FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0065.PDF
City Bird gets its wings CITY BIRD, BELGIUM'S new international carrier, took deliv ery on 13 December of its first McDonnell Douglas (MDC) MD-11, leased from MDC. The General Electric CF6-80C2- powered aircraft will be operated in a two-class, 371-seat layout on services from Brussels to various US points, including Miami, New York and San Francisco. The airline was formed by Victor Hasson, who is president of the Belgian hotel chain City Hotels and was founder of EuroBelgian Airlines, which is now con trolled by Virgin and trades as Virgin Express. DASA/DLR move towards ENSS DAIMLER-BENZ Aerospace (DASA) and the German Aerospace Research Establish ment (DLR) are embarking on a programme to develop key compo nents of a future European Navi gation Satellite System (ENSS). The ENSS has now been adopt ed as one of DASAs lead research projects. Over die next two to three years, the partners are planning to invest DM60 million ($40 million) in the development of systems, including a simulator to test the interaction between satellites, ground stations and users, an inter ference-resistant antenna and a navigation computer. The German company's work- share will be carried out by its Dor- nier Satellite Systems subsidiary. DASA says that the ENSS will cost DM2.1 billion to develop, and will consist of a network of 12 satel lites which will be able to give posi tion information accurate to within 5m. The programme will yield a European satellite-navigation sys tem independent of the military- controlled US and Russian systems, and will have applications in aviation and surface navigation. The partners say that the appeal of the US global-positioning sys tem and its Russian GLONASS counterpart is limited by availabil ity and by the fact that the accuracy of the navigation signals is artifi cially reduced for civil users. The ENSS system will be compatible with both networks. DASA estimates that the annual operational cost of the system will be DM200 million, which could be covered by a 3-5% surcharge on equipment and/or user charges. DASA president Manfred Bischoff expects a substantial global market for satellite-navigation equipment in the coming decade. Bischoff and DLR chairman Walter Kroll insist that the ENSS must be produced as a European joint project. • JJ,£*.< m ilMii MJr f
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
