All Ops & safety articles – Page 1261
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News
US DoT stalls alliance frequent-flier tie-up
The US Department of Transportation has blocked Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines from merging their frequent-flier programmes until at least early December while it continues to review all provisions of a planned wider tie-up. Meanwhile, the USA's second-largest pilots' union has asked the Clinton Administration to block Northwest from ...
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EC proposes 'virtual NASA' for research
Julian Moxon/BRUSSELS The European Commission is considering a new approach to aeronautics research in Europe aimed at streamlining the acquisition of technologies and improving co-ordination of research activity. Herbert Allgeier, chairman of the aeronautics task force at the EC's DG12 research directorate, says the idea is to create ...
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Virtual reality
The European Commission's proposal of a "virtual NASA" to coordinate aeronautical research across Europe is a welcome move in a market where such research is vulnerable to local-market politics. Until recently, Euro-pean governments have proved tardy, however, in encouraging their aerospace industries to cooperate. But the question remains: will they ...
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Airbus may ditch A3XX thrust reversers to slow down costs
Andrew Doyle/LONDON Airbus Industrie is discussing with airlines a plan to remove the thrust reversers from its A3XX ultra-high capacity airliner design as part of efforts to further reduce the aircraft's direct operating costs. Airlines have generally reacted favourably towards the idea of dropping the system from the outboard engines ...
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SAirGroup buys 49% of LTU and eyes full access to EU market
Andrew Doyle/DÜSSELDORF SAirGroup has finally completed its long-awaited acquisition of a 49.9% stake in German tour operator LTU as the latest step in its plans for a major expansion of its operations in the European leisure travel market. The deal comes as senior executives at the Swissair parent are expressing ...
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Litton flight tests gyro retrofit on Boeing 727
Litton Aero Products is flight testing its LTR-97 fibre optic gyro-based system on a Boeing 727-200 as a strap-down replacement for potentially thousands of aircraft equipped with older electro-mechanical, vertical and directional gyros. The market, estimated to be for around 5,000 systems, includes McDonnell Douglas DC-8s, DC-9s and MD-80s, ...
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767 instrument system mystery failure traced to battery faults
David Learmount/LONDON AN Almost total failure of a Boeing 767's electronic flight instrument system (EFIS) during a transatlantic flight has been attributed to battery installation faults, according to a US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report. The 28 May, 1996, Martinair Holland 767-300ER flight from Amsterdam Schiphol to ...
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Amakusa takes Dash 8 for island link
Amakusa Airlines, a new Japanese regional carrier, is to start operations with a recently ordered Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8, according to Bombardier Aerospace. Delivery of the 39-seat Dash 8-100 will take place next October, but the airline does not plan to launch revenue services until early 2000. Amakusa ...
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BA realigns fleet after pre-tax profits fall
British Airways is reacting to disappointing first half results and an impending economic downturn by realigning its fleet and route network. Pre-tax profits for the airline dropped 10.5% to £385 million ($639 million) for the first six months to 30 September as a downturn in the world economy and ...
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Winnipeg consortium launches Canada's first scheduled cargo operation
Canada's first scheduled widebody cargo flights are being launched by Winnport Logistics, a consortium of 43 transportation companies. The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based consortium has leased a Boeing 747 freighter from Evergreen International Airlines, and will operate three flights a week between Winnipeg and the Chinese cities of Nanjing and Shenzhen. ...
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Common theme
Graham Warwick WASHINGTON DC Can airlines agree to buy a standard aircraft, in the hope of reducing costs, or will each continue to demand hundreds of custom changes that set its aircraft apart from any other carrier's? That is the question facing an airline task force which is to ...
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Sticky problems tar Malpensa operations
The latest in a stream of mishaps and malfunctions to have plagued Milan Malpensa Airport since its 25 October "relaunch" as Milan's primary international airport is the melting of the newly laid surface of runway 1. Aircraft were disabled on 5 and 6 November when lumps of tar stuck to ...
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First Tu-204s delivered to Air Cairo
New Egyptian carrier Air Cairo became the first airline to take delivery of the RB211-535E4-powered Tupolev Tu-204-120 on 2 November. Two aircraft were delivered to Cairo - one passenger model and one freighter - at the start of a seven-year lease. They are the first new generation Russian aircraft ...
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Raisbeck installs Stage 3 mixer for 727 tests
Raisbeck Commercial Air Group has begun flight tests of a Boeing 727-200 fitted with newly developed engine tailpipe forced mixers. The tests are aimed at achieving certification of the company's heavy gross weight (HGW) Stage 3 system by March 1999. The US company says the tests are attracting "serious ...
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717 initial tests reveal unexpected benefits
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Early results from the Boeing 717-200 flight test effort are indicating "nominal or better" drag and specific fuel consumption (sfc) performance, leading to expectations that the baseline range and payload may be increased, says the company. The build-up of 717 test hours and sorties is ...
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UK airlines renew call for air rage research and funding
David Learmount/LONDON Efforts to undertake research into the causes of air rage attacks on cabin crew are being held up by a reluctance to fund the work, it has emerged at a Passenger Behaviour seminar held at Heathrow Airport, London, on 29 October. The UK's Cranfield University has ...
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China Airlines shares will go on the market
Taiwan's state-controlled China Aviation Development Foundation (CADF) has approved the proposed sale of half of its 71% majority stake in China Airlines (CAL) to yet to be identified local or foreign investors. CADF plans to reduce its holding in CAL to 35.5%, as part of a move to revamp ...
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Airports
-The long-awaited start of construction of the Guangzhou New Airport in China has moved closer with the award of the initial design contract for the passenger terminal to Parsons Greiner of the USA. The deal, worth about $10 million, represents one of the first significant contracts to be awarded since ...
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Financial troubles force Transaero to cut back
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW Transaero, Russia 's third largest carrier, has scaled back its operations by about 30%, with further reductions expected to follow in the face of continuing financial problems at the airline and the worsening domestic economy. Among the first services to be dropped are flights on the Moscow-Riga-London ...
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Calm down
A new and unsettling problem for the airlines - dubbed "air rage" by the media - has been emerging over the last few years. The problem is unsettling because it appears to be global and growing rapidly, and although the airlines can describe it, they cannot define it. This intractable ...