All Ops & safety articles – Page 1209
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News
Stabilised delays
Airspace restrictions imposed because of the Kosovo crisis are causing 30% of air traffic delays in Europe, according to Eurocontrol. The level of delays due to the airspace restrictions has fallen and stabilised over the last month. In the first two weeks of the conflict about 50% of air traffic ...
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USA extends deadline on Northwest complaint
The US Department of Transportation (DoT) has extended through to 1 February next year the deadline for action on Northwest Airlines' complaint against the European Union (EU) about phasing out hushkitted commercial transports. The issue became controversial when the EU approved action against aircraft fitted with hushkits, but was ...
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SEAsian carriers recovering
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Chris Jasper/LONDON South East Asia's major carriers appear to be easing out of the slump which so depressed traffic last year, with Cathay Pacific - the region's most notable victim last year - reporting a 5% increase in passengers during the first quarter of 1998. Thai Airways ...
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ARINC goes Dutch for datalink navigation demonstration
Emma Kelly/LONDON The Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) and ARINC have demonstrated the use of VHF datalink mode 2 (VDL-2) and satellite communications in a communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management environment. The flight demonstrations, part of the European Commission's (EC) fourth European framework's Airborne Air Traffic Management ...
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Arabs ponder open skies
Ian Goold/JEDDAH Middle Eastern airlines, although widely split on liberalisation, are coming under increasing pressure to support a local deregulation effort, with the Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO) establishing a task force to consider open skies and liberalisation issues. The lack of regional liberalisation has started to affect ...
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Korean Air incurs fresh penalties
Korean Air (KAL) has suffered a new round of government sanctions on its domestic operations following the release of findings from the investigation into the recent runway overrun of a KAL Boeing MD-83. The South Korean Government has forced KAL to cut frequencies on its Seoul-Pohang route from 35 ...
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Datalink team aims at year-end
Emma Kelly/LONDON A business case for the implementation of datalink communications in Europe will be completed by an industry team involving airlines, air navigation service providers, airframe manufacturers and associations by the end of this year. The European working group - the CAFT/Euro Datalink Focused Group - has been ...
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Chinese aim to compensate for traffic slump with aircraft leases
Chinese airlines are responding to overcapacity and a slump in domestic traffic by offering aircraft for lease to other carriers. China Southern Airlines, based in Guangzhou, is to wet-lease two of its Boeing 777-200s to Biman Airlines of Bangladesh for carrying passengers on the hadj, starting in July. Chengdu-based ...
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Aeroflot bucks trend as Russian airlines suffer declining market
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW Jens Flottau/MOSCOW Passenger traffic figures for Russia's many airlines reveal that most suffered a significant decline last year, with Aeroflot Russian International Airlines one of the few to have bucked the trend. The flag carrier reported an increase in emplanements and claims to have returned a profit, albeit ...
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VisionAire redesign could give advantage to single-engined jet
Dave Higdon/WICHITA VisionAire's single engined Vantage will be heavier, longer and costlier, following an extensive six-month design review. The move compounds the Ames, Iowa-based firm's charge that the Vantage is a new jet for the 21st century, as certification and first deliveries have been pushed back by about 18 ...
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US Q400 order on horizon as targets are bettered
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON Bombardier and US regional carrier Horizon Air are negotiating a deal for at least 20 Dash 8 Q400 turboprops. An order from Horizon would represent a critical breakthrough in the North American market for the Canadian manufacturer. Although not confirmed by either party, ...
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Tow-barless tests
At some airports in Europe and the USA, tow-barless tractors have replaced many of the conventional tugs used for moving aircraft. They are particularly efficient in towing aircraft between docking points and hangars or engineering areas, because they can do so at taxiing speed without needing a crew on board ...
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Rising Star
Global alliances are in style, but their benefits are only now becoming clear Chris Jasper/SYDNEY Global airline alliances are the height of fashion, with two major groupings operating and possibly two more hurrying to enter the fray. Yet despite this scramble, the true importance of alliances has been ...
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Training rise
UND Aerospace at the University of North Dakota is forecasting an almost 30% increase in its student pilot training flight hours by next year, fuelled by demand in North America and from contract customers in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The school anticipates completing over 80,000h next year, up ...
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Regional TCAS
Honeywell has announced a string of new regional customers for its TCAS 2000 traffic alert and collision avoidance system. They include a deal with KLM-UK to fit the system, plus antennas, into five ATR-72s. An order from Crossair to fit TCAS 2000 to 29 Saab 2000 and 12 Saab 340Bs ...
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Regional revolution
Carl Albert, chief executive of Fairchild Aerospace calls it a revolution, a description delegates at the Regional Airline Association meeting in Arizona would have been hard pressed to disagree with. The revolution in question was the switch to regional jets, and not just 50 and 70-seaters, but 30, 40 and ...
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An oversight
Jurisdiction in airline safety matters is a mess if the experiences of British Airways, the UK Civil Aviation Authority and Malaysia Airlines are anything to go by. The present "system" for overseeing the safety standards of an airline once it leaves its country of registration is, just not working. Which ...
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Partnership imperative
Latin American carriers are searching for international partners and injections of capital to survive into the 21st century Paul Lewis/MIAMI Financial reform, regulatory liberalisation and growing competition are transforming the face of air transportation in Central and South America. As political barriers are lowered progressively, airlines from Mexico to Chile ...
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NTSB tells FAA to speed up ground proximity schedule
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to accelerate the schedule for installation of enhanced ground proximity warning systems (EGPWS) in all turbine-powered aircraft with six or more seats. The NTSB wants aircraft not required to be equipped with GPWS to be fitted ...
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Embraer expands ERJ designs
Embraer has revealed a surprise, 108-seat, stretch of its ERJ-190 regional jet which effectively provides the Brazilian manufacturer with a direct competitor to Bombardier's proposed BRJ-X. The move comes in response to input from Embraer's recently completed airline advisory board survey which helped freeze the smaller ERJ-170 design at ...