All Ops & safety articles – Page 1429
-
News
The CAA is targeting New Zealand's poor general-aviation safety record
Aviation morale in New Zealand is sky high, with Air New Zealand among the beneficiaries of economic reform Paul Phelan/Auckland To the casual observer, New Zealand may appear to be the poor relation of its neighbour, Australia. Nothing could be further from the truth, particularly in ...
-
News
CAL crash relatives to sue
RELATIVES OF VICTIMS killed in the 1994 China Airlines (CAL) Airbus Industrie A300-600R crash, in Nagoya Japan, were expected to file claims against the carrier and aircraft manufacturer on 1 November. Lawyers representing 138 Japanese and Taiwanese families are to sue CAL and Airbus in the Nagoya District ...
-
News
No capacity for control?
The issue of national sovereignty is still the biggest obstacle to efficient use of Europe's air traffic control capacity and the political sensitivities have already led to a sharp rebuke for the European Commission. The Commission was warned at the end of September by the Council of Ministers ...
-
News
School uses GPS to check proficiency
EMBRY-RIDDLE Aeronautical University is experimenting with the global-positioning system (GPS) as a means of evaluating students and instructors in its flight-training programme. GPS position data is being recorded in flight then replayed on the ground, to evaluate pilot proficiency objectively. Embry-Riddle's campus in Prescott, Arizona has developed an ...
-
News
China Hongkong may fly domestic as well
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE CHINA NATIONAL Aviation's (CNAC) planned start-up carrier China Hongkong Airlines is considering operating domestic services within China as well as flights to Hong Kong. The company is moving quickly to begin operations as soon as it is granted a Hong Kong Air Operator's Certificate. ...
-
News
China cuts its numbers
Beijing has formally declared its intent to consolidate China's airlines after two years moving in that direction. The number is set to shrink by 40 per cent, but more carriers are likely to receive international designation as well. Li Zhao, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administrat- ion ...
-
News
Swiss show true colours
No sooner had Brussels given Swissair access to the single European market through its investment in Sabena than the Swiss government played the protectionist card, opening itself and the Commission up to criticism. The Swiss government was acting within the UK-Swiss air services agreement when it refused to ...
-
News
Safety spotlight shifts on to loss of control
IN-FLIGHT LOSS of control is now the biggest single killer of airline passengers, replacing controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), according to a recent Boeing analysis of the subject. Boeing's chief engineer for aeroplane safety engineering Paul Russell says that from 1990 to 1994, 1,056 people died in loss-of-control ...
-
News
Safer seats 'too costly' for use
David Learmount/LONDON SEAT-DESIGN CHANGES, which could improve passenger safety, are unlikely to be adopted because of their extra weight, according to a Japanese research agency. The Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) confirms that the changes are effective, but concludes that manufacturers and carriers will ignore them because ...
-
News
USAir courts main rivals
As speculation rose to fever pitch over the possibility of USAir selling out to United Airlines or American Airlines, all participants concerned stressed one word to describe the current state of the deal: 'preliminary'. Whatever the outcome, sources at USAir stress the talks are a culmination of a ...
-
News
Growth spurs on drive for cuts
Air Canada, in the midst of a significant growth phase, is attempting to counteract the costs of expansion with employee productivity gains and new technology. Air Canada expects to double its transborder service to the US within the next three years and in recent months has added new flights ...
-
News
Strong results encourage SIA
SINGAPORE AIRLINES (SIA) turned in another strong profits rise over the first half of its financial year and is "cautiously optimistic" that the improvement will continue, helped by signs of an upturn in passenger traffic. Group net profits for the six months to the end of September were ...
-
News
PAL struggle: end in sight?
The seven-month standoff over control of Philippine Airlines between chairman Lucio Tan and the government is still delicately poised, but a compromise may yet settle the dispute. The future of the struggling Philippine flag carrier has been in limbo since March, when the government shareholders invoked a 1992 ...
-
News
EVA enjoys the fruits of youth
If spectacular improvements in efficiency and productivity are a measure of success, then on the surface at least Taiwan's international newcomer EVA Airways appears to be setting new standards. Productivity, measured in terms of revenue per employee, soared 62 per cent last year. Unit costs plunged 21 per cent and ...
-
News
European rules must be tighter
Sir - In your editorial "Associate membership" (Flight International, 20-26 September), "bizarre anomalies just around the corner" is a good description of what is being allowed to happen to civil aviation within the European Union. This particular club (non-affiliated) must be the only such to charge high subscription ...
-
News
Express trial grinds to halt
After a year's trial of its innovative Lufthansa Express product, the German carrier has cherry-picked parts of the pilot scheme for a revamp of its domestic operation. A poor performance halted the extension of the pilot to the whole system as originally planned. The German flag carrier was ...
-
News
Regulatory fatigue
EUROPE, THE USA and Canada are all about to draw up vital new regulations on the safety-related issue of aircrew flight-time limitations, yet there is no evidence that they are trying to harmonise those rules. Given that the same bodies wish rulemaking to harmonise everything from aircrew licensing to aircraft ...
-
News
More than a fleeting gain?
At Malev Hungarian Airlines, a major improvement in efficiency is one of the main outcomes of a modernisation programme that started back in 1991 but only really started to take root last year. Indeed, commercial director Ferenc Turi says the restructuring has really only just begun in earnest. 'We are ...
-
News
Profit share: a stroke of genius
Singapore Airlines' chairman J Y Pillay has absolutely no doubt that in an unforgiving airline industry, survival rests on the continuing struggle to improve productivity and keep ahead of costs. And there can be little doubt that Pillay's message is getting through at an airline which consistently turns in some ...
-
News
Get smart inside the system!
For Northwest Airlines, record profits this year have been less a result of recent, company-wide efficiency programmes than of a series of initiatives - including route restructuring, employee concessions and alliance-building - stretching back several years. Nonetheless, 'smarter' flying and pricing have produced lower costs and higher yields for the ...