All aerospace news – Page 1781
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Aerospatiale Matra tanker deal sparks Raytheon exclusivity row
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Aerospatiale Matra's partnership with Lockheed Martin on an air-to-air refuelling aircraft based on an Airbus Industrie aircraft violates an exclusive agreement between Raytheon and Airbus to develop and market a militarised Airbus A310-300, Raytheon officials claim. In April, Raytheon Systems and Airbus teamed on the ...
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Holding on
Mexico's aviation industry is battling regulations as well as competitors Roberto Mena/MEXICO CITY Despite significant advances in the past four years, Mexico's commercial aviation industry is struggling. Not only does it face intense competition from the onslaught of international carriers following deregulation, but government regulators seem determined to crush it. ...
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Exclusion zone
The unusual became the unprecedented last week when Boeing, having launched its original 777 programme giving airlines the choice of three competing engines, decided it would revert to a single exclusive supplier for a new variant of the aircraft, to the exclusion of the two rival powerplant manufacturers. This is ...
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Workshop
Air France Industries has concluded a seven-year agreement with Airtours International for the provision of full component repair and exchanges services to support the Airbus Industrie A320 and A321 fleet of aircraft operating within the Airtours Group. The fleet comprises 24 aircraft flying throughout Europe, North America and Canada. This ...
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African Star licence continues, despite troubles
Hilka Birns/JOHANNESBURG South Africa's Department of Transport (DoT) is continuing to process the licence application of African Star, despite the start-up's chief executive facing charges of contravening the country's Customs & Excise Act. Investigators refuse to comment on the case, but sources say that the diversion of duty-free ...
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Mergers
Aviation Sales is to buy Kitty Hawk's airframe and JT8D engine maintenance operations in Oscoda, Michigan. The $21.5 million deal includes a three-year agreement for airframe and engine maintenance on the airline's 34 Boeing 727s. The FHL Division of Claverham in the UK has formed a joint venture with Italy's ...
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Austrian checks on alliance options after Franco-US deal
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Austrian Airlines may ditch its Qualiflyer alliance partners in favour of a rival grouping - partly due to the recent Air France-Delta Air Lines tie-up and partly as a knock-on effect of an Austrian Government block on plans by Qualiflyer leader SAirGroup to increase its share in the ...
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Sound solutions
BFGoodrich's campaign to quieten Boeing 727s is making rapid progress Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Spending serious money to extend the life of an airliner is tough, but spending more to re-engine it is harder. Despite the apparent economic headwind, BFGoodrich's Super 27 Boeing 727 re-engining programme is rapidly gaining momentum and ...
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Proton failure puts question mark over ISS Zvezda launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON The failure of a domestic Russian launch of a four-stage Proton booster on 5 July has grounded International Launch Services (ILS) and casts doubts on a punctual launch of the International Space Station (ISS) Zvezda service module in November. The US-Russian ILS Atlas fleet is already ...
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Arianespace signs Ellipso deal
Julian Moxon/PARIS Arianespace has signed a unique partnership agreement with satellite telecommunications provider Ellipso, which involves the launch of a constellation of 20 satellites aboard the Ariane 5 and an investment in the system by the launch company. The memorandum of agreement, which covers four launches from early 2002, ...
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Rosetta goes on as NASA retires
The European Space Agency (ESA) has completed the final design of its Rosetta orbiter and is preparing the spacecraft for a comet landing in 2012. NASA recently cancelled its Champollion comet lander project because of budget cuts. Europe "has seized the opportunity the USA always misses", said ESA director ...
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SpaceDev and Lockheed Martin probe low-cost services scheme
SpaceDev and Lockheed Martin have joined forces to investigate the development and marketing of low-cost access to orbit for small payloads. The delivery service will be based on the Lockheed Athena booster and SpaceDev's standardised MiniSIL spacecraft buses. Two SpaceDev craft would fly on the Athena, carrying science and ...
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Starsem gathers new contracts
Globalstar has awarded a contract to Starsem to carry four more satellites on a Soyuz launch in 2001. This follows three launches of four Globalstars each this year. Another three previously contracted Globalstar launches are due later this year. The Aerospatiale-Matra/Arianespace/Samara/Russian SpaceAgency owned Starsem also has contracts for two ...
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Hinduja 727 freighter accident leaves no clues
There are no clear causes for the 7 July crash of a Boeing 727-200Adv freighter that hit hilly terrain 5min after take-off from Kathmandhu, Nepal. The weather was good when the Hinduja Cargo Services aircraft departed at 19:46 local time, bound for New Delhi, India. There was no emergency call ...
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Rural helicopter
Illinois, USA-based farm supplies chain Rural King has taken delivery of its first Eurocopter AS350BA AStar helicopter, to be used to transport company executives across its network of 17 shops. American Eurocopter has also signed a service contract with German company KID-Systeme for the supply and maintenance of cabin systems. ...
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Airsat deliveries
AlliedSignal has begun initial shipments of the new Airsat 1 satellite communication avionics for use with the Iridium satellite system. The single-channel Airsat 1 will provide voice communication services on corporate and general aviation aircraft. The system costs $29,500, with telephone calls priced from $3.50/min within the same country to ...
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Indian order
Hindustan Aeronautics has ordered two Schweizer 330 light helicopters for its new helicopter training school. The Indian manufacturer and distributor plans to assemble Schweizer machines at Bangalore. Source: Flight International
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AOL investment
American Online (AOL) is to invest $1.5 billion in Hughes Electronics for high speed broadband entertainment and Internet services by satellite, with a view to playing a major role in the proposed Hughes Spaceway satellite system to provide broadband multimedia applications. Source: Flight International
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Travel agents revolt
The uprising by travel agents was prompted last year when Cintra reduced their commission from 10% to 7% on domestic ticketing. At the heart of the reaction to the move, which put commission rates at international levels, is a deeply rooted resistance and inability of many Mexican business sectors to ...
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SITA members say yes to IT separation
SITA members have approved plans to form its information technology businesses into a separate company, raising the prospect of substantial windfalls for airlines when the new entity goes on the stock market. The move has been prompted partly by SITA's success in creating Equant, which provides data services to ...