All aerospace news – Page 1808
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News
Mergers
The UK's Dowty Group has bought GE Aircraft Engines subsidiary Tri-Manufacturing for $58 million. The Indiana-based aero-engine components fabricator will be incorporated into TI Group member Dowty's Turbine Engine Components (D-TEC) business. HeavyLift Cargo Airlines, the world's largest outsized-freight operator, has been acquired in a management buyout which values its ...
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Insurers counting on a rise in premiums by end of year
Chris Jasper/LONDON The aviation insurance industry is becoming convinced that the headlong fall in premiums may be poised to hit bottom or even begin a slow recovery, with the market's massive over-capacity also set to be reduced as part of the same process. Since premiums last hit a peak ...
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Europe and USA start Galileo connection talks
Europe and the USA have started discussions to ensure Europe's Galileo global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is interoperable with the US global positioning system (GPS). In February, the European Commission (EC) announced plans to develop Galileo as an open, global satellite navigation system independent from the GPS. Although the USA ...
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Dnepr prepared for launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON The first commercial launch of the Dnepr, a former SS-18K ballistic missile, will be made from a silo at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan between 21 and 25 April. The launcher is operated by ISC Kosmotras, a consortium of 20 Russian and Ukrainian companies. The 37.3m-high ...
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Shuttle flights faced with further delays
The introduction of the STS101 Hubble emergency repair mission 3A in October and the timing of the launch of the Russian International Space Station (ISS) Service Module in September have led to a shifting of ISS Shuttle flights. Although the STS96 is still scheduled for a May logistics flight ...
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SIA buys into Ansett Australia
Paul Phelan/MELBOURNE Singapore Airlines (SIA) is to share ownership of Melbourne-based domestic carrier Ansett Australia with Air New Zealand after agreeing to buy out the 50% stake in Ansett Holdings held by the News Limited media group. The deal means that the two flag carriers will also hold equal stakes ...
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Workshop
Alsalam Aircraft has signed a deal with Saudi Arabian Airlines to undertake heavy maintenance and overhaul on six of its Boeing 747s. Work will be performed at Alsalam's facility at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh. Alsalam, 25% owned by Saudi Arabian, undertakes a range of civil and military maintenance ...
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Airbus and Messier-Dowty test fix for A330/A340 landing gear
Airbus Industrie and Messier Dowty are testing a fix for the main landing gear of the A340 long-range airliner, which, if successful, will enable the removal of operating restrictions on all A330s and A340s. The work follows the incident involving a Sabena A340 in August in which the right ...
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Claiming a crisis
Tim Furniss/LONDON One more failure and the space insurance business could go into the red Space industry insurers are nervously tallying up their accounts in the wake of 27 loss claims filed for satellite and launch failures last year. The business faces a crisis after meeting more than $1.7 ...
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Good business
Air Namibia plans to make its fortune by cutting costs, increasing income and building partnerships Stewart Penney/WINDHOEKA new managing director at Air Namibia is determined to reverse the carrier's flagging fortunes and prepare it for privatisation by aggressively attacking costs while increasing income and creating a series of alliances. The ...
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On track
NASA has started full-engine, hot-fire testing of the low-cost Fastrac rocket engine at its Marshall spaceflight centre in Huntsville, Alabama, with a 20s full-power test to demonstrate the operation of the complete engine system. Up to 84 engine test firings are planned this year. The 45,000lb-thrust (200kN) Fastrac will be ...
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Meet the family
Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS Sabena of Belgium has begun its transition to an all-Airbus fleet, and is coming to grips with new procedures With the delivery of its first Airbus Industrie A321 on 2 March, Sabena began its conversion to an all-Airbus airline - the biggest re-equipment programme in ...
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Globalstar constellation grows
Four more Globalstar worldwide mobile communications satellites are in orbit following their launch aboard the second Starsem Soyuz-Ikar booster from Baikonur on 15 March. Starsem is a consortium involving Samara of Russia, Arianespace and Aerospatiale of France. The flight followed the first Starsem Soyuz launch on 9 February ...
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Loran-C reprieved as USA sets timetable for move to sole GPS
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC It will take at least 10 years for the USA to complete its transition from ground-based navigation aids to the satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) for "sole means" navigation, according to US aviation officials. Meanwhile, Loran-C, which is operated by the US Coast Guard for en ...
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Bombardier adds more names to Continental as launch nears
Bombardier has named further risk-sharing partners for its Continental business jet programme. Launch of the "super mid-size" Continental is expected by the time of the Paris air show. France's Intertechnique will provide the fuel system, and ECE - a Group Intertechnique company - will supply the electrical system. AlliedSignal ...
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Eaglet approval set back to later this year
Kate Sarsfield/LONDON EURO-ENAER has pushed back certification of its two-seat single-engined Eaglet trainer to the second half of the year. The manufacturer blames delays in the flight testing programme caused by "poor weather" and teething problems with European Joint Aviation Requirement (JAR) 23 certification procedures. "We were planning to certificate ...
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In the news
Brazilian helicopter distributor Lumber do Brazil took delivery of a third Robinson R44 Newscopter in February. The first two of the four-seat helicopters are in service with the country's largest television station, Global TV. According to Torrence, California-based Robinson, the R44 was the top-selling helicopter last year, with 143 deliveries, ...
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Trimble terminates GA avionics production
Trimble is planning to halt general aviation avionics production by May, following the rumoured collapse of a deal to sell its product line. The sale by Trimble of subsidiary Terra, set up four years ago to handle the Terra avionics product line, is also expected to fall through. Sunnyvale, ...
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A340 reduced stability flight tests set to cut A3XX weight
Julian Moxon/PARIS Airbus Industrie is about to begin flight testing a specially equipped A340 to show that the new A3XX can fly with less static and dynamic stability than its current fly-by-wire aircraft. Engineering and product vice-president Robert Lafontan says the consortium is also considering a fly-by-wire flight ...
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Boeing bids for more modification work
Boeing is seeking to take a larger share of the market for modification of its airliners. It is forming a business unit to provide conversion, upgrade and engineering services to airlines and maintenance centres. The new Boeing Airplane Services unit is built around the company's Wichita, Kansas-based 747 passenger-to-freighter conversion ...