All Ops & safety articles – Page 1318
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Push start on the Web
Taking Internet technology to the next level, Lufthansa recently became the first airline to use 'push' technology to send its customers fare data regularly. Individuals who surf the Web, seeking out information on their own, are said to be 'pulling' this data from the Internet. Whenever a Web ...
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Sole survivor
Canada has rapidly lost two of its low-cost airlines, leaving WestJet as sole survivor. David Knibb looks at the lessons which should be learned and examines the prospects for any future Canadian new entrants. Like a tree shedding leaves in autumn, two of Canada's three low-cost airlines - Greyhound ...
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Airbus supplement: A319 flighttest
Peter Henley/HAMBURG The 124-seat A319 is the smallest of the Airbus Industrie family of airliners, featuring the same basic flightdeck and similar handling characteristics to all the other Airbus fly-by-wire (FBW)aircraft. A "shrink" derivative of the 150-seat A320, the A319 is offered with the same engines ...
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US Airways selects engines and secures deliveries for A320s
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTONDC US Airways has moved closer to finalising its long-standing commitment for up to 400 Airbus A320 family aircraft, with the selection of CFM International CFM56 engines, and an agreement over the delivery schedule for the first 30 aircraft. Some of the early delivery positions ...
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Airbus supplement: A330 A340
When Airbus first discussed the A340 seriously with potential customers in the mid-1980s, "...the maximum range requirement was not much more than 6,000nm [11,100km]," recalls Airbus vice president strategic planning Adam Brown. "By launch in 1987 this had grown to 6,600nm [12,200km], and the A340-300 now in production can fly ...
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Qantas considers A340/777 competition
Qantas' new order will lift its 747-40 Qantas is evaluating the Airbus and Boeing 300-seat models, and has confirmed orders for three additional Boeing 747-400s, worth some A$650 million ($478 million)including engines and spares. According to chief executive James Strong, Qantas has been studying closely its ...
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777 suffers new engine troubles
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Pratt & Whitney and General Electric are inspecting their respective PW4090 and GE90 engines for the Boeing 777, after a new series of problems with powerplants on British Airways and United Airlines aircraft. The GE90 suffered a crack in a rotating seal on ...
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Airbus supplement: Restructuring
Wherever aerospace executives gather to discuss consolidation of Europe's aerospace industry, it will not be long before the talk turns to Airbus Industrie and its anxiously awaited restructuring. Whatever other pitfalls may yet befall Europe on the way towards the holy grail of consolidation, it has become an ...
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FAA rethinks fuel-tank approval
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC In an apparent change of heart, the US Federal Aviation Administration is considering the case for changing the way it certificates commercial-aviation fuel tanks, say senior officials close to the year-long investigations into the mid-air explosion of a Trans World Airlines Boeing 747-100. ...
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Boeing pays the price for production crisis
The full financial impact of Boeing's growing commercial production and delivery crisis has been revealed, with costs estimated at $2.6 billion attributed to late deliveries and recovery plans. The bulk of the costs, some $1.6 billion, are associated with penalty payments for late deliveries in the third quarter, ...
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FedEx leads orders for rigid cargo bulkhead
FedEx is to replace the nylon nets used in its fleet of older widebody aircraft to protect crew from the hazards of loose cargo pallets, with a new rigid cargo bulkhead from US structures specialist Tolo. The barrier is based on Tolo's patented Grid-Lock technology and is formed ...
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Crash recorders found
The crashed Garuda Airbus A300's flight recorders have been found buried at the Sumatra accident site, airline officials have reported. Evidence indicates that the 26 September accident was not caused by technical problems but to the crew's failure to initiate a turn ordered by air-traffic control to intercept the instrument-landing ...
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France requires diesel testing
Julian Moxon/PARIS The first flight of the four-cylinder MR250 diesel engine, under development by Socata and Renault Sport, has been delayed until the beginning of December to allow time for an endurance test demanded by the French certification authorities. Trials of the engine in various configurations ...
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Pilots warned of software glitch
Flight manuals for the Airbus A320 family are being amended to alert pilots to a "software anomaly" which can cause the aircraft to adopt "an unintended flight path". The US Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive (AD), to take effect on 3 November, is sufficiently urgent for the FAA to have ...
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Volga-Dnepr leases Tu-204Cs
Volga-Dnepr is to take two Tupolev Tu-204C-120 freighters equipped with Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4B engines on lease in a deal about to be signed with the leasing company Sirocco Aerospace International. The Russian cargo airline is also spending nearly $30 million upgrading its Antonov An-124 fleet. Volga-Dnepr president Alexei Isaikin ...
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Airbus aims at A320 production boost
Airbus Industrie chief operating officer Volker Von Tein has raised the possibility of an increase in the production rate of the A320 family from the planned 18 per month - but only if the consortium secures an order for 120 aircraft from US Airways. The current rate of ...
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SATIC studies A340 Beluga designs
An outsized cargo "Beluga" derivative of the Airbus A340 is being proposed by Super Airbus Transport International (SATIC) as an option for delivering A3XX subassemblies to the final assembly line. SATIC, the Aerospatiale/ Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) joint venture responsible for the design and manufacture of the original A300-600-based ...
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Stretched 777 takes to the air
The first Boeing 777-300 had a "flawless" maiden flight from the company's Everett site on 16 October, completing the 4h 6min test mission at Boeing Field, Seattle, with no technical problems. Boeing 777 programme chief pilot Frank Santoni says: "We spent 4h shaking the aircraft down thoroughly. You ...
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City Bird aims to raise new cash from public listing
City Bird, Belgium's low-cost start-up airline, aims to raise $40 million from a public listing to help fund ambitious expansion plans designed to make it the "major long-haul operator" from its base at Brussels Airport. The airline began operations in March with a Boeing MD-11, targeting long-haul scheduled ...
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Air Littoral cancels Bombardier CRJ options
Air Littoral has cancelled options for five Bombardier CanadairRegional Jets (CRJs) due to be delivered in 1998. The action follows a pilots' strike begun on 13 October and was still under way as Flight International went to press. The dispute, which has hit up to 60% of flights, ...