All Ops & safety articles – Page 1288
-
News
Time to climb?
Karen Walker From the bottom of the pile, life offers a different perspective. While most US airlines have returned to profitability in the 1990s, the financial haemorrhage at Trans World Airlines has continued. So management was encouraged to note, after announcing 1998's first quarter results, that the words 'beleaguered' ...
-
News
Who's ready for a cosy threesome?
And then there were three. If things work out as planned - and that's a big 'if' - over 80 per cent of the US airline industry will be in the hands of three alliance groups. Globally, the situation is less clear-cut, but the industry is moving in the same ...
-
News
Taca lays into US open skies deals
Karen Walker Pop! That's the sound of Central American carriers reacting to the open skies agreements they were applauding just a few months ago, but which they now regard as black clouds that have opened the floodgates to US competition and left local airlines with little shelter. The bubble ...
-
News
Delta ties knot at last
Karen Walker To the relief of its new chief executive officer, Delta Air Lines has joined the US matchmaking game. But the planned strategic alliance with United Airlines has union and governmental hurdles ahead. The two airlines confirmed their alliance plans on 30 April. The pair say they will ...
-
News
Lufthansa to fight EC plan
Tom Gill Lufthansa is threatening legal action against the European Commission if it proceeds with plans to force it to relinquish slots at Frankfurt. Lufthansa is prepared to proceed to legal action in the EuropeanUnion Court of Justice if necessary, it declares. The German flag carrier's comments came ...
-
News
Ryanair passes go in Europe
Tom Gill With soaring profits, share price and traffic, Europe's largest and longest established low-cost airline may yet achieve its ambition to be the Southwest of Europe. But as it strives to continue its profitable growth path Ryanair can expect to cross swords with the new British Airways ...
-
News
Peru opens skies first
Peru has leapfrogged past Chile in its open skies negotiations and agreed to a deal that phases in liberalisation over four years. The open skies agreement was initialled on 9 May but not made public by presstime. The deal follows the pattern of recent treaties signed with Japan and ...
-
News
Korea opens up its skies
David Knibb Both Koreas have taken strides towards liberalisation as South Korea agrees to an open skies bilateral with the US and North Korea allows regular commercial overflights. The South Korea-US bilateral was sealed in late April, after three rounds of tough negotiations in which Seoul successfully held out ...
-
News
Will sun rise in Japan?
David Knibb After a bad year for all three major Japanese airlines, the debate is now whether their woes are temporary or due to deeper, more fundamental problems. Japan Airlines claims to have resolved its problems and cleaned up its balance sheet by taking a US$1.2 billion write down. ...
-
News
Cargo L-610
Czech manufacturer Let, soon to be acquired by Ayres of the USA, has begun design work on a cargo version of the L-610G regional turboprop. Ayres sees a market for the aircraft in Europe as an express-package feeder, with FedEx a target customer. Ayres says the 40-seat L-610G will be ...
-
News
British Midland V2500 fails after only 150h
Ian Sheppard/LONDON An International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500-powered Airbus A321-200 operated by British Midland (BM) suffered an in-flight engine failure on 15 May shortly after departure from Heathrow Airport. The 147kN (33,000lb)-thrust V2533-A5 powered aircraft had been in service only 20 days and had flown around 150h with the UK ...
-
News
Boeing refines 777-200X design to tempt launch customers
Paul Lewis/SEATTLE Boeing has reaffirmed its commitment to launching the planned 777-200X/300X derivatives and is undertaking a fresh examination of a range of payload/range performance enhancements to the design. "The programme is still proceeding and there are some opportunities to make improvements to the 777-200X/300X that we are ...
-
News
Lufthansa eyes 747-400 freighter
Shahe Ouzounian/FRANKFURT Lufthansa Cargo says it will need to replace its fleet of Boeing 747-200Fs early in the next decade, with the 747-400 freighter the prime candidate, even though the German operator considers the aircraft "too expensive". Wilhelm Althen, chairman of the executive board, says that its fleet ...
-
News
Brazil and Canada plan subsidy accord for regional aircraft
Mediation of the regional aircraft subsidy dispute between Brazil and Canada has left both sides claiming victory. Special envoys appointed by the two governments have recommended means for resolving the dispute, but have not ruled on whether support provided to Bombardier and Embraer breaks international guidelines on subsidies. The trade ...
-
News
Ageing pilots
A challenge by the Professional Pilots Federation to overthrow the US Federal Aviation Administration's rule that airline pilots must retire at 60, on the grounds of alleged age discrimination, has been thrown out by the US Supreme Court. In Europe, airline pilots may continue until they are 65, but there ...
-
News
Sfim uses GPS to calibrate aircraft approach paths
Julian Moxon/PARIS French avionics specialist Sfim has developed a new low cost system to replace the optical equipment used for tracking aircraft flying runway approaches when calibrating runway landing equipment. Its Traki trajectography kit uses the satellite global positioning system (GPS) instead of a ground- based theodolite to ...
-
News
US Airways may forge fresh alliance with British Airways
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC US Airways could forge a new marketing alliance with British Airways as a result of the projected tie-ups by both carriers with American Airlines. The deal would go ahead only under certain conditions, says Stephen Wolf, head of US Airways Group. The prospect of a ...
-
News
Pilot training alliance
A three-way alliance between UK and US-based training organisations is to offer a pilot training service, from ab initio to type-rated airline pilot standard, to the European Joint Aviation Requirements or US Federal Aviation Administration flightcrew licensing syllabus. The UK's Oxford Air Training School and America's UND Aerospace will carry ...
-
News
Justice Department stipulates conditions for American/BA link
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has recommended that the proposed alliance between American Airlines and British Airways is not approved unless sufficient slots are made available at London Heathrow to allow additional carriers to provide substantial new service to the USA. American welcomed the DoJ's statement, arguing that ...
-
News
Boeing warns on China hopes
Paul Lewis/BEIJING Boeing is sounding a warning that earlier expectations of a large new order for aircraft from China in June could be affected by a marked slowdown in local airline traffic growth and the knock-on effects from Asia's wider economic difficulties. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) ...