Systems & interiors – Page 836
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Growing pain
It is tempting, almost, to feel sorry for the world's airlines. Just as they were beginning to enjoy credible profits and sustained traffic growth, they find themselves staring at a near-term future in which their own growth threatens disaster. Any twinge of sympathy, however, is killed by the ...
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Passengers on the rack
If airlines and aircraft manufacturers were to characterise just one physical property of aeroplanes as the ultimate enemy, it would be weight. Weight increases drag and fuel consumption and reduces payload, so carriers and builders fight all the time to reduce it without sacrificing friendly properties such as strength, durability ...
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Bombardier finalises pilot-training deal
Bombardier has signed a 20-year, C$2.8 billion ($2 billion) contract to provide pilot training for the Canadian Forces, under its privately financed NATO Flying Training in Canada programme. Negotiations continue with Denmark, Norway and the UK to join the programme. The Canadian company will arrange capital financing to ...
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Regional-aircraft risks
November 3 should have been a defining date for regional-jet manufacturers. Most feared that Boeing would announce plans to develop an 80-seat derivative of the MD-95 as part of a wider declaration on the future of the aircraft it had acquired with the purchase of McDonnell Douglas. In the event, ...
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AB Airlines takes AIM for expansion funds
AB Airlines is planning a listing on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) early in 1998 to fund an expansion of its network and fleet renewal. The Stansted, UK-based airline is negotiating the acquisition of four new Boeing 737-300s, configured with two-class cabins, in January 1998 to replace its ...
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BA nears low-fares decision and re-equips regional unit
British Airways is expected to finalise plans before the end of the year to launch a European low-fare operation at London Stansted, using Boeing 737-300s. At the same time, the airline has begun an interim replacement of its BA Regional 737-200s. Earlier this year, BA commissioned the UK-based ...
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Europe considers new cabin-crew standards
Cabin-crew basic training standards may be unified across Europe, with staff issued with certificates of "professional competence", if a proposed new directive is approved within the European Union (EU). The new concept, being mooted within the European Parliament, would require states to approve training organisations, their courses and ...
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Thailand's PB Air is ready for 1998 launch date
Thai start-up operator PB Air is planning to launch its first charter/scheduled domestic service in 1998, initially using a recently acquired Fairchild Dornier 328 30-seat turboprop. The 12-month-old carrier hopes to fly daily from Bangkok to Hattyai via Chumporn Airport in southern Thailand, says PB Air chief pilot ...
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Discount airlines gain access to congested US airports
Five US low-fare airlines have been given permission to begin serving slot-controlled Chicago O'Hare International Airport and New York's La Guardia Airport, marking a first victory for the sector in its battle against the major network carriers. The permissions, granted by the US Department of Transportation (DoT), are ...
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Sabena springs surprise by taking City Bird stake
Sabena has taken a stake in Belgium start-up City Bird, adding a surprise twist to the low-cost carrier's flotation, and the airlines have unveiled a co-operation deal to cover new long-haul services. The listing had been delayed as news of the deal was released, but went ahead on 30 October, ...
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Too big a crowd
The withdrawal of first British Aerospace and then Saab from regional-turboprop manufacture does not signal the collapse of the sub-40-seater market so much as confirm that this market is changing rapidly into one for small jet airliners. It is also a market in which, no matter how buoyant the passenger ...
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Boeing pushes ultra-long range 747 derivative
Boeing could obtain board approval to offer airlines a new ultra-long-range - more than 14,800km (8,000nm) - derivative of the 747 as early as May 1998, if it can attract sufficient market interest, particularly from key Asia-Pacific airlines including Cathay Pacific Airways, EVA Airways of Taiwan and Qantas. ...
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Windows added to cockpit choices
US company Avidyne claims to be the first to certificate an avionics system which uses Microsoft's Windows NT software. The firm has begun shipping its 130mm multi-function displays after hardware supplier Electronic Designs received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration. Avidyne had earlier gained Level-D "advisory-only" certification ...
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American Airlines visuals order boosts market leadership
American Airlines has selected Evans & Sutherland (E&S) to supply visual systems for five full-flight simulators recently ordered from CAE Electronics. The deal follows the announcement at the end of September that E&S had won a United Airlines contract for six systems. The two large orders boost E&S' ...
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Timeout in Asia
The AE31X programme is beginning to face its first real challenges, six months after China, Europe and Singapore inked a framework agreement to co-develop a new 100-seater family of jet airliners. Negotiators at the tripartite talks are wrestling with a series of critical issues which must be resolved shortly for ...
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Lufthansa CityLine/Bombardier negotiate for CRJ-700 purchase
Lufthansa CityLine is in negotiations with Bombardier over a "double-digit" order for the 70-seat Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) Series 700, but Fairchild Dornier is targeting the airline as a potential launch customer for its proposed rival regional jet. CityLine has just taken delivery of its 31st 50-seat CRJ ...
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Asia links the American way
American Airlines is blanketing Asia-Pacific with codeshare agreements, even though the US and Japan are discussing a new bilateral which is likely to allow it to codeshare with Japan Airlines to many of the same points via Japan. Asiana Airlines is American's latest codeshare partner in a blanket ...
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US targets predators
It has been a long time coming - some think too long - but the US Department of Transportation is promising to open up some of the key US hub airports and to get tough on carriers that behave anticompetitively. Predictably, the low-cost airlines applaud the move while the majors ...
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The Asian miracle turns to a malaise
For many years, the traditional lore in the airline business has been that Asia-Pacific represents the most vibrant, fastest growing, most profitable element of the industry, with the brightest prospects and the greatest resilience to factors like wars and recession to which most other carriers are vulnerable. As ...
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Europe joins the hunt
The European Commission plans to launch a major crackdown on anti-competitive practices in the EU. The move represents a tacit admission that four years of liberalisation have failed to remove a number of barriers to entry in the European market. KLM may be the first to feel the ...