All Ops & safety articles – Page 1372

  • News

    Japan poised to renounce?

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Deadlocked US-Japan passenger negotiations are testing the resolve of both sides, as the mood in Tokyo swings towards renunciation and the US attempts to avoid passenger talks this year. Early June talks in Tokyo became bogged down when the US insisted on resolving outstanding issues, principally plans by ...

  • News

    Financial results

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Air Canada's operating loss widened from C$7m to C$40m. Domestic passenger revenues grew only 1% despite traffic growth of 11%. Operating profit leapt 59% to $401m. Pre-tax profits were $113m for the airline, $130m for Sabre and $22m for management services. Unit costs fell 13.6% as ...

  • News

    Euro-continent is slow to recover

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    The long period of expansion for the global economy, which began in the United States five years ago, looks set to pickup momentum again this year and next as the Japanese business machine springs back to life. However, the performance of the industrial countries as a group looks distinctly patchy ...

  • News

    Immune deficiency syndromes

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    US transportation officials have long been quietly offering antitrust immunity as a gift for opening up international markets to their airlines. Now immunity is being sought on a grand scale, but the Department of Justice is wary. Mead Jennings reports.The question won't be asked officially for another year, but Elliott ...

  • News

    Lax tax rules hit at costs

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    As US carriers report record earnings during the first quarter, some analysts are cautioning that the windfalls, in good measure due to the lapse of the 10 per cent ticket tax at the start of this year, are disguising a rise in unit costs. On one of the ...

  • News

    UPS closes on Taipei hub

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    The decisions by United Parcel Service and DHL to launch Asian hubs commit all four of the big express cargo carriers to the Orient. The question now is which of the differing strategies will work and whether they will avoid the bloody shakedown that followed a similar scramble four years ...

  • News

    More cash as heads roll?

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Indonesian flag carrier Garuda is undergoing more management upheaval as it struggles to implement a critical fleet modernisation programme and lift performance after one of its toughest years. In the face of intense competition on key domestic and international routes from local rival Sempati and more efficient foreign ...

  • News

    Thai weighs cargo option

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Thai International wants to take full ownership of a proposed national all-cargo operator being set up to tap into the impressive 15 per cent growth in freight traffic - almost double the annual rise in passenger numbers. Thai's management is proposing to set up the as yet unnamed ...

  • News

    An oriental approach

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Ministry of Transport officials are still smarting from criticism of the latest deregulation initiative in the Japanese domestic market. On the surface, the complaints seem justified as basic fares are set to increase across the board. But a main architect of the plan insists the benefits will come from the ...

  • News

    BA savours American pie

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    The impending alliance between American Airlines and British Airways confirms that US international aviation policy over the last two years has had a dramatic impact on the global airline industry. BA and American officials were preparing the accord at presstime. Sources say that a two-year discussion finally yielded ...

  • News

    Time for last post again?

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    The sale of Venezuela's state-owned airline Aeropostal, bankrupt and grounded since October 1994, could take place by late June. Though the carrier's assets are limited and valued at $20 million, the asking price is double that. The government claims that it has received five bids, but analysts regard ...

  • News

    Eleven oust Afrique boss

    1996-06-01T00:00:00Z

    The tense standoff at Air Afrique between management and unions has finally led to the sacking of chief executive Yves Rolland-Billecart, who has failed to reverse the decline at the multinational African carrier since his appointment in 1989. The unions' demand for the sacking of the entire management ...

  • News

    In the end, the safe way is to go-around

    1996-05-29T00:00:00Z

    Sir - It is obvious, after reading the series of letters on non-precision and precision approaches, that a wide variety of pilots reads Flight International. All approaches, whether precision or not, start from an altitude where obstacle clearance is guaranteed and, from there, on descend towards the airfield ...

  • News

    Swire pledges long-term involvement with Cathay

    1996-05-29T00:00:00Z

    Paul Lewis/SEATTLE SWIRE PACIFIC, the UK parent of Cathay Pacific and Dragonair, is emphatic that it intends to remain a major participant in Hong Kong's aviation industry. It dismisses speculation that its grip may be weakening following the recent deal with China which will put a large ...

  • News

    ValuJet halves its network as NTSB probe centres on cargo-fire issue

    1996-05-29T00:00:00Z

    THE THEORY that the ValuJet McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 accident on 11 May was linked to the unauthorised freighting of oxygen-generator units has been reinforced by the investigator's discovery of pieces of the canisters embedded in a tyre from the forward cargo hold. At the time of going to ...

  • News

    Delta chairman calls for speedy open-skies deal

    1996-05-29T00:00:00Z

    Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DCJulian Moxon/BRUSSELS DELTA AIR LINES chairman Ronald Allen, speaking as initial anti-trust immunity was granted for his airline's alliance with Swissair and Sabena, has called for the European Union (EU) to move "boldly and swiftly" towards a full open-skies deal with the USA. ...

  • News

    CAL proposes to sell shares

    1996-05-29T00:00:00Z

    TAIWAN'S CHINA Aviation Development Foundation (CADF) is to sell around 16% of its holding in China Airlines (CAL) to private investors. The sale will reduce CADF's stake in the carrier to 62%. It also plans to launch a rights issue of 200 million shares. The issue is expected to raise ...

  • News

    Small, but is it beautiful?

    1996-05-29T00:00:00Z

    ALL OF A SUDDEN, the discussion is about small jets. Not just the 100-seater which China and Korea, or China and Singapore, want to build with European help. Not just the rival 100-seater, for which Boeing and Bombardier may link up with Japan. Not just the 100-seater which IPTN wants ...

  • News

    BA plans to keep its profits rolling

    1996-05-29T00:00:00Z

    Kevin O'Toole/FRANKFURT LUFTHANSA chairman Jurgen Weber has promised a renewed attack on costs throughout the group, warning unions that there will be tough decisions to make as they go into this year's round of wage negotiations. Speaking at the German group's annual press conference, Weber ...

  • News

    Lufthansa will attack costs

    1996-05-29T00:00:00Z

    Kevin O'Toole/LONDON A SET OF RECORD figures for 1995/6 has ensured that British Airways reclaimed its title as the world's most profitable airline. The group shows no intention of letting its lead slip, making an immediate announcement of another massive drive to improve costs, further product upgrades ...