All air transport news – Page 2276
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Serving Africa
For East African airlines it is cheaper to send for spares from Europe than keep them in stock Michael Wakabi/KAMPALA What Links Europe to a small scheduled operator in East Africa? A lot, according to Dick Turinawe, Uganda Airlines' general manager. Fleet size and configuration, capital constraints, frequencies and ...
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KAI merger advances with delays
The three South Korean manufacturers planning to form Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) are to move ahead with their merger despite the lack of a creditor-approved business plan. Samsung Aerospace, Daewoo Heavy Industries and Hyundai Space & Aircraft signed a heads of agreement to proceed with their planned merger on ...
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USAF plans F-16 improvements
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC The US Air Force is drawing up plans for a Falcon Star structural enhancement package to sustain the operational life of the large numbers of early Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter versions in its fleet and overseas. Falcon Star is intended as a follow-on to the ...
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Japan's anti-tank OH-1 study heralds further delay to AH-X
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE The Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) is studying the use of the OH-1 airframe as a basis for its AH-X future attack helicopter programme, the schedule for which has slipped again. According to Japanese defence sources, the OH-1 could be modified to become a replacement for ...
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Materiel gains
Airbus Industrie Materiel Support has overhauled its image and is embracing the Internet to boost customer service Andrew Doyle/HAMBURG Airbus Industrie Materiel Support plays a key role in European consortium Airbus' growing sales success. As vice-president Peter Kloepfer puts it, the division is "never a deal maker, but we ...
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NZ signs unlimited deal
New Zealand has signed liberal air services agreements with Belgium and Ireland. The former provides for an unlimited capacity and no restrictions on routes offered between the two countries and unrestricted codeshare rights. The Ireland agreement offers the same opportunities but also gives airlines from each side cabotage rights. ...
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Gearing up for the millennium
At the eye of the hurricane it is very calm - at the edges there is a lot of wind. So says KLM, predicting that New Year's day 2000 is likely to be calmer than the frenetic build-up may suggest. There is optimism elsewhere that aviation will indeed be ready ...
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SAA will keep Qualiflyer options open
Roger Makings JOHANNESBURG Although South African Airways (SAA) has chosen Swissair as its strategic equity partner, the airline says it is in no rush to join the European Qualiflyer alliance or any other grouping. SAA chief executive Coleman Andrews says the airline will keep its options open for as long ...
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JetBlue takes on Big Apple
Carol Shifrin NEW YORK The largest metropolis of the USA - New York City - is about to gain its first low-fare, home-town airline in more than a dozen years. JetBlue Airways, the best-financed of any start-up since US airline deregulation, plans an early 2000 launch from New York's underused ...
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Start-ups move in after AeroPeru rescue deal fails
Continental Airlines' decision not to invest in AeroPeru is being viewed as the death knell for the Peruvian flag carrier. The likely winners will be two start-ups - each with foreign ties - together with AeroContinente, Peru's other international carrier. AeroPeru has been grounded since March and its ...
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Copa reveals new image
Brian Homewood RIO DE JANEIRO Copa Airlines of Panama has unveiled a new company image, the result of an alliance with Continental Airlines. The new look is shown on a Boeing 737-700, one of 12 scheduled for delivery over the next few years to replace existing aircraft. Copa Airlines ...
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Airlines check out from Galileo ties
Jane Levere NEW YORK Ties between Galileo and its major airline owners have unravelled further, as four carriers have reduced or entirely eliminated their ownership in the global distribution system (GDS). United Airlines, its largest shareholder, began a search for a new vendor to act as its host and potentially ...
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SIA inspires Airbus wrath with A340 sale to Boeing
Singapore Airlines (SIA) sparked a storm of controversy in late June with the surprise announcement that it was not only firming up options on 10 Boeing 777-200IGWs, but trading in its Airbus widebody fleet to do so. While the 777 order was straightforward enough, SIA revealed that Boeing had ...
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Cool head in a hot seat
The glass must always look half full to Fernando Pinto. The first thing that Varig's president and chief executive officer wants to point out is that his airline is in a better position today than it was three years ago. It would be easy to overlook this piece of ...
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Virgin truce puts Irish operation on hold
Simon Montlake ATI LONDON Virgin boss Richard Branson has brokered a truce between disgruntled pilots and managers at Virgin Express, the Brussels-based low-cost carrier. But the agreement, signed by Branson and staff representatives, has only put off the day of reckoning for Virgin Express Ireland, the new subsidiary at ...
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Arkia move sparks Arab backlash
Peter Bennett VIENNA Israeli group Arkia says it will invest up to $100 million in loss-making flag carrier Balkan Bulgarian after it won the rights to buy a majority stake. But problems with some of Balkan's Arab routes have set in, with some countries objecting to dealing with an Israeli-owned ...
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Qualiflying seamless service
With its new joint sales initiatives, the Qualiflyer grouping could be stealing a march in the alliance stakes. The promise of seamless customer service from the global alliances may seem a little distant, but progress appears to be under way. At the forefront has been a series of announcements from ...
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Playing it safe at KAL
Nicholas Ionides SEOUL A big management shake-up at Korean Air has produced a new president and chief executive, Shim Yi-taek. His main task is to improve KAL's safety. Each day at noon, thousands of Korean Air (KAL) employees working at the carrier's Kimpo Airport headquarters building in Seoul make ...
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50 years ago...
As Airbus fine tunes its A3XX design, the world celebrates a half century of jet travel On Wednesday 27 July, 1949, the world's first jet airliner, the de Havilland (DH) 106 Comet, made its first flight from Hatfield airfield, just north of London. That historic half an hour trip marked ...
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Back to the future
Capacity is driving Airbus' future large airliner plans but cost will decide how and where it will be built Julian Moxon/TOULOUSEAirbus will know only after a six-month commercial marketing campaign that begins in January whether it has predicted correctly the demand for its A3XX. If enough airlines, with enough geographical ...