All aerospace news – Page 1736
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News
Mergers
Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications expects to complete its merger with Comsat early in the third quarter, after the US Congress approved satellite communications reform legislation that clears the way for the privatisation of the Intelsat and Inmarsat satellite networks. The legislation allows US customers to bypass Comsat, which controls access ...
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FANS-A datalink tested on A340-300
Airbus Industrie's A340-300 testbed has demonstrated datalink communications between pilot and air traffic controllers as part of round-the-world trials of Airbus' FANS-A (future air navigation system) avionics (Flight International, 8-14 September, 1999). The aircraft features an air traffic services unit manufactured by Aerospatiale Matra Aerospace Airbus, Smiths Industries' digital ...
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Aeronavali looks beyond MDC and targets 767s and ATRs for conversion
Andy Nativi/GENOA Aeronavali is expanding its freighter conversion business beyond the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) DC-10, with plans to add the Boeing 767 widebody and ATR turboprop to its portfolio. The company, a division of Italian aerospace giant Alenia Aerospazio/Finmeccanica, had long-term links with MDC and holds exclusive original equipment ...
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Rockwell venture makes News
Emma Kelly/LONDON Rockwell Collins has formed a joint venture with media giant News Corporation in the latest stage of the avionics manufacturer's continuing move towards providing equipment and services for the passenger cabin. The partners' In Flight Network (IFN) joint venture is designed to provide airline passengers with the latest ...
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People
John Ferrie is to head Smiths Industries Aerospace, succeeding Norman Barber who is retiring. Ferrie joins the UK company as executive director on 10 April and takes over aerospace responsibilities from 31 July. He was previously executive vice-president (VP) business operations for Rolls-Royce. Newly formed Lockheed Martin Aeronautics has completed ...
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Russian airline passenger numbers continue to slip
Russia's 323 airlines carried 21.46 million passengers last year, says the Federal Service of Air Transport - a 3.9% drop compared with the previous year, and the tenth successive fall since 1990's high of 90.7 million passengers (for Russia alone). Passenger load factors rose by an average 3.5 points, ...
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Frequency protection
An industry-wide group comprising airlines, airports, pilots, air traffic controllers and regulatory bodies has formed a coalition and finalised an industry position designed to protect aviation's essential radio frequencies, in preparation for the International Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference in May. Meeting in London on 9-10 March, industry associations, including ...
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In the dark
Kawasaki is puzzled by Eurocopter's reluctance to promote the BK117/EC145 Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) plans to lift the veil on its BK117C-2/EC145 helicopter programme, developed jointly with Eurocopter, at Tokyo Aerospace 2000 (TA2000). It faces an unusual problem, however, in its Franco-German partner's reluctance to ...
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Aiming high
Hopes for the future of Japan's troubled space programme rest with a simplified and cut-price version of its H-2 launcher Andrzej Jeziorski/TOKYO The 20th century closed on a low point for Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA). Two failures of its expensive H-2 expendable launch vehicle not only ...
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Enaer targets South America for Eaglet
Enaer is trying to interest South American government agencies in Argentina, Chile and Columbia in its new two-seat side-by-side Eaglet light utility aircraft. The Mexican police had shown interest in the composite aircraft for observation work. The company delivered the first new prototype airframe to its Dutch joint venture ...
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Ayling bails out as British Airways slump takes its toll
Emma Kelly/LONDON British Airways chairman Lord Marshall took over the running of the airline on 10 March with the resignation of chief executive Bob Ayling. Marshall will take on the role of chief executive while a successor is sought. Ayling leaves BA after four years as chief executive and ...
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American expands DVD programme
American Airlines has extended the use of personal digital versatile/video disk (DVD) players on its flights and will introduce the new in-flight entertainment (IFE) technology to additional services in July. American became the first carrier to offer passengers individual DVD players on regular scheduled services last September (Flight International, 22-28 ...
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JAL to entertain with Total system
Japan Airlines (JAL) has put into passenger service its first Boeing 747-400 equipped with the Rockwell Collins Total Entertainment System (TES). It will have to wait until the third quarter of the year to activate audio-and video-on-demand (A/VOD) services, however. The aircraft, which has the TES fitted to every ...
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Television to go live on JetBlue
JetBlue Airways will launch Sextant In-Flight Systems/Harris' LiveTV service on its first two Airbus A320s this month. The New York Kennedy-based airline will be the first carrier to introduce the joint venture's live broadcast satellite service and the first to offer live broadcast television service across its fleet. The ...
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Bluetooth potential
Bluetooth wireless technology has been identified as having potential applications for in-flight entertainment. Bluetooth comprises a small transceiver allowing two-way communications between similarly equipped devices within a 10m (33ft) range. IFE applications could include wireless headsets, handsets and telephone devices, with possibilities including linking a passenger's notebook computer to a ...
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SAS closes on interactive IFE
Emma Kelly/LONDON Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) is to decide before the end of this month on the interactive in-flight entertainment (IFE) system for its new Airbus A330-300s and A340-300s. IFE manager Hermine Wachmeister says SAS has completed its evaluations of the final two candidates - Matsushita's new System 3000 ...
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Beal booster progresses with test firing of BA-810 engine
Tim Furniss/LONDON Beal Aerospace has conducted a test firing of its 810,000lb-thrust (3,605kN), hydrogen-peroxide JET-A kerosene BA-810 engine at McGregor, Texas, as part of the development programme for its BA-2 heavy-lift launch vehicle. The three-stage BA-810-powered BA-2 is due to fly in 2002. Beal says the BA-810 is ...
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ESA selects flexi-mission candidates
The European Space Agency's (ESA) science advisers have proposed six new space science missions to be considered for ESA's "flexi-mission" series, due to be launched between 2005 and 2009. The flexi-missions were introduced in 1997 to allow two missions to be funded for the price of one former medium-class ...
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Soyuz TM cosmonauts to bring Mir out of mothballs
Tim Furniss/LONDON The launch of a Soyuz TM spacecraft from Baikonur, with the first cosmonaut crew to man the Mir space station since it was mothballed last year, will take place on 3 April. The pressurised environment on the Mir has been checked automatically and the launch given the ...
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Maintenance purchase
Pratt & Whitney has purchased Braathens ASA's engine maintenance facility at Stavenger, Norway, giving P&W Engine Services its first presence in Europe. Source: Flight International