Systems & interiors – Page 915
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Taiwan takes direct route
Conceding the inevitable, Taiwan has taken the first fateful steps that could lead to direct air links to China within two years. But Beijing's willingness to facilitate such flights will depend on whether CAAC pragmatists prevail over policy ideologues who hope to capitalise on Taipei's recognition that direct links are ...
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Phone-in plan riles agents
Japan's travel agents are up in arms over a new ticketing drive by the country's major airlines which allows domestic travellers to bypass agents by ordering airline tickets directly over the telephone and paying by credit card. Initiated by the country's biggest carrier All Nippon Airways in April, ...
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Qantas all set to float
With its long awaited A$2 billion (US$1.4 billion) public flotation now in sight, Qantas has taken steps to reassure prospective local investors that privatisation is not a step on the way to integration with 25 per cent stockholder British Airways, and that the company remains committed to European markets. ...
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Ghosts, phantoms and funnel flights
Some airlines are manipulating schedules to get improved marketing visibility.When is a new route not a new route? Answer: When it's a codeshare, funnel flight, ghost flight, change of gauge, or yet another figment of a marketing executive's fertile imagination. The intention behind the survey of new route developments in ...
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Euro pilots strike out
Continuing management efforts to cut the European majors' operating costs are resulting in clashes with pilots at KLM, SAS and Alitalia. If pilots do not concede the need to reduce costs, carriers may seek alternatives. KLM is insisting on a longterm programme to cut its aircrew costs, which ...
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Rotary researches
Eurocopter believes that helicopter technology could develop dramatically over the next decade. Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Although ancient toys and drawings show that the basic principle of rotary-wing aircraft dates back centuries, the history of the helicopter as a useful flying machine is generally thought to have ...
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Back to break-even
The world airline industry ended 1994 close to break-even, but cost of reduction is still top of the agenda. Kevin O'Toole/LONDON At times, it seemed that it would never happen, but the world airline industry at last appears to have ended its record run of ...
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Fokker reveals regional-twinjet configuration
FOKKER HAS revealed the configuration of the new 120-seat regional twinjet it is now studying with Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA), Aviation Industries of China and South Korea's Samsung. The Dutch manufacturer says that the aircraft would supplement the lower end of the Airbus family and the upper end of ...
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FAA approves FANS-1 package
THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration has issued a formal type certificate for Boeing's future air-navigation system (FANS-1) installation package for Rolls-Royce-powered Boeing 747-400s. The system provides for automatic position reporting and other operational communication by satellite from anywhere in the world. The FANS-1 incorporates a comprehensive flight-management-system ...
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IATA forecasts record airline profits
Kevin O'Toole/GENEVA THE international airline industry could be on course to turn in the highest profits in its history if over-capacity continues to decline, according to predictions from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). IATA estimates that its members made a net profit of $1.8 ...
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Spectrum
Steve Tanner has become president of Spectrum Aviation Management, of Austin, Texas, a specialist in aeromedical design and interior helicopter-completion services. In the industry for 20 years, Tanner spent five years as helicopter marketing manager of Austin Jet Helicopters. Source: Flight International
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Slow progress
Progress towards achieving a US/Russian bilateral airworthiness agreement remains slow. Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE USA AND RUSSIA will break no speed records in their marathon efforts to complete a bilateral airworthiness agreement, say US aviation officials involved in the negotiations. While some progress is reported ...
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United trials ERS
For One-Step FANS UNITED AIRLINES has begun a six-month evaluation of a computer-based electronic-resource system (ERS), developed by Minnesota-based Computing Devices International, on 5 June. The ERS, fitted to a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, is "basically the pilot's interface to the FANS [Future Air Navigation System]," says ...
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GE confident of fan blade answer
Graham Warwick/PARIS GENERAL ELECTRIC Aircraft Engines has developed a solution to the fan-blade failure which has grounded GE90-powered Boeing 777 flight-test aircraft (Flight International, 14-20 June, P4). GE has until mid-July to restage the 3.6kg birdstrike test successfully, if Boeing is to deliver the first GE90-powered 777 ...
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Eurocopter's new EC120 under test
Andrzej Jeziorski/PARIS Franco-German helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter has successfully completed the first flight of the EC 120 light helicopter. A 20min flight was performed on 9 June from Eurocopter's Marignane site in France, with test pilot Etienne Herrenschmidt and engineer Bernard Cortain at the controls. The EC120 ...
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Airbus picks expansion priorities
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE has identified three priorities for the expansion of its A330/A340 range by the end of the century. The European consortium says that the move will give it the "best possible position" in the medium- and long-range markets within five years. The 14,800km (8,000nm)-range A340-8000 will ...
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Europe launches GPS plan
THE EUROPEAN Commission (EC), European Space Agency (ESA) and Eurocontrol have launched a five-year European Satellite Navigation Action Programme, with an initial budget of about $200 million. Europe wants to take ultimate control of satellite navigation services within its own airspace and not rely on military-based US global-positioning-system ...
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SITA close to US airline deal
TELECOMMUNICATIONS network giant SITA is on the verge of concluding its first satellite-based communications agreement with a US airline. The contract, with a "major US carrier" will, says assistant vice-president, marketing, Rene Azoulai, "...give us the entry point we needed in this very competitive market". SITA has also ...
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Honeywell co-operates with Trimble for GPS retrofit market
HONEYWELL HAS teamed with Trimble Navigation to develop and market global-positioning-system (GPS) products for the air-transport retrofit market. The agreement, signed on the eve of the Paris air show, does not affect Honeywell's alliance with Canadian Marconi, which supplies the sensor for the US manufacturer's new-airliner GPS products. ...
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MDC chief attacks civil doubters
McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) chief executive Harry Stonecipher has moved to quash speculation over the group's commitment to the airliner market, admitting that the doubts have been "hurting" sales prospects. In a blustering performance at the Paris air show, he claimed that, if MDC were not already in the ...