All Ops & safety articles – Page 1226
-
News
Boeing is considering 'shrunk' 767-400ER for long range role
Guy Norris/SEATTLE Boeing is considering a possible shrink of the 767-400ER as an alternative to meeting the long range requirement of the proposed 767-300ERX with discrete upgrades from the stretched twin-aisle development. The move would be a subtle but distinct change in direction for the 767 programme and ...
-
News
Virgin makes plans to be bigger in Asia
Chris Jasper/SHANGHAI Virgin Atlantic Airways chairman Richard Branson has mapped out plans for a major expansion of the UK carrier's Asian route network over the next few years while conceding that its aim of establishing a US domestic subsidiary looks unlikely to become a reality. Speaking in Shanghai during ...
-
News
Landing gear deals clear BFGoodrich/Coltec merger
BFGoodrich and Coltec Industries completed their $2.2 billion merger on 12 July, after agreements were reached with AlliedSignal and Crane to preserve competition in the US landing system industry. The agreements ended lawsuits which had blocked the deal, but left the "strategic and economic fundamentals of the merger completely ...
-
News
Gemini set to double cargo capacity
Gemini Air Cargo plans to double the number of freighters it operates by the end of 2000 from nine aircraft. The increase is the result of major US investor The Caryle Group acquiring a majority stake in the carrier. "Caryle will be an excellent financial partner in the next ...
-
News
SabreTech faces ValuJet murder charge
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC SabreTech, the maintenance contractor for the former ValuJet Airlines, says it will "vigorously defend" itself against murder and manslaughter charges brought by Florida state prosecutors. It also faces federal grand jury criminal indictments. The charges relate to the crash of a ValuJet McDonnell Douglas ...
-
News
Control freaks
It often takes a crisis to unite an industry and push participants into much-needed action. A crisis is exactly what Europe's air traffic control system is facing this summer, and Eurocontrol, Europe's air navigation organisation, freely admits it. The signs are already there. Last summer's system performance was poor, ...
-
News
Eurocontrol delays steps to taking regulatory powers
Emma Kelly/BRUSSELS Eurocontrol's Council has delayed until October a decision on whether to approve plans to consider granting the air navigation organisation regulatory powers to force member states to make urgent air traffic management (ATM) improvements. The move comes as Europe's air traffic control (ATC) system is facing a summer ...
-
News
Ageing airliner census 1999
Time marches on for the world's ageing jet and turboprop airliners Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON The average age of the Western world's fleet of airliners that qualify for this year's census is 25 years. Some individual aircraft types have been subject to more intense scrutiny after recent events or incidents, as ...
-
News
Fairchild 328JET receives European certification
The Fairchild Aerospace 328JET has gained European Joint Aviation Authorities certification, with US approval set to follow before the end of the month. The certification comes as the company moves closer to finalising a 110-aircraft contract from a US carrier, believed to be Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA). The approval, ...
-
News
Pratt & Whitney courts Airbus for A340 variant engine
Pratt & Whitney is in discussion with Airbus Industrie to offer the PW8160 geared fan engine on the A340-500/600 as early as 2003, in a direct challenge to Rolls-Royce's sole position on the aircraft and Boeing's selection of General Electric as its exclusive 777X engine supplier. R-R and P&W ...
-
News
GE90 secures exclusive position on 777X
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Boeing plans to begin offering the ultra-long-range 777-200X/300X to airlines by the end of the year, following its selection of General Electric as exclusive engine supplier to the programme. The agreement with GE is for the life of the programme and comes ...
-
News
African Star licence continues, despite troubles
Hilka Birns/JOHANNESBURG South Africa's Department of Transport (DoT) is continuing to process the licence application of African Star, despite the start-up's chief executive facing charges of contravening the country's Customs & Excise Act. Investigators refuse to comment on the case, but sources say that the diversion of duty-free ...
-
News
UK police Islander will test anti-noise propellers
In response to growing environmental concerns over noise from general aviation aircraft in Europe, the UK's Britten-Norman plans a six-month trial of new generation propellers on a BN2B light utility piston-engined Islander. The test is part of a UK Government-backed programme. Designed by US propeller manufacturer Hartzell as part ...
-
News
Germany's DFS eyes Euro ATC liberalisation and NATS tie-up
Andrew Doyle/LANGEN German air traffic services provider Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS)is interested in forming a strategic alliance with the UK's National Air Traffic Services (NATS), as part of efforts to kick-start the rationalisation of Europe's fragmented air traffic control (ATC) infrastructure. "We think that, in the longer term, we ...
-
News
Carriers put transpolar plans on ice
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC North American carriers are being forced to shelve plans for new non-stop direct services between US and Asian destinations as infrastructural and political problems delay the opening of transpolar routes . Trial flights over the North Pole have stopped only 12 months after the inaugural ...
-
News
Digital data network software progresses
Aeronautical Communication International (ACI) has completed the first of three phases of aeronautical telecommunications network software for the communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management environment. The software will determine the routing of digital data messages between aircraft and air traffic control. ACI, which comprises Airsys ATM, AlliedSignal, Honeywell, Sextant ...
-
News
Free flight
The UK's new air traffic services supremo believes privatisation is the way forward for ATC David Learmount/LONDON Airlines are condemned to face serious air traffic control delay in European airspace for the foreseeable future unless there is a revolution in how policy decisions governing the continent's air traffic services ...
-
News
SpaceDev and Lockheed Martin probe low-cost services scheme
SpaceDev and Lockheed Martin have joined forces to investigate the development and marketing of low-cost access to orbit for small payloads. The delivery service will be based on the Lockheed Athena booster and SpaceDev's standardised MiniSIL spacecraft buses. Two SpaceDev craft would fly on the Athena, carrying science and ...
-
News
SAirGroup warns Switzerland on proposed noise penalties
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH SAirGroup is warning that Swiss Government plans to increase aircraft noise penalties around Zurich and Geneva airports threaten its ability to compete effectively internationally. The government is proposing that the two airports be forced to pay up to SFr1 billion ($658 million) over five years to ...
-
News
Sound solutions
BFGoodrich's campaign to quieten Boeing 727s is making rapid progress Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Spending serious money to extend the life of an airliner is tough, but spending more to re-engine it is harder. Despite the apparent economic headwind, BFGoodrich's Super 27 Boeing 727 re-engining programme is rapidly gaining momentum and ...