All Ops & safety articles – Page 1231
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News
Piper Training
New Piper Aircraft has finalised an agreement with Belgium's Sabena Airlines for the purchase of 10 new aircraft to be used for ab initio training. The aircraft - five Archer IIIs, three Saratoga II HPs and two Seneca Vs - will replace Sabena's US training fleet based in Scottsdale, Arizona. ...
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Northwest eyes regional jets
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Northwest Airlines is expected to decide early next year whether to equip its Memphis, Tennessee-based Northwest Airlink subsidiary, Express Airlines I, with regional jets, according to industry sources. The matter was discussed at the US major's recent board meeting, but a decision was put off ...
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Lawsuit fails to stop Northwest purchase of Continental stock
Northwest Airlines has completed its $311 million purchase of 51% of Continental Airlines' voting stock owned by David Bonderman's Air Partners investment house, despite anti-trust objections from the US Justice Department. The transaction will lead to a so-called "virtual merger" of the airlines, linking route networks through codesharing and ...
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Boeing succeeds with fourth Delta
It was fourth time lucky for Boeing's Delta II on 22 November when the booster lifted off from Cape Canaveral carrying Russia's Hughes-built Bonum 1 communications satellite. The launch had been ditched three times on successive days, starting on 19 November, by an engine gimballing problem, a communications glitch and ...
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PAL/Northwest talks cast doubt on Cathay bail-out
Andrzej Jeziorski/MANILA Philippine Airlines (PAL) has thrown into question Cathay Pacific's attempts to acquire a controlling stake in the debt-ridden carrier, by restarting talks with Northwest Airlines. Northwest has previously shown interest in PAL, as has Singapore Airlines, but talks with all other interested parties had been suspended ...
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Alitalia and KLM sign unity
Julian Moxon/AMSTERDAM KLM and Alitalia signed a far reaching "master cooperation agreement" on 27 November, which, although it stops short of equity exchange, commits the two airlines to "uniting as deeply as possible". Alitalia managing director Domenico Cempella warns, however, that the airline, which is still majority government-owned ...
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UK CAA warns against regulatory split
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has urged the government not to divide its regulatory functions between several bodies after the proposed privatisation of its National Air Traffic Services (NATS). The authority, which at present owns and regulates NATS, was responding to options set out in a UK Government consultation ...
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UK promises action to crack down on airline violence
Action to stamp out violent behaviour on aircraft has been promised by the UK transport minister, but he has handed to the airlines the task of organising research into the growing phenomenon of "air rage". Following a meeting with airlines and interested organisations in London on 25 November, transport ...
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Raisbeck wraps up study into recertification of DC-9s
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Raisbeck has completed a feasibility study into a Stage 3 recertification of McDonnell Douglas DC-9s and is canvassing operators before committing to launch the programme. The aerodynamic modification kit, if given the go-ahead, would be available "on or before 1 January, 2000", says James Raisbeck, ...
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CFIT surge sets US/European safety agendan of DC-9s
David Learmount/CAPE TOWN Accidents involving large jet airliners in controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) have dramatically increased, reversing a trend which had been heading downwards, it was revealed at the Flight Safety Foundation international air safety seminar in Cape Town, South Africa. Concern over CFIT has already seen the ...
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A300B2/B4 retrofit provides global positioning capability
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON An electronic retrofit developed by Airbus Industrie for the A300B2/B4 twinjet, which provides increased efficiency and meets new navigation requirements, has been certificated. The B2/B4 variants - the first examples of the A300 to be produced - are equipped with analogue, electromechanical-instrument cockpits and, with a few ...
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Fire evidence grows as more MD-11 wreckage is found
Evidence of fire in or close to the Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11's flightdeck is accumulating as wreckage recovery off the Nova Scotia's coast continues, says the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSBC). Despite the onset of winter, the recovery operation has been continuing sporadically. With 80% by weight of ...
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private investigations
A new European directive on data protection is threatening to change the rules for airline alliance partners seeking to share customer details. Imagine the global alliance makers as players on a Monopoly board, all lined up at the start and keen to roll the dice. The world's major airlines ...
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Russian rates hit North Korea income
"Open your skies and they will come." That was the message North Korea heard when it agreed with the International Civil Aviation Organisation to allow commercial flights through its heavily guarded airspace. Yet, since that agreement took effect in April, use of North Korean airspace has been below projections. ...
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Gleaming Gardermoen
Can Norway's attractive new hub at Gardermoen carve out an international role in the Scandinavian market? Oslo's futuristic new airport at Gardermoen can probably lay claim to being Europe's last major new opening this side of the millennium. It is undoubtedly a gleaming example of Norwegian architecture, coming complete with ...
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Flourishing in Florida
As Miami's major airport struggles to keep pace with the fastest growth in the USA, its smaller rivals are making a bid for more international service. Growth in Florida is a bit like the sunshine - there's always plenty to go around. No matter which way you slice the ...
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Preparing for downturn
Any analysts keen to spot signs of an end to the boom, will have found much to whet the appetite as the major US airlines posted their third quarter financials. Even before the results were fully out, nervous equity markets had begun to downgrade earnings estimates for next year. It ...
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French flotation delayed
The privatisation of Air France may now be delayed until late 1999 as a result of weak market conditions, political opposition and investor fears of further labour troubles. Originally scheduled for summer 1998, the sale of a 20% stake in the company on the Paris bourse has been delayed ...
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Cretans welcome Dutch move
Dutch scheduled and charter airline Transavia has become the first non-Greek airline to operate a domestic schedule in Greece, following a change in the rules by the Greek aviation authorities in line with European Union (EU) rules. Transavia, which has built up a strong following in Greece over many ...
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Moscow tussle continues
Virgin Atlantic and British Midland are still fighting it out over Moscow route rights. The two rivals are taking their cases for a new London Heathrow to Moscow route back to the UK's Civil Aviation Authority after John Prescott, the UK Secretary of State for Transport, ruled that it had ...