Aviation joint venture's Airbus narrowbody orders to 41. The deal includes 20 A320s and three A321s for delivery between early 2001 and 2008. Engine selections have not been announced. Malaysia Airlines' ...

  • News

    The Manufacturer's view

    1999-11-17T00:00:00Z

    Max Kingsley-Jones/LUTON Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Roger Lecomte, Airbus Industrie's vice-president of engineering support, says: "The introduction of the A330-200 was like that of the A321 [after the A320] for us. We were able to benefit from the lessons we learned with the introduction of the A330-300 and A340." ...