All Ops & safety articles – Page 1227
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Israel opens up cargo market
El Al is to decrease its cargo carrying capability in reaction to an Israeli Government committee recommendation to allow a private company to fly scheduled cargo services from the country. The committee, headed by the director-general of the Israeli ministry of transport, has recommended that Cargo Air Lines (CAL) ...
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JAL shareholder calls for senior management resignations
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE The biggest single shareholder in Japan Airlines (JAL) has called for top management resignations following the airline's drop in profit and turnover in recent years. Eitaro Itoyama who owns about 4% of the airline, has demanded that the company's board of directors and president Isao Kaneko ...
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Belt and braces
Achieving a satisfactory level of safety used to be considered straight-forward: build good aeroplanes, train good pilots, respect an aircraft's limitations in the face of the elements, and take off, trusting that nothing beyond the capabilities of the aircraft/pilot team will occur. Key words in the traditional approach included "belt ...
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Thai authorities push for ILS at regional airports
The Thai Civil Aviation Department is pushing for government funds to upgrade landing aids at 16 provincial airports, following the recent crash of a Thai International Airbus A310 on approach to Surat Thani. The instrument landing system (ILS) at Surat Thani had been out of commission for two years ...
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Boeing loses ground to Airbus in backing of firm orders
Boeing again sold more aircraft than Airbus Industrie in 1998, but its high delivery rate, combined with cancellations, saw it lose ground to its European rival in terms of firm order backlog. Provisional figures from Airbus suggest its share of the total backlog in the 100-seat plus sector grew ...
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Air France pilots back wage cuts
Eight out of 10 Air France pilots have agreed to wage cuts and a subsequent freeze in salaries in return for a stake in the airline when it is partially privatised. The decision means that the French Government can go ahead with its partial privatisation plans, under which up ...
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Niche accidents
David Learmount/LONDON Despite a worldwide campaign to reduce it, controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) increased in 1998 for the second year running, both among jet and non-jet flights, confirming the reversal of a previously favourable trend. There were five jet CFIT accidents and eight involving propeller-driven commercial aircraft. This ...
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SIA abandons plan to buy stake in China Airlines
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Singapore Airlines (SIA) has abandoned plans to buy a stake in Taiwan-based China Airlines (CAL), ending proposals for a strategic tie-up, including codesharing, frequent flyer links and lounge sharing. In August 1998, SIA announced a memorandum of understanding with CAL, covering a wide-ranging alliance, with SIA ...
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Marketplace (1)
-UK remarketing agent Cabot Aviation has purchased Thai Airways International's two eight-year-old ATR 42-320s, which are now being offered for onward sale or lease. -Swedish lessor Indigo Aviation has acquired two Boeing 737-400s which are currently leased to Istanbul Airlines and Italy's Blue Panorama. The aircraft are leased until 2003. ...
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SilkAir probe 'may prove inconclusive'
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Twelve months after the crash of a SilkAir Boeing 737-300 on 19 December 1997, officials investigating the accident admit that "human factors" are the only avenue of investigation which remains open. But they add that it is difficult to assess accurately the state of mind of ...
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Economic crisis hits Russia's commercial traffic
Russia's Federal Aviation Service (FAS) expects its 1998 passenger traffic levels to be about 10% down because of the country's economic crisis. FAS director Gennady Zaitsev says results for the first 10 months of 1998 show a 10% drop in passenger and 20% in cargo air traffic. To combat ...
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Cathay seeks higher productivity in costs drive
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Cathay Pacific Airways has agreed on productivity increases with ground staff as it negotiates with cabin crew and begins early talks with pilots' unions, as part of its drive to improve efficiency and cut costs. According to the airline, the productivity gains are being rewarded with ...
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Sundstrand boosts Airbus APU life
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Sundstrand's Auxiliary Power International (APIC) plans to boost the in-service life of its APS 3200 auxiliary power unit on the Airbus single-aisle aircraft family with a block upgrade in the next few months. APIC is confident of growing business on the 100-seat A318 after being selected ...
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Continental Express aims for all-ERJ fleet within five years
Paul Lewis/SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS Continental Express is committed to replacing its entire fleet of 98 turboprop aircraft with new Embraer ERJ-135/145 jets within five years, but has ruled out a near-term requirement for a larger 70-seat regional transport. The Continental Airlines subsidiary has ordered 75 ERJ-145s and ...
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Alitalia's Cereti sets out main objective as AEA chairman
Alitalia chairman Fausto Cereti has pledged to place engine emissions and air traffic control (ATC) delays at the top of his agenda when he takes over as the chairman of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) this year. In a speech setting out his objectives as the head of ...
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Debonair extends AB Airlines link with Boeing 737 lease
Debonair has expanded its co-operation with fellow UK low fare airline AB Airlines and boosted its fleet capacity with a nine-month deal to lease a 139-seat Boeing 737-300. The London Luton-based carrier will use the aircraft to supplement its fleet of 12 smaller British Aerospace 146s, initially to increase ...
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Crossair predicts big profit for 1998 but warns on ATC delays
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Swiss carrier Crossair is forecasting bumper results for 1998 on the back of a 26% surge in scheduled passenger traffic. But the SAirGroup regional subsidiary complains that European air traffic control (ATC) delays reached their worst ever level last year - a situation it describes as ...
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Viasa routes reallocated
Venezuela's new secretary of transport, Julio Marti, has reversed his predecessor's course and redistributed the routes of bankrupt Viasa to three airlines. Aeropostal is the big winner, gaining rights on three continents. Aeropostal has been awarded Canada, Chile, Cuba, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. Aserca has won Brazil ...
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Global outlook
With the world economy poised to slow in 1999, the airline industry may finally get the chance to show whether it has learned the lessons of the last recession. Even the most experienced of forecasters has been forced to admit that 1998 was a difficult year to call. As ...
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Just keep on flying
When Russia was entering the last few days of normality in July and early August of last year, its national carrier Aeroflot was worrying about its new Boeing aircraft and grappling with a 25% increase in passenger numbers. A few weeks later and it was talking about schedule cuts, capacity ...