All Ops & safety articles – Page 1239
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Point to point delivery
David Learmount/LONDON Transporting outsized, heavy machinery or plant to a remote site on a different continent is a logistics nightmare which might involve three or more modes of transport. The unit, perhaps a hydro-electric generator, often has to be designed not only for its mechanical efficiency, but to enable modular ...
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EVA pursues options to fill business void
Brent Hannon/TAIPEI EVA Airways has been talking to oneworld and the Star Alliance and hopes to join one of the alliances as soon as it decides which is most suitable, says president and vice-chairman Frank Hsu. Meanwhile, the airline is boosting its cargo business to fill the void left ...
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Airports
-Saudi Arabia's Presidency of Civil Aviation has invited bids from Saudi Arabian companies and Saudi Arabian foreign joint ventures for the operation and maintenance of 24 domestic airports. The tender covers all airports except Riyadh and Jeddah. -Lufthansa's supervisory board has cleared plans for the airline to take a stake ...
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Australia throws challenge to flailing Air Niugini
Brisbane-based Flight West Airlines has expanded plans for new services between northern Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG), further challenging embattled Air Niugini on one of its prime revenue earning routes. The Australian regional carrier now plans to add two direct flights weekly between Cairns and PNG's second city, Lae, ...
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Southern Air ceases operations
Financially troubled US cargo carrier Southern Air Transport (SAT), which has been up for sale for some time, ceased operations on 25 September. The airline plans to liquidate assets as it contemplates filing for bankruptcy protection from creditors. The end came after first Fine Air Services, and then Kitty ...
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European Commission denied air negotiation rights
The European Commission (EC) has been denied the full mandate it sought to negotiate air services agreements with non-European Union (EU) member states after the transport ministers met in Luxembourg on 1 October. The EC will now take legal action in the European Court of First Instance at Luxembourg. ...
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FAA extends checks on ageing airliner fleet
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Federal Aviation Administration has disclosed a series of safety initiatives covering detailed inspection of wiring and other operating systems for older airliners. The phased safety project is similar to the agency's ageing aircraft inspection programme, which covers the structures of vintage commercial transports. ...
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MD-82 overrun at Ulsan adds to Korean Air's catalogue of woe
Korean Air's (KAL) battered safety record suffered another blow on 30 September when a Boeing MD-82 landing in wet weather at Ulsan Airport overran the runway by 150m (470ft), less than two months after another major incident at Seoul involving a KAL Boeing 747-400. According to the airline, three ...
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Marconi tests head-up display system for 737
Certification flight testing of Marconi's HUD2020 head-up display (HUD) system for the Boeing 737 began on 28 September with a 2h 35min test flight from Mojave, California. The HUD, mounted by Tracor Flight Systems in the flightdeck of a 737-200 "-worked well during the initial flight", says Marconi, which ...
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737 Directive
The US Federal Aviation Administration has given affected airlines 60 days to inspect boost pump wiring on Boeing 737s which have logged 20,000-30,000 flight hours. It also ordered installation of an extra layer of Teflon sleeving to protect the fuel pump wires. The order affects 737-100-500 series. The FAA estimates ...
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DHL standardises on A300B4 freighters for European services
Herman de Wulf/BRUSSELS DHL International is standardising on the Airbus A300B4 freighter for its European operations and says it will need more than the 14 aircraft it has already agreed to acquire. The European arm of DHL has its main hub in Brussels handling some 250t of freight a night. ...
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MD-11 wreckage yields clues but not answers
David Learmount/LONDON Any remaining doubt about whether the crew of the stricken Swissair Boeing MD-11 was attempting a ditching has now been eliminated by examination of wreckage on the seabed. Investigators have found that the aircraft, when it hit the water at night off Nova Scotia, Canada, on 2 ...
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Cargo alliance
Four independent cargo airlines - Air Foyle, Channel Express, HeavyLift and Atlantic Airlines - are to form the British Cargo Airline Alliance. The move is in response to the British Airways/American Airlines tie-up and the forthcoming US-UK bilateral negotiations. Source: Airline Business
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Fare wars sting Brazil
Deregulation and resulting fare wars continue to bite hard into profits at Brazil's four main airlines, with no sign that the worst is over. Varig is blaming the fare wars for its Real $197 million ($168 million) loss reported for the first half year. This is almost triple the figure ...
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The rouble plays Russian roulette
First it was the crisis in South East Asia. Now it is meltdown in Russia's financial system that is spreading panic in global markets. The lesson from Asia is that what may start with currency collapse swiftly and inevitably translates into damage for the real economy of production, output and ...
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Narita slot numbers rise
Japan's raising of the number of slots at congested Tokyo Narita Airport for the first time in seven years is seen as a direct result of the new Japan-US bilateral which has forced Tokyo to accommodate more US flights. Of the 202 weekly "new" slots, probably about half are ...
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No limit to liabilities
The crash of Swissair's MD-11 last month could become something of a legal test case. The Swiss carrier is the first signatory to the International Air Transport Association's inter-carrier passenger liability agreement to have suffered a major crash. Insurers and lawyers are watching closely to see the size of damages. ...
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Hub wars
The big five US interior airports are fighting it out to become the top international gateway in the heart of North America. Patterns of international air service to and from the US are changing. A cluster of airports tucked well inside the continental US are starting to win significant ...
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flexing Muscles
When airline executives dreamed up alliances, some might have imagined that regulatorary approval would be a tough nut to crack, but did they sufficiently weigh up the labour factor? Union cooperation in the formation and development of airline alliances is proving to be crucial. Already, cross-alliance union groups are emerging ...
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Hercules ends Fine merger
Fine Air and Southern Air Transport have scrubbed merger plans after failing to agree what to do with Southern's Lockheed L-1011 Hercules. The two US second-tier cargo carriers will go their separate ways, even though Miami-based Fine wants to expand its Latin American and Caribbean network. Fine was interested ...