All Systems & interiors articles – Page 805
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News
'Intranet in the sky' is planned
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Two European airlines are leading the drive to link aircraft on the ground and in the air with the airline's "intranet" information technology systems. Lufthansa charter affiliate Condor and Swissair plan demonstrations of systems to allow Internet-style exchanges of information with aircraft using low-power datalinks ...
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Improving safety
Graham Warwick/MONTREAL Teams of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) inspectors will move out early next year to begin mandatory safety oversight audits, opening a new chapter in the history of the United Nations agency. The programme of "regular, mandatory, systematic and harmonised safety audits" in all 185 member states was ...
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SIA closes in on Star status
Singapore Airlines (SIA) is about to take a step closer to becoming a full member of the Star Alliance by concluding a bilateral partnership with SAS, as part of a wider move by the group's five members to consolidate coverage of the Asia-Pacific region. Founding Star airline SAS is ...
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IPTN wants overseas help for ailing N-250 turboprop project
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Indonesia's IPTN is approaching international aerospace manufacturers and banks simultaneously, seeking backing for the N-250 as government funding for the turboprop programme begins to dry up. The company has been forced to scrap plans to produce a fourth N-250 prototype, while assembly of the third (PA3) ...
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ICAO safety rules meet
Regular compulsory audits by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) of individual states' aviation safety oversight programmes were approved on 2 October at the ICAO Assembly in Montreal, Canada. The ruling becomes effective on 1 January, 1999. Members agreed the audits should not be used for purposes other than safety, ...
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Growing pains
Emma Kelly/LONDONThe in-flight entertainment (IFE) industry is growing up. But it has had to. The IFE industry today is showing the first signs of realism and credibility - much improved characteristics than the over-promises and disappointments that have plagued the industry in recent years. After years of considerable effort, interactive ...
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German operator goes solo
Andrzej Jeziorski/Munich German tour operator Frosch Touristik International (FTI) is to found its own airline. Operations are due to get under way early next year with a fleet of three Airbus A320s. The name of the airline and its home base remain to be announced. According to FTI ...
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Proteus market predicted to fly
Guy Norris/MOJAVE Wyman-Gordon is predicting an estimated market for up to 1,000 of the unconventional Proteus high-altitude, long operation (HALO) aircraft being built by its subsidiary Scaled Composites. The US investment company hopes to begin proof-of-concept trials as early as 2000. The prediction, from Wyman-Gordon's chairman and chief ...
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Facing the future
Emma Kelly/LONDON The in-flight entertainment (IFE) industry has come in for sharp criticism over the last few years, with some well-publicised interactive IFE failures giving it a bad name. To limit the chances of this happening in the future, the World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) - the IFE industry ...
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FAA free flight programme to retain existing ground navaids
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC A new airspace system modernisation plan drawn up by the US Federal Aviation Administration will retain at least one-third of the existing ground-based navigation and landing aids beyond 2015. The plan, expected to be released within a month, also foresees the introduction of automatic dependent ...
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Australia throws challenge to flailing Air Niugini
Brisbane-based Flight West Airlines has expanded plans for new services between northern Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG), further challenging embattled Air Niugini on one of its prime revenue earning routes. The Australian regional carrier now plans to add two direct flights weekly between Cairns and PNG's second city, Lae, ...
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Proteus aims to reach new high
Scaled Composites, manufacturer of the Proteus high-altitude long operation aircraft, plans later this month to expand the flight envelope to altitudes above 35,000ft (10,700m) and speeds up to 175kt (320km/h) indicated airspeed (or Mach 0.55) as part of its goal of achieving "loiter" operations at 64,000ft. Proteus, which was ...
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FAA extends checks on ageing airliner fleet
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Federal Aviation Administration has disclosed a series of safety initiatives covering detailed inspection of wiring and other operating systems for older airliners. The phased safety project is similar to the agency's ageing aircraft inspection programme, which covers the structures of vintage commercial transports. ...
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Marconi tests head-up display system for 737
Certification flight testing of Marconi's HUD2020 head-up display (HUD) system for the Boeing 737 began on 28 September with a 2h 35min test flight from Mojave, California. The HUD, mounted by Tracor Flight Systems in the flightdeck of a 737-200 "-worked well during the initial flight", says Marconi, which ...
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playing the Smartcard
A revolution is underway in the world of smart card and tag technology, which airports and airlines are only just beginning to exploit. Dr Peter Harrop argues for the gains to be made As the air transport industry makes its way towards the new millenium, it continues to wrestle with ...
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Hub wars
The big five US interior airports are fighting it out to become the top international gateway in the heart of North America. Patterns of international air service to and from the US are changing. A cluster of airports tucked well inside the continental US are starting to win significant ...
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flexing Muscles
When airline executives dreamed up alliances, some might have imagined that regulatorary approval would be a tough nut to crack, but did they sufficiently weigh up the labour factor? Union cooperation in the formation and development of airline alliances is proving to be crucial. Already, cross-alliance union groups are emerging ...
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EC faces tussles over slot sales
As US-UK open skies talks remained scheduled for early October, a clarification of the UK Government's position on the British Airways-American transatlantic alliance was awaited. In deciding how many slots the prospective alliance partners will have to relinquish at London Heathrow and Gatwick airports and whether or not they ...
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SELLING the BRAND
Following the lead of supermarkets and chain stores, major airlines are contemplating the offer of financial market products such as insurance policies and loans. So British Airways is going to offer its customers financial services too . . . When the company announced its intention in March, it joined ...
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Bottom line maintenance
The indirect costs of maintaining aircraft and engines need to be attributed in a radical new way to give airlines a clear picture of the real costs involved and support major decisions. Airline maintenance and engineering organisations have struggled, not always with success, to achieve the same kinds of ...