All Ops & safety articles – Page 1399
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News
Transatlantic 767 suffers EFIS failure
THE CREW OF A Martinair Holland Boeing 767-300ER faced blank flight-instrument displays as it approached the US coast on a flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Orlando, Florida, on 28 May. The flight was diverted to Boston and continued with electro-mechanical standby instruments, according to a US National Transportation Safety Board ...
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AEA slams European ATC performance
Herman de Wulf/BRUSSELS KARL-HEINZ Neumeister, secretary-general of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) has led an attack on Europe's "increasing" flight delays, "lousy" air-traffic control (ATC) and "scandalous" route charges. He complains that European airlines are being saddled with unnecessary costs, putting them at a disadvantage ...
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European airlines return to profit but warn on delays
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON EUROPE'S AIRLINE industry has turned in its first profit since 1989, but any celebrations over the news were quickly tempered by stark warnings over the congestion and pending European legislation which the carriers believe could damage progress. The Association of European Airlines (AEA) reports ...
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Hong Kong's new airport secures second runway
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON CHINA AND THE UK have agreed to build a second runway for Hong Kong's new airport at Chek Lap Kok (CLK), to cater for faster-than-expected traffic growth. The agreement, signed by the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group, clears the way for a northern ...
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Ametek introduces monitor to keep track of regional-turboprop balances
AMETEK AEROSPACE Products has introduced a system to give fast, accurate propeller balancing, allowing regional-turboprop operators to keep down damaging vibration levels throughout an aircraft's life. The Balance Monitoring System automatically stores vibration data in flight. These data are then downloaded to a ground-based lap-top computer which calculates ...
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Canadian granted immunity from anti-trust rules
THE US DEPARTMENT of Transportation (DoT) has tentatively decided to grant American Airlines and Canadian Airlines International immunity from US anti-trust laws, to allow them to co-ordinate air services. The Administration of US President Bill Clinton, however, has placed some restrictions on the immunity, which is valid for ...
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Japanese give an ultimatum for US bilateral talks
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE JAPAN HAS GIVEN THE US Government until 27 July to respond to its formal demand for talks to begin on a new passenger bilateral air-service agreement, or face possible retaliatory measures. The Japanese transport ministry delivered the ultimatum to the US embassy in Tokyo, ...
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...and Honeywell brings manual data into the picture
HONEYWELL HAS introduced a headband-mounted display which will allow ground crew to see troubleshooting data as they carry out airliner-maintenance work. The display, which is connected to a processor on the maintenance-worker's belt, is an addition to Honeywell's Airline Maintenance and Operations Support System (AMOSS). Fault ...
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Japan's carriers make gains
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Kevin O'Toole/LONDON GROWING international traffic has helped Japan Airlines (JAL) return to profitability for the first time in five years and has further strengthened the recovery at All Nippon Airways (ANA) JAL bounced back into the black for the first time since 1990, with ...
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ValuJet CVR confirms fire-in-cabin theory
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The existence of an intense fire in the cabin has now been confirmed by the cockpit-voice recorder (CVR) as being a likely cause of the ValuJet McDonnell Douglas DC-9 accident in Florida on 11 May. Flight- and cabin-crew exchanges indicate that the fire ...
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MAS profits recovery fails to impress
MALAYSIA AIRLINES (MAS) again saw profits leap for the 1995/6 financial year, but the extent of the improvement failed to impress market analysts, who had been hoping for more. The airline ended its financial year to March showing a 68% increase in net profits, to M$233 million ($93 ...
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Lufthansa tests remote maintenance system...
Martin Hindley/LONDON LUFTHANSA SYSTEMS is testing an airport-based remote diagnostic system designed to provide ground engineers with an incoming aircraft's maintenance history and repair requirements. The company has teamed with Berlin-based software house Sietec Systemtechnik to develop the tool, as part of a telecommunications-research programme sponsored ...
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Slow start
Six months after opening, Macau International Airport is struggling to generate business. Terence Hardeman and Brent Hannon/MACAU WITH FANFARE and speeches, the $1.1 billion Macau International Airport was officially opened in December 1995. Apart from the arrival of Dr Mario Soares, president of Portugal, and a Lockheed Martin ...
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Eleven oust Afrique boss
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 ...
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Time for last post again?
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 ...
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BA savours American pie
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 ...
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An oriental approach
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 ...
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Thai weighs cargo option
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 ...
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More cash as heads roll?
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 ...
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UPS closes on Taipei hub
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 ...