Strategy – Page 986
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Food for thought
Most airlines are contracting out in-flight catering and are increasingly looking for suppliers with a global presence. When casting around for ways to reduce costs and strip out non-core businesses, airline chief executives did not take long to focus on the opportunities to be had from outsourcing their in-flight ...
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Safety in numbers?
Until now, Air Namibia's future looked limited and its finances precarious. But hopes are pinned on a new managing director, a restructuring programme and an alliance with South African Airways. Jaafar Ahmad freely admits that his first reaction when asked to head up struggling carrier Air Namibia was: "What ...
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Maintenance gets smart
Every business has its dark corners. Secret fiefdoms or forgotten Cinderellas, where planning is a black art and true costs difficult to pin down. By tradition, maintenance has been one such corner of the airline industry. The label may be an exaggeration, but the boardroom drive to get a stronger ...
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Proposed US-EU dialogue may ease tensions
Alan George/BRUSSELS The European Union and the US Government have discussed the establishment of a 'structured dialogue' aimed at defusing aviation tensions between the two sides. The talks, between EC Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock and US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, took place in Brussels last week. Slater went to ...
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Devaluation forces Varig aircraft and route cuts
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON Brian Homewood/RIO DE JANEIRO Varig Brazil has announced cuts in international services to the USA and Europe and plans to withdraw its fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 passenger aircraft by the end of the year as a massive Brazilian currency devaluation begins to affect airline traffic. ...
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Marketplace
Delta Air Lines has taken delivery of its first Boeing 777-200ER ahead of a planned entry into commercial service on transatlantic routes from 1 May. The 277-seat Rolls-Royce Trent-powered aircraft will initially be operated between Atlanta and London and, from September, between Cincinnati and London and Atlanta and Frankfurt. The ...
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SAA widens alliance with Ghana Airways
South African Airways and Ghana Airways are to extend their codeshare ties into a wider long-term commercial alliance. Signing the memorandum of understanding on the deal in Johannesburg, SAA chief executive Coleman Andrews said Ghana Airways will become a key partner in the South African airline's networking plans in ...
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SIA buys into Ansett Australia
Paul Phelan/MELBOURNE Singapore Airlines (SIA) is to share ownership of Melbourne-based domestic carrier Ansett Australia with Air New Zealand after agreeing to buy out the 50% stake in Ansett Holdings held by the News Limited media group. The deal means that the two flag carriers will also hold equal stakes ...
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BA gives Sheffield a boost
Andrew Doyle/SHEFFIELD Newly established Sheffield City airport in the UK has received a major boost with the decision by British Airways franchisee British Regional Airlines (BRAL)to launch a hub operation there later this year. The only scheduled flights at the airport, which opened in February 1998, are operated by KLM ...
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Alitalia responds to BA's Italian strategy
Chris Jasper/LONDONAlitalia has begun a feasibility study into the launch of a regional carrier serving southern Italy in a move which counters British Airways plans to establish a franchise airline based on Rome and Palermo. The Italian flag carrier's study - which is to be completed by June - aims ...
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Good business
Air Namibia plans to make its fortune by cutting costs, increasing income and building partnerships Stewart Penney/WINDHOEKA new managing director at Air Namibia is determined to reverse the carrier's flagging fortunes and prepare it for privatisation by aggressively attacking costs while increasing income and creating a series of alliances. The ...
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Asian lows
Asia's economic woes continue to trouble the region's airlines Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPOREAsia's airlines are wallowing in the depths of the region's economic crisis, with traffic and yields down and little evidence of any imminent recovery. The depth of the crisis was highlighted by Cathay Pacific Airways' recent revelation that it fell ...
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Spanair is first to order heavy A321 as it opts for Airbus fleet
Andrew Doyle/LONDONSpanair plans to launch a new high gross weight version of the Airbus A321 as part of its commitment for up to 45 Airbus narrowbodies to replace its ageing Boeing MD-80 fleet.The carrier - Spain's second largest after Iberia - has signed a memorandum of understanding covering 21 firm ...
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Tour operator mergers spark charter consolidation
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON The European Commission's decision to approve the tour operator merger of Thomas Cook and the Carlson Leisure Group is likely to result in further consolidation of the UK charter market in the next 18 months. Another major charter airline link-up could follow the merger of Air 2000's ...
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ICAO figures show improvements in safety
There were 22 accidents involving passenger fatalities on scheduled airlines in 1998 according to figures released by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). This compares with 27 fatal accidents in the same category during 1997. Passenger fatalities last year were 909, against 930 in 1997, but ICAO points out ...
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Elegant stretch
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES This month, Condor took delivery of the first 757-300, the longest single-aisle aircraft ever built by Boeing in Renton It has been a long time coming, but the stretched 757 is here. An astonishing gap of 18 years separated the launch of the baseline aircraft and that ...
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Netjets prepares to add Hawker 800XPs to Europe fleet
Netjets Europe will take delivery of the first customer-owned Raytheon Hawker 800XP by the end of the month. The first core fleet aircraft was delivered at the end of February. "We hope to add four [of the 24 Hawker 800XPs] to the European fleet this year. The next will ...
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Boeing confirms new large aircraft study
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing says it is still studying all-new large aircraft concepts, dubbed the Large Airplane Product Development (LAPD), despite its deliberate focus on 747 derivatives and opposition to more costly all-new concepts such as the the proposed Airbus A3XX. "Boeing is studying a large aircraft," says the ...
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A340 reduced stability flight tests set to cut A3XX weight
Julian Moxon/PARIS Airbus Industrie is about to begin flight testing a specially equipped A340 to show that the new A3XX can fly with less static and dynamic stability than its current fly-by-wire aircraft. Engineering and product vice-president Robert Lafontan says the consortium is also considering a fly-by-wire flight ...
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Flightsafety secures long-term deals for regional jet training
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC FlightSafety International (FSI) has signed long-term training agreements with three regional airlines to build and operate regional jet simulators. Under a 15-year deal with American Eagle, FSI will build its first simulator for the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) Series 700. The machine will be ...