All Ops & safety articles – Page 1221
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News
Licking its wounds
Northwest Airlines had less to celebrate at the end of last year than most of its US competitors. Jane Levere examines the potential impact of last year's battles on this year's performance. For Northwest Airlines, 1998 will go down as the year it would rather forget. The effects of the ...
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Majors play the mating game
US carriers are again testing the water with a series of new acquisition proposals. Perhaps it has something to do with the season, but it is almost exactly a year since they last indulged in a frenzy of mating activity and the US majors are at it again. Only this ...
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Managing or flying?
It may be desirable to include pilots in airline management, but how far is it economic? Organisation of cockpit crews must rank among the airline industry's most sensitive management issues. And central to that debate is the question over the extent to which pilots themselves should be involved in ...
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Japan's majors face loss of slots
Low-cost start-up carriers appear to be having more of an impact on Japan's "big three" than expected and new rules are on the way that could erode their dominance on busy domestic routes. The "big three" - All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines and Japan Air System - are ...
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Duty free set for a reprieve
The European Commission's heavily trailed February report into the likely impact of its push to abolish duty free, ultimately conceded little ground to those attempting to save this lucrative market. The international Duty-Free Confederation (IDFC) and the Airports Council International (ACI) are both calling for a five-year transition period to ...
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Double Standards
Airlines face a growing array of different and often divergent competition rules, as recent transatlantic cases have shown. David Knibb, a former antitrust lawyer, examines the issues. Antitrust authorities are positioning themselves as the new policeman of the world marketplace. And as they do so, they begin to replace the ...
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Foreign ownership debate heats up
The debate in the USA over foreign ownership and control of airlines has come under a spotlight early in 1999 with airline and government officials discussing how a relaxation of the rules may occur. US Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater stirred the controversy last year when he said the ...
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In need of a check-up
The systems onboard ageing aircraft in the USA are coming under closer scrutiny, raising the prospect of higher maintenance costs. In the USA, old aircraft don't die: they get hushkits and a new paint job. In stark contrast to their counterparts in Europe and Asia, US passengers routinely find ...
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News in Brief
EasyJet seeks listing - UK low-cost carrier easyJet has announced that it intends to seek a listing on the London stock exchange and the US Nasdaq market early next year, to finance the purchase of the new aircraft it has on order. A spokesman also said that easyJet would drop ...
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Brazilian carriers fight cash crisis
Brazil's major airlines, which are still suffering the consequences of a fares war last year, are now facing an economic crisis. Latin America's largest economy is in turmoil after the Real, the currency introduced in mid-1994 as part of a plan which successfully halted inflation, collapsed in ...
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Beijing tightens its belt
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) may have escaped Beijing's directive that requires other agencies to divest their interests in the industries that they regulate, but aviation is not entirely unscathed by the latest belt tightening aimed at boosting China's weak economy and currency. Heading the list ...
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Back to the future for Olympic
The encouraging noises that emanated from the management of Olympic Airways little more than 10 weeks ago have again faded as the the Greek carrier lost another managing director. The official line is that Theodore Tsakiridis resigned, but the speed of his departure bore the hallmarks of the political manoeuvring ...
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BA set to stay in red
British Airways' first quarterly loss in four years has triggered doubts over its grip on premium business markets and analysts expect further losses before things improve. Intense competition, particularly across the Atlantic, finally pushed the group into the red, resulting in a £75 million ($122 million) loss before ...
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Ansett greets Star with fleet upgrade
Ansett Australia is upgrading its fleet to include Boeing 747-400s as it prepares for its entry on 28 March into the Star Alliance. In a surprise move, Australia's second carrier says it will lease two 747-400s for five years from new partner Singapore Airlines (SIA), when leases on two ...
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Iberia joins oneworld alliance
Iberia is finally cleared to join the oneworld alliance, having tied up agreement with American Airlines and British Airways on their acquisition of small minority stakes in the Spanish flag-carrier. Iberia also now appears to be on course to finish off the year with its long-awaited privatisation. Iberia's ...
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Hong Kong to put airport chaos behind it
Hong Kong officials are hoping that the finger-pointing phase is finally over so they can turn their attention to boosting Chek Lap Kok airport as a gateway and hub. Three inquiries produced reports over who to blame for the mayhem that marked the new airport's opening last July. The ...
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Sir Harry cites bad health as he resigns from Air Afrique
Sir Harry Tirvengadum has resigned as chairman of Cote d'Ivoire-based Air Afrique, citing health reasons, but amid claims that political pressure was brought to bear. Tirvengadum asked to be released from his contract as chairman of the troubled multinational carrier on 29 January, after just two years in ...
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American plans Aeroperu bid
In a move that could transform the alliance landscape in Latin America, American Airlines is studying whether to take control of AeroPeru. American is exploiting the vacuum created when Delta and Cintra, the holding company for Aeromexico and Mexicana, refused to inject more cash into unprofitable Aeroperu. Delta ...
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Life starts at 50
SITA may just have turned 50, but its gaze remains firmly fix on the future. Kevin O'Toole talks to chairman John Watson. "People try to categorise SITA but it's just a phenomenon," says its chairman John Watson. The fact that it exists at all is thanks to the foresight of ...
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Workshop
FLS Aerospace has signed a General Terms Agreement with GE Capital Aviation Services to undertake heavy maintenance on the leasing giant's fleet of aircraft at the start or end of a lease. The deal, renewable yearly, covers all aircraft types that FLS is approved to overhaul. Initially the contract covers ...