Systems & interiors – Page 793
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FAA settles on leasing plan for ATC update
Paul Lewis /WASHINGTON DC The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is planning to lease new communications, navigation, surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) equipment from industry to finally modernise its oceanic control centres. "We've looked for and settled on a new solution," says Nancy Graham, FAA's oceanic and offshore acting integrator product ...
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Garvey: USA must look at GPS cost
US Federal Aviation Administrator Jane Garvey says an independent risk assessment which said the global position system (GPS) can be the sole means for navigation services, was "a very good first step regarding specific technical questions." The report was compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. She ...
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Airbus focuses A3XX efforts on alliance groups
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Airbus Industrie predicts that the world's four main airline alliance groupings will absorb almost three quarters of all A3XX-sized aircraft delivered by 2020, with most going to just two - oneworld and Star Alliance. Moves by the major alliances to combine their networks and improve asset ...
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Heli Expo hosts revamped S-55 Whisper Jet and S-61N Short
New versions of two older helicopters, Vertical Aviation Technologies' S-55QT Whisper Jet and Helipro International's Offshore S-61 Short, were displayed for the first time at the show. Certification of both conversions is imminent. Florida-based Vertical Aviation has completed flight testing of a five-blade rotor on its turbine conversion of ...
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Indian Airlines drops fleet renewal plans
State-owned Indian Airlines has shelved plans to replace its fleet of 11 ageing Airbus A300B2/B4s and 12 Boeing 737-200s, opting instead to pursue a refurbishment programme. The programme, which will include an interior refit, will allow the aircraft to be operated for "several more years", according to Indian Airlines. ...
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International plans for Israir
Arie Egozi/TEL AVIV Domestic Israeli airline hopes to break into the charter business with a "flexible approach" to luring customers Israir, a small Israeli domestic airline, is preparing to go international. After years of operating domestic flights, mainly on the Tel-Aviv-Eilat holiday route, Israir is bracing for its ...
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Maintaining training
Andrew Doyle/FRANKFURT The introduction of new European regulations and the growing power of simulation technology were the hot topics at the Flight International-sponsored Aviation Maintenance Training Conference held on 15-16 February As pressure increases on aircraft maintenance firms to step up the quality of their work at less ...
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AASI is on the brink of Jetcruzer certification
Advanced Aerodynamics & Structures (AASI) hopes to clinch US type certification for its Jetcruzer 500 low-cost corporate turboprop by mid-1999, with first deliveries beginning by year-end. The manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California, was originally due to begin deliveries by the end of 1998, but has suffered substantial delays ...
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Duty free, a few facts
By 1995, global turnover of duty free had reached $21 billion. Europe accounts for half the total - over $13.4 billion a year. Duty free is more important to the UK than to any other European state - in 1995 over 25% of European Union (EU) turnover was in ...
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In need of a check-up
The systems onboard ageing aircraft in the USA are coming under closer scrutiny, raising the prospect of higher maintenance costs. In the USA, old aircraft don't die: they get hushkits and a new paint job. In stark contrast to their counterparts in Europe and Asia, US passengers routinely find ...
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Majors play the mating game
US carriers are again testing the water with a series of new acquisition proposals. Perhaps it has something to do with the season, but it is almost exactly a year since they last indulged in a frenzy of mating activity and the US majors are at it again. Only this ...
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Swissair/Delta could win SAA deal
Lufthansa, long considered the front runner in the race for a 30% stake in South African Airways (SAA), now appears to be facing a determined combined challenge from Swissair/Delta Air Lines. The German carrier launched an aggressive public relations exercise weeks ago announcing that, if successful, it would ...
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Foreign ownership debate heats up
The debate in the USA over foreign ownership and control of airlines has come under a spotlight early in 1999 with airline and government officials discussing how a relaxation of the rules may occur. US Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater stirred the controversy last year when he said the ...
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Gloves off for Orlando charters
A small airport that has managed to steal a large chunk of the foreign charter business from Orlando International Airport (OIA), including the largest tour operator Air Tours, has forced its larger competitor to lower landing fees and include more passenger-friendly facilities in a $2 billion expansion programme. ...
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Avionics on the front line
The move towards preventative maintenance has sparked a fierce battle between two major avionics vendors to supply the dominant operating system. Avionics manufacturers in the USA are poised on the threshold of a new technology that could have major implications for maintenance in the airline industry. But just as ...
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Europe's BIG 3
Lufthansa, Air France and Swissair have built their repair and overhaul facilities into some of the most competitive in the world, but profit margins remain slim. Europe cannot claim to be a world leader in many sectors, but when it comes to commercial aircraft and engine maintenance, it is ...
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Low cost or bust
Europe's low-cost experiment is in full flow, but are there casualties waiting? Ever since the low-cost formula began to take root in Europe a couple of years ago, industry observers have been waiting keenly for the first start-up to fail. Even the low-cost pioneers themselves have expressed surprise that ...
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Third Party Pressure
The third party maintenance, repair and overhaul business will consolidate further as the dominant companies seek greater economies of scale and airlines turn their attention back to improving costs. If you were asked to name the landmarks of the aircraft maintenance and overhaul industry over the past year, you ...
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Life starts at 50
SITA may just have turned 50, but its gaze remains firmly fix on the future. Kevin O'Toole talks to chairman John Watson. "People try to categorise SITA but it's just a phenomenon," says its chairman John Watson. The fact that it exists at all is thanks to the foresight of ...
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Defending duty free
Duty free sales within Europe appear to have won a reprieve. But how hard will airlines be hit if duty free is eventually abolished? To bureaucrats, the abolition of duty free must have looked a simple matter when it was mooted. The European Union (EU) decided in 1991 to ...