Systems & interiors – Page 859

  • News

    UK pilot-training scheme comes under threat

    1997-04-02T00:00:00Z

    UK flying training schools fear that they are in danger of losing a Government scheme which can give degree status for professional-pilot graduates, along with tax relief which reduces course prices by up to ú20,000, according to a leading flying-training school. Training-industry concern has been growing about the ...

  • News

    Miami stuck in legal vice

    1997-04-01T00:00:00Z

    A US Department of Transportation ruling on how payment should be divided for the new terminal at Miami International Airport could have a big impact on future airport funding. The $975 million project, planned to be completed by the year 2003, became the centre of a legal dispute ...

  • News

    Too few sales but lots of potential

    1997-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Despite much recent fanfare about airline participation in the online revolution, ticket-selling on the Internet is still a relatively rare phenomenon and has yet to have much positive impact on carriers' bottom lines. But its potential is undisputed and airlines uniformly consider their experience to be an invaluable education about ...

  • News

    Blood, sweat and Gore

    1997-04-01T00:00:00Z

    The aims of the Gore Commission report are laudable but Karen Walker and Dave Knibb ask whether the recommendations are workable. Financially, most US airlines had cause to celebrate by the end of last year, but 1996 had its darker side. A total of 380 people were killed in US ...

  • News

    . . . as Swiss go stateside

    1997-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Swiss caution and American zeal seem as unlikely a combination as yodelling and rock music, but Swissair is certain that an American chief executive at its helm will fashion a more international outlook. Swiss national pride undoubtedly took a knock following Swissair's decision to hand over operating control ...

  • News

    TWA is still in dire straits

    1997-04-01T00:00:00Z

    A move by Trans World Airlines to raise $26 million in cash from pre-purchase tickets is further evidence of the airline's growing financial woes. TWA struck an advance purchase deal with 20 leading businesses in its home town of St Louis for discounted tickets. It is the second ...

  • News

    Virgin takes new partner

    1997-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Virgin Atlantic's decision to switch US partners this August reflects the growing business links between Virgin's chairman Richard Branson and Continental's chairman and main investor, David Bonderman. Bonderman has invested in Virgin's cinema and rail activities and, a source close to Branson says, the two may look at other joint ...

  • News

    Cleaning up on yields

    1997-04-01T00:00:00Z

    The benefits of a yield management system depend upon what competing airlines are doing. Peter P Belobaba and John L Wilson from MIT's Flight Transportation Laboratory explain why. Most airlines have embraced the practices of differential pricing and yield management over the past decade. By offering a range of fare ...

  • News

    Private funds elude Alitalia

    1997-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Put your wallet away: Alitalia's no longer for sale. The carrier has abandoned its quest for private investors and turned to state holding company IRI for the full capital injection. The Italian treasury has now confirmed that IRI will inject the remaining L1.5 trillion (US$880 million) of fresh ...

  • News

    Untenable situation

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Western national carriers British Airways, KLM of the Netherlands and Germany's Lufthansa have recently begun direct flights to Azerbaijan capital Baku, in anticipation of an oil boom which is expected to increase passenger and cargo traffic to the region. Bina International Airport in Baku, however, is dogged by ...

  • News

    SIA ponders A340-500 and 777-200X

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Singapore Airlines (SIA) says that it will need at least ten new ultra-long-range aircraft to open fresh routes and frequencies to the USA, after the recent signing of an open-skies bilateral air agreement between the two countries. The airline is looking at the proposed Boeing 777-200X and rival ...

  • News

    Ministers support fuel-tax change

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Dutch and Belgian transport ministers have spoken out in favour of abolishing the European airline industry's exemption from fuel taxes. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has responded quickly, saying that such a tax would do nothing to help the environment, as its supporters argue. At a meeting ...

  • News

    -plans IHAS avionics safety development

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    AlliedSignal Aerospace is discussing with airlines and aircraft manufacturers its plan to develop a so-called integrated hazard-avoidance system (IHAS). The IHAS would combine safety-related avionics systems, such as ground-proximity warning system, traffic-alert and collision-avoidance system and windshear detection, in a single box, with the aim of providing a ...

  • News

    BMed

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Geoff Crawford BMED Capt Geoff Crawford has been appointed director of flight operations at British Mediterranean Airways (BMed) of London, UK. Crawford, who joined British Airways as a pilot in 1968, has more recently been senior strategy manager for the BA corporate-strategy department and business manager for customer-service development. Charles ...

  • News

    A fine balance

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    IT IS A BELIEF UNIVERSALLY held among airline managers that, in an upturn, their own particular airline will perform better than its competitors, and that in a downturn it will suffer less. In general, this is bunkum, but it is an unfortunate truth that it is on the basis of ...

  • News

    Breakthrough nears on burn-through

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Airline passengers will soon have dramatically improved post-accident fire-protection if an Airbus Industrie-led group of European companies can win a European Commission (EC) research grant. Research has already established that the use of different cabin-insulation materials at manufacture could increase tenfold the time it takes for external fire to burn ...

  • News

    Eurocontrol solves B-RNAV problem for ageing aircraft

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Ageing aircraft not equipped with modern navigation equipment are likely to be allowed to use satellite navigation for basic area navigation (B-RNAV) after the January 1998 deadline for the introduction of B-RNAV in Europe. A programme of work being carried out by Eurocontrol, and now almost complete, appears ...

  • News

    Daewoo dumps Dornier 328 contract

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Daewoo is to quit production of Fairchild Dornier 328 turboprop fuselage-panels within two months, and will have to pay compensation for its early pull-out from the programme. According to Fairchild Dornier vice-president for programmes and aircraft development, Earl Robinson, Daewoo is bringing its contract with the US-German company ...

  • News

    'Heavy-weight' MD-90 delivered to Great China

    1997-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Great China Airlines has taken delivery of its first McDonnell Douglas (MDC) MD-90-30, which is also the first longer-range version certificated at the new optional higher maximum take-off weight (MTOW). The aircraft has strengthened wing structure, landing gear and flap mechanisms, enabling the MTOW to be increased by ...

  • News

    UPS passengers

    1997-03-19T16:58:00Z

    UPS began passenger services on 7 March, using Boeing 727-100QF freighters recently modified by Pemco to allow them to be operated in the passenger/ cargo quick-change role. The aircraft can now be equipped with 113-seat interiors for weekend charter services, increasing utilisation. Passenger services were inaugurated with a flight from ...