All Ops & safety articles – Page 1361
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News
VASP eyes up Argentinas
Acquisitive Brazilian airline VASP is understood to have made an approach to take a controlling stake in Aerolineas Argentinas. Iberia, which still has an interest in the Argentinian carrier, and which would still need to give its approval for any deal, says that no concrete offer for the airline has ...
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UK and Netherlands eye North Sea ATC
The UK and Netherlands civil-aviation authorities are considering following Norway's lead in using satellite-based surveillance and communications to bring positive air-traffic control (ATC) to North Sea helicopter operations. Much of the region is outside radar or VHF communications range and there is serious concern among oil companies and ...
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Masters of aviation
Pilots' careers finish relatively early, leaving them with no credit for accumulated knowledge and experience beyond that learned during the period of their licences. A postgraduate level of education in the aviation industry would be attractive to some motivated licence-holders who want future employment, early positions as management pilots, or ...
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New evidence reveals fire on doomed Challenger's booster
New evidence that part of the right-hand solid- rocket booster (SRB) of the Space Shuttle STS 51L/Challenger was breached and caught fire at lift-off on 28 January, 1986, has been revealed by controversial aerospace engineer Ali AbuTaha. Seven crew were lost when the Shuttle broke apart at T+73s, in what ...
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British Midland lobbies EC for European slots at Heathrow
British Midland (BM) has entered the fray over the British Airways/American Airlines alliance, arguing that slots should be made available for its European feeder services rather than exclusively for new transatlantic operations. Chairman Sir Michael Bishop says that the move follows the recent intervention of European competition commissioner ...
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European consortium presents noise findings
A recently completed European research project has enabled engineers to understand the way in which so-called "buzz-saw" noise is generated and propagates along the nacelle of a jet engine, according to Rolls-Royce, one of the participants in the "Fanpac" research programme. Buzz-saw noise is caused by shock waves ...
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Flexible flying
For aspiring pilots who mortgage their careers until middle-age to earn a full airline pilot's licence, airline sponsorship is the ultimate dream. Yet, would-be pilots know that such offers are few, and the schemes, reacting to market behaviour, have been sporadic. When sponsors do announce a course, many are called, ...
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Slots scramble at Haneda highlights Japan's problems
A recent airline scramble for a limited number of new slots at Tokyo's Haneda Airport has served to underline Japan's growing problem of trying to liberalise its air-transport industry in the face on an already over- extended infrastructure. The proliferation in new start-up and subsidiary carriers follows moves ...
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Secondary implications
Sir - You wrote in the Airline Safety Review for 1996 (Flight International, 15-21 January, P31) that "-the year provided its ironies" - none more so, I feel, than the contribution of secondary radar to the Lima Boeing 757 fatal accident. I understand that, following a request for position and ...
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Weather predictor
Raytheon has been selected by the US Federal Aviation Administration to install equipment enabling weather hazards in the airspace within about 97km (60m) of an airport to be predicted. The Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) will generate predictions of weather phenomena, such as microbursts. It will also warn of the ...
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The sales of the century?
The sales of the century? NetsAAvers, CyberSavers, E-Savers or On-Line Travel Specials - under various names, four of the largest US carriers, plus a handful of others, are experimenting with using the Internet to promote special fare deals. They are selling what is essentially 'distressed' inventory - seats on weekend ...
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Credits roll on the Douglas era
One of the most pressing concerns for airlines should the merger between Boeing and McDonnell Douglas go ahead centres on whether the current Douglas product lines will remain intact and, by implication, what will happen to the residual values of Douglas aircraft they own. No-one knows for sure ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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. ...