Programmes – Page 1081
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News
Boeing prepares 767-400ER for ambitious flight test effort
Guy Norris/SEATTLE Boeing is preparing for a hectic, seven-month test effort for the stretched 767-400ER, which was rolled out from the company's Everett site in Washington on 26 August. The first aircraft, due to make its maiden flight in early October, will fly most of the 850h flight ...
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Future unclear as MD-90 TrunkLiner is almost ready to fly
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE The first of only two Boeing MD-90-30Ts that will be built under licence in China is nearing completion, but doubts hang over the future of the aircraft and its factory. According to Boeing, flight testing of the first aircraft will start soon, with delivery to Shenzhen ...
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LanChile completes A340 order to update fleet
LanChile has finalised its long-expected order for up to 14 Airbus A340-300s as the Chilean flag carrier prepares to update its long-haul fleet. The deal, revealed exclusively by Flight International in June, is worth almost $2 billion and is understood to include the option to upgrade to larger A340-600s (Flight ...
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Hapag-Lloyd pushes reluctant Airbus on A310 replacement
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH German charter carrier Hapag-Lloyd's effort to replace its Airbus A310s is being frustrated by the reluctance of Airbus and Boeing to commit to developing new short/medium-range widebody types. The airline is one of a growing band of operators, including Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, that seek A310 ...
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Air Afrique expands with A330-200 lease
Air Afrique has concluded a deal with International Lease Finance for the lease of two Airbus A330-200s, to enable it to upgrade its long-haul operations. Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire-based Air Afrique will take the two Pratt & Whitney PW6168-powered aircraft late next year on seven-year leases to operate services from ...
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Boeing-GE 777X deal sparks EC probe into exclusivity
Chris Jasper/LONDON The European Commission (EC) is poised to launch an investigation into airframe-engine exclusivity deals following the sole supplier agreement between Boeing and General Electric on the Seattle giant's planned ultra-long-range 777X. Outgoing EC competition chief Karel Van Miert ordered that a file be opened on exclusivity deals ...
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PAL enters cargo venture talks with Lufthansa
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Struggling Philippine Airlines (PAL) is talking to Lufthansa about a joint cargo service between Manila and Frankfurt, which could mark PAL's return to Europe after a year away. According to PAL, the proposed block space agreement will come into effect on 1 November, with PAL buying ...
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Dasa presses case for Hamburg assembly of A3XX
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa) is stepping up its campaign for A3XX final assembly to be located at its Hamburg Airbus plant with claims that Aerospatiale Matra's proposals for Toulouse production would load the programme with "unnecessary" transport and production costs. Dasa's bid hinges on what it considers to be a ...
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Marketplace
Korean Air has taken delivery of the first two of six Pratt & Whitney PW4098-powered Boeing 777-300s it has on order. Two more -300s are due next year, and the final two in 2001 and 2002. The deliveries are about 12 months later than originally scheduled, partly due to a ...
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AAIC calls police in SilkAir 'suicide' crash
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Indonesian accident investigators say they have contacted police after formally confirming that a SilkAir Boeing 737-300 may have been deliberately crashed by one of the crew in December 1997, near Palembang, Sumatra. All 104 passengers and crew on board the 737, which was operating flight MI185 ...
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Orlando courts Europeans
Virgin Atlantic Airways has signed a long-term agreement for a $58 million international 12-gate terminal to be built at Orlando airport, Florida. The recent approval of the lease, which runs until 2008 for one gate, is described by Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) officials as "unique" for a foreign ...
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KLM, Alitalia produce the goods with cargo deal
Peter Conway LONDON Airline alliances tend to generate much rhetoric about cargo partnerships, but little action. However, the tie-up between KLM and Alitalia, announced in July, looks set to be different. Cargo departments within the two carriers have already gone further in their planning than KLM's long-running tie-up with Northwest. ...
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KLM uk eyes low-cost route
Lois Jones LONDON Fierce competition from low-cost carriers at its London Stansted base is forcing KLM uk to rethink its market position and restructure. Launching its own no-frills service is one possibility. The KLM regional subsidiary is to axe six unprofitable routes from 12 September and streamline its fleet. The ...
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Profits on a plateau
Kevin O'Toole In the final analysis, the airline industry's financial results for 1998 were once again a mix of the encouraging and the depressingly familiar. Overall profitability came out at almost identical levels to the year before. The industry should perhaps take heart from that fact, given the dire ...
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Union blues
Jane Levere NEW YORK For all the talk of change in the airline industry, contentious pilot-management relations seem to many to be set in stone. Industry observers believe two imminent contract negotiations - at Delta and United - will set the benchmarks for labour relations generally. When the ...
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BA reins in again
Lois Jones LONDON British Airways may have stayed profitable through the last recession but it is now fighting to stay out of the red For over a decade British Airways has been the shining example of how a profitable airline should look. But it could be about to fall from ...
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CAL goes on spending spree
Nicholas Ionides ATI SINGAPORE Taiwan's China Airlines (CAL) has finalised a long-awaited fleet renewal plan with $5.6 billion worth of orders for up to 36 aircraft from Airbus Industrie and Boeing. The split order, the largest in the history of Taiwanese civil aviation, covers firm orders for 13 Boeing ...
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Air India on the offensive
Ravi Prasad NEW DELHI India's state-owned carriers, Air India and Indian Airlines, are clashing over the right to fly routes from the subcontinent to the Persian Gulf. Loss-making Air India is lobbying the civil aviation ministry to wrest these lucrative routes from its domestic rival, which is fighting back ...
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Better times beckon in the South Pacific
David Knibb SEATTLE Airlines of the South Pacific islands have had one of their best years ever, led by Fiji's Air Pacific. Two of the region's chronic losers are showing profits, but the scene at Air Niugini stays turbulent. Fijian flag carrier Air Pacific had a record year, posting ...
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Sun Air to close?
A row has erupted over plans by South African Airways (SAA) to close down Sun Air, shortly after having agreed to acquire a controlling 75% stake in its domestic competitor. At the end of August, SAA apparently gained control of Sun Air and promptly announced plans to wind it ...