All Ops & safety articles – Page 1334
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News
SIA still keen on Sempati
The main reasons behind Sempati Air's delayed initial public offering have now emerged as its deteriorating financial situation and the resulting top management shakeup. These events do not appear to have dampened Singapore Airlines' interest in taking a stake in the Indonesian private carrier. 'Discussions are continuing' about ...
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Mutual interests
Mutual funds own substantial shares in most major US airlines. James S Altschul examines how they look at the airline business, and asks how much influence they wield. They are the behemoths of the equity investment world. Fuelled by a surging stock market, growing retail interest in equities, and a ...
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Skating on thin ice
Competition, high costs, declining yields, and powerful unions are weighing heavily on SAS, but salvation could lie in its growing alliance grouping. It must be like hoarding a treasure chest, only suddenly to find a queue of people knocking on your door demanding a share of the booty. SAS ...
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Financial results
Air Macau's operating loss during its first full year was about half of the original forecast. The airline carried 665,000 passengers at an average load factor of 68%. Air Pacific increased its profits during its first full year of flying to Los Angeles and Osaka, although the French ...
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Web fever
Business gurus like to portray the Internet as the best marketing opportunity ever and most airlines and aerospace companies have jumped onto the bandwagon. Richard Whitaker goes surfing to see what is on offer, and Jane Levere discusses the trend towards airlines using the Internet for distress sales of inventory. ...
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Iberia set to drop Viasa
Iberia is set to end its Latin American airline odyssey after shareholders and unions rejected the Spanish airline's plan to restructure Viasa. The tough stance adopted by Iberia's senior management suggests that new president, Xabier de Irala Estevez, will shrug off political pressure to maintain existing links with ...
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Taipei cuts as SA shifts
Taiwan is suspending air service with South Africa after the latter announced it was switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. The move will have little effect on Taiwan's airlines but raises questions about the basis of Taipei's aeropolitical policy. China Airlines has operated twice-weekly flights to Johannesburg ...
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Rebuild with care
New faces in Washington mean action in the most controversial area of FAA reform - funding - is on hold. But the sparks should still fly in 1997. The new US Federal Aviation Administrator may want to consider investing in a pair of velvet gloves on taking up office. ...
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BA tightens Euro screws
British Airways will intensify its efforts to turn around its unprofitable operations in France and Germany after the acquisition of Air Liberté and the relaunch of Deutsche BA. Air Liberté's fate rests in BA's hands after the commercial tribunal in Creteil finally approved BA's recovery plan, filed in ...
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Atlantic trio boost links
Swissair, Austrian Airlines and Sabena have enhanced their integration with a joint order for up to 29 Airbus A330s and the launch in February of a joint North Atlantic operation with Delta Air Lines. Officially, the A330 order follows a joint evaluation, but in practice Sabena has closed ...
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Free for all over the mega-alliance
What a mess. The lobbying machines pushing for and against the proposed American Airlines-British Airways alliance have moved from overdrive into hyperdrive. Thousands of trees have been felled to produce the paper required for submissions, opinions, complaints and press releases. Shares in Panasonic jumped through the roof as regulatory agencies ...
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1997: very best of the decade?
There is an extraordinary degree of optimism about world economic prospects in the year ahead. Equity markets, the global barometer of business health, stand at or close to record levels on both sides of the Atlantic and have been climbing in the Pacific; oil prices have begun to flatten after ...
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Sabretech closes another plant in wake of Valujet crash
SabreTech, faced with losing its repair-station licence from the US Federal Aviation Administration, closed its Orlando aircraft repair station on 17 January. The company previously shut down its Miami centre which is alleged to have played a significant role in the crash of the ValuJet McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 on 11 ...
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Trent fixes introduced
The problem discovered in October 1996 with the Rolls-Royce Trent 800's leaking fuel nozzles has been attributed to cracking, possibly because of poor welding. As a precautionary measure, airlines have been sent additional nozzles as replacements. R-R Trent 700 operators are also in the process of modifying the engine's thrust ...
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Exit changes wanted
Investigation of the fatal 19 November, 1996, United Express Beech 1900 runway collision at Quincy, Illinois, has led the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to recommend exit-door improvements. It is believed that occupants survived the collision with a King Air 90, but all 12 died in a fire after ...
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Stage 3 727 without hushkits is certificated
Raisbeck Engineering has won US Federal Aviation Administration certification for a Boeing 727-200 modification which reduces noise below Stage 3 levels without hushkits or re-engineing. The package involves flat-rating the engines to 25íC, rather than the standard 29íC, "over-speeding" the take-off flap settings and restricting maximum take-off weight ...
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Airbus rolls prompt FAA to issue proposed airworthiness directive
Pilot reports of uncommanded rolls between 5¹ and 30¹ in Airbus A320s and A321s have led to a US Federal Aviation Administration proposed airworthiness directive (PAD) for fleet-wide modifications to the elevator and aileron computers (ELACs). Airbus, however, says that 90% of the world fleet and all US-registered ...
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Air Littoral orders more Regional Jets, evaluates CRJ-X
Air Littoral has signed a $133 million deal with Bombardier Aircraft for seven Regional Jets, with options on a further five. The Montpellier, France-based regional airline is also seriously evaluating the stretched 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-X regional jet. All seven aircraft, which are in addition to the nine Regional ...
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MDHS' MD 600N troubles increase
McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (MDHS) is meeting with the US Federal Aviation Administration to discuss design and certification options following another crash of an MD 600N on 18 January during the flight-test programme. The eight place helicopter should have received FAA certification by mid-December 1996, despite earlier delays ...
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Emergency exits: no new dangers
Sir - I refer to the last paragraph in the article "Emergency-exit changes foreshadowed" (Flight International, 18-31 December, 1996, P12). The UK Civil Aviation Authority requires (not recommends, as stated) operators to ensure that Type III exit row seats are allocated only "-to passengers who appear capable of ...