FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1999
1999 - 1889.PDF
Mm TRANSPORT MARKETPLACE ++ Northwest Airlines has agreed to firm up 30 Airbus A320 family options, including 18 A319s and 12 A320s, for delivery be tween January 2002 and 2004. The deal for the CFM International CFM56-powered aircraft takes the airline's A320 family orders to 150 aircraft, of which 70 have been delivered. ++ Air Transat has leased a Rolls-Royce Trent 700- powered Airbus A330-300 from International Lease Finance (ILFC), for delivery in October. ++ British Airways has sold and leased back a new R-R RB211-pow- ered Boeing 757-200 to CIT Group. ++ Indigo Aviation has bought its first aircraft directly from the manufacturer - a new Pratt & Whitney PW2000-powered Boeing 757-200 that has been placed on an 18-year operating lease with TWA. Indigo has also bought two Boeing 737-400s from Braa- thens, which are leased to Virgin Express until 2004. ++ SAS Commuter has added two Bom bardier Dash 8 Q400 firm orders, bringing its total to 19. ++ Horizon has increased its Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet 700 options from 15 to 25. ++ AvAero has announced further sales of its Boe ing 737-200 Stage 3 hushkit: to Pegasus Aviation (two firm, for Access Air, and six option); Baha- masair (two); Cayman Airways (two); Southwest Airlines (two); WestJet Airlines (two); First Air (one); International Air Leases (one); and two executive aircraft owners. ++ Garuda has won ap proval for $280 million-worth of financing from the US Ex-lm Bank for 11 Boeing 737-300/500s that the carrier had been leasing for $346 million. The asset-based finance leases involve the Indo nesian finance ministry, which serves as lessee and subleasing the aircraft to Garuda to address any credit risk. ++ Emirates has signed a deal with ILFC to take a Boeing 777-300 on lease next September. ++ British World Air lines has leased two more British Aerospace ATPs from the manufac turer. The ex-British Airways aircraft will be delivered in October. Eight Condor A 320s will be used to test the Rockwell Collins data transfer system Condor and British Airways to plug airliners into cyberspace EMMA KELLY/LONDON CONDOR FLUGDIENST is activating Rockwell Collins' Integrated Information System (P'S) on two Airbus A320s this month as part of a project to test technologies linking an aircraft- based intranet to airline terminal area databases. At the same time, British Airways is equipping the first of two Boeing 747-400s as part of a similar programme. Condor's Aircraft Integrated Network project will involve trans fer of data between the flightdeck and airport terminal when the air craft is on the ground. Applications include maintenance diagnostics, navigation databases, flightplans and weather data via low-power microwave airport gatelink. Gatelink infrastructure is installed at Palma de Mallorca Airport in Spain, and additional installations are planned at Germany's Berlin Schonefeld and Leipzig-Halle airports. Eight Condor A3 20s are to par ticipate. Applications will be phased in over eight months, start ing with crew e-mail, web browser, document library and viewer, lead ing to ARINC 615-3 automatic flight management system dat- aload, quick-access recorder soft ware functionality, technical log book and advanced maintenance ground notification. Meanwhile, British Airways is equipping two aircraft with wire less local area network capability as part of SITA's Gatelink project. One is due to be equipped shordy, while the second will be outfitted by the end of this year, says SITA marketing director Gerard Collin. The trial, which includes Rockwell Collins and Penny & Giles, will involve communica tions between the aircraft and London Heathrow Terminal Four. (LHR T4) SITA is installing access points at LHR T4, which will be connected to its communication network. Initially, two applications will be explored in the BA trial - flight recorder data and in-flight enter tainment data - but the technology has many applications, including updating navigation databases, uploading full passenger profiles, reloading software and flight man uals, says Collin. The trial will allow BA to access information on passenger usage of Rockwell Collins Total Entertainment System, being installed on BA's long haul fleet. Rockwell Collins, Condor and SITAare involved in a Eurocontrol paper project led by the UK's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency studying the feasibility of and interest in wireless aircraft communications at airports. The results are due in January. • African Express takes on international routes KENYAN START-UP Afri can Express Airlines (AEA) has begun to bite into Kenya Airways' domestic market, and has taken its first step into internation al services with a flight to die United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Nairobi-based carrier be gan scheduled operations two months ago, after winning licences to fly Nairobi-Mombasa. AEA has started the first scheduled service fromMombasa to the Middle East, with a weekly flight to the UAE. The service, operated by a Boeing 727-200, routes via Oman'scapital, Muscat, to die UAE city of Shar- jah, next to Dubai. AEAs domestic route between Nairobi and Mombasa, until now the preserve of Kenya Airways, has been regarded as a high-yield oper ation, but AEA broke tradition when it introduced special low fares for Kenyan citizens only. Its fare is $60 one way or $ 12 3 return, compared to Kenya Airways' fares of $100 one way and $195 return. The airline expects to introduce similar special fares to Ugandan and Tanzanian citizens travelling between Nairobi and Mombasa. Kenya Airways admits that AEA "has minimally eaten" into its mar ket, but adds: "AEA fares are just slightly higher than those on the railways, but we doubt if they are sustainable." AEA, which operates a diverse fleet, including Fokker F28s, Boeing 707s and 727s and Yakovlev Yak-40s, has also been licensed to operate to other Kenyan cities, and plans to increase frequencies be tween Nairobi and Mombasa. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 30 June - 6 July 1999
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
