All Ops & safety articles – Page 1356
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Fuel charges and dollar rate push Korean Air into the red
Korean Air (KAL) dived into the red in 1996 because of rising fuel charges and the impact of a strong US dollar on its debt burden. Despite the losses, the airline is pressing ahead with plans for a further fleet expansion. The South Korean flag carrier ended the ...
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Low-cost carriers lose out in Haneda Airport slot lottery
Japan's major existing airlines and the country's planned start-up carriers have all signalled their dissatisfaction with the transport ministry's allocation of 40 new slots at Tokyo's overcrowded Haneda Airport. The decision has done little to satisfy competing demands from Japan's three main carriers, and has dealt a major ...
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IFALPA sparks row over use of TCAS in RVSM airspace
T he International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations (IFALPA) has sharply criticised the UK Civil Aviation Authority for issuing guidelines which IFALPA claims effectively "-advise or encourage" pilots to disregard traffic-alert and collision-avoidance-system II(TCAS II)resolution advisories (RAs). The CAA guide lines, issued on 25 February, cover operation ...
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Doganis re-opens subsidies argument
The controversial debate about whether government subsidies to European state airlines should be allowed under European Commission regulations has been re-opened by Professor Rigas Doganis, a former Olympic Airways chairman who is now head of the Air Transport Group at the UK's Cranfield University. Speaking during a lecture ...
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NATS works to avoid further Swanwick delay
The UK's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) is facing a race against time to prevent the opening of its ú350 million ($570 million) Swanwick en-route air traffic control (ATC) centre slipping to late-1998, as prime contractor Lockheed Martin works to finish debugging 1 million lines of software code. ...
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Rich International retrieves FAA certificate
RICH INTERNATIONAL Airways has been re-awarded its air-carrier certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration, but the carrier still awaits authorisation from the US Department of Transportation (DoT) to restart charter flights. The Miami-based operator was grounded by the FAA in September 1996 after a safety audit uncovered ...
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TNT looks at large freighters
TNT Express Worldwide is aiming to introduce its first large freighter aircraft in 1998, if a strategic analysis of the market which it is now undertaking concludes that such a move is required. The express-parcel company, acquired by Dutch postal company KPN late in 1995, is timing the ...
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GrandAir puts US plans on hold
GrandAir has been forced to put on hold plans to fly to the USA by the Philippine regulatory authorities' continued failure to comply with the US Federal Aviation Administration's Category I safety requirements. The airline and incumbent national carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) have been told that there can ...
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Renewed US ticket tax sparks hostility
US PRESIDENT Clinton has renewed the 10%airline ticket tax to the end of the fiscal year, pending a longer-term review of new proposals for funding the Federal Aviation Administration. The ticket tax lapsed again at the end of 1996 without agreement in Congress on a replacement funding method, ...
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Airbus sets up an Asian subsidiary for AE-100
Airbus Industrie has established a new subsidiary company, Airbus Industrie Asia (AIA), headed by former Alenia executive Carlo Scaglia, to partner China and Singapore in the development of the planned new A318/AE-100 narrowbody passenger aircraft. AIA has been legally registered in France as a Société bar Actions Simplifiée. ...
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US 1996 GA safety is 'best for 40 years'
USGENERAL-AVIATION(GA) safety improved in 1996, with fewer fatal accidents than in any year since 1956, according to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Based on preliminary flight-hour estimates from the US Federal Aviation Administration, the fatal-accident rate last year was the lowest ever recorded. There were 358 ...
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-as board approves 777-200X/300X specifications
Boeing has received board approval to firm up the specifications of its proposed 777-200X/300X growth derivatives and offer them to airlines, as the company gears up towards a possible launch of the new models at the Paris air show in June. Boeing claims that the -200Xwill be the ...
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Boeing to discuss 747-400IGW-
Boeing has added growth-weight and "simple-stretch" derivatives of its 747-400 to product-development plans, following its decision to shelve work on the 747-500X and -600X. An initial version, which is called the 747-400 increased-gross-weight (IGW), would offer a modest increase in range, compared with the existing -400. This could ...
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NTSB urges accelerated 737 rudder programme
The Boeing 737 series no longer complies with the "intent of the [original US Federal Aviation Administration] certification requirements", the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has alleged in a recommendation to the FAA. The Board urges acceleration of a rudder-system modification programme now under way on the aircraft following ...
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Puel revamps Aerospatiale's loss-making maintenance arm
Henri-Paul Puel, the new president of Sogerma has set about a major re-organisation of the loss-making maintenance arm of Aerospatiale, partly blaming poor recent performance on a series of misjudged deals struck before his arrival. The action follows a disappointing year for Sogerma, which saw its net losses ...
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In search of the new jet age
Time was when the regional-aircraft industry was focused on who would win the battle to build a family of 70- to 120-seat jet-powered aircraft. Strategists toiled to demonstrate how such a family would sit beneath the fleets of the majors. Much has changed since then. Now, the focus ...
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ECAC/Eurocontrol agreement is a 'raw deal' for all concerned
European aviation organisations have reacted with scepticism to the recent agreement reached by European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) transport ministers to revise the Eurocontrol convention, and International Air Transport Association (IATA) general director Pierre Jeanniot describes the reforms as being a "raw deal" for airlines and passengers. In ...
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AlliedSignal tests TCAS changes
ALLIEDSIGNAL Aerospace is flight-testing the latest software for the traffic-alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS 2). The "Change 7" software is the final iteration of the TCAS 2, incorporating operational feedback from users of the system, and is the basis for the international airborne collision-avoidance system (ACAS2) standard, says AlliedSignal TCAS ...
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Asia-Pacific safety infrastructure is scheduled for overhaul in June
Asia-Pacific's commercial air-transport safety infrastructure needs a major overhaul, according to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) group's air-safety experts. Poor safety oversight by some civil-aviation authorities (CAAs) and a growing potential for air-traffic conflicts were identified as two of the vital issues. A plan for regional action to improve safety ...
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Kotaite calls for ICAO safety audits
Audits of national air-transport standards by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) should be an accepted norm, says the agency's chief, Dr Assad Kotaite, calling on its 185 members to give ICAO the necessary powers. Speaking on 24 February at the current session of the ICAO Council, Kotaite ...