All air transport news – Page 2395
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News
Qantas confirms plans for three more 747-400s
Paul Phelan/CAIRNS Qantas has finalised its short term fleet plans, confirming it will acquire three Boeing 747-400s from Asian carriers "in the very near future", and ruling out acquiring any new type in the next three years. Chief executive James Strong says the purchase will be additional to ...
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SIA deal confirmed
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has confirmed its long-expected deal for up to 10 Airbus A340-500s in a $2 billion purchase. The airline selected the Airbus over the Boeing 777-200X to operate direct services between Singapore and the US West Coast. The airline will place firm orders for five aircraft for delivery ...
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Air New Zealand sells 747 Classics to Virgin
Air New Zealand (ANZ) has sold its five Boeing 747-200s to Virgin Atlantic Airways as as part of its fleet modernisation programme. The five 16-17 year old Rolls-Royce RB211-524D4-powered 747s will join Virgin between March 1999 and January 2001. The UK carrier operates six older Pratt & Whitney JT9D-powered ...
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Workshop
-GE Engine Services has signed a 10- year contract, potentially worth as much as $1 billion, with Continental Airlines to overhaul CFM International CFM56 engines powering the carrier's Boeing 737s, and the CF6s which power its Boeing 767s and McDonnell Douglas DC-10s. -Royal Nepal Airlines has awarded Beijing-based Aircraft Maintenance ...
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Lufthansa Cargo returns to profit
Lufthansa Cargo has successfully turned its business around, with the announcement of a DM194 million ($110 million) pre-tax profit for 1997. The company recorded the profit on a turnover of DM3.9 billion for regular business. Including income from the sale of its stake in Luxembourg's Cargolux, the company beat the ...
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Public offering cuts down Forstmann's
Gulfstream Aerospace has announced a $775 million public offering that will reduce investment firm Forstmann Little's remaining stake in the Canadian business aircraft manufacturer to less than 25%. Forstmann, its affiliates and Gulfstream management, hold 43.2% of the company, and will own 25.3% after the stock sale. New ...
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Global Hawk flies second mission
THE Global Hawk reconnaissance unmanned air vehicle has flown for a second time at Edwards AFB, California, performing what the company describes as a "text book" mission lasting 2h 24min. The aircraft reached 41,000ft (12,500m) during the sortie, which also included the successful hand-off of command and control via ...
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Kaman may join fray for South African maritime helicopter
Douglas Barrie/LONDON Julian Moxon/PARIS A South African technical evaluation team has visited US helicopter manufacturer Kaman to be briefed on the SH-2G Super Seasprite maritime helicopter, despite only Eurocopter and GKN Westland having been shortlisted to meet its naval helicopter requirement. The visit in early May was carried ...
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RMAF receives first upgraded Fulcrums
MIG MAPO's joint venture Aerospace Technology Systems (ATSC) service company has completed a Phase III and IV avionics and weapons upgrade of the Royal Malaysian Air Force's (RMAF) first two MAPO MiG-29N Fulcrum fighters. The improvements are focused on upgrading the fighters' weapons control systems, allowing for the integration ...
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Fast and furious
Dave Higdon/KANSAS CITY Breaking out into the sunshine and levelling off the new Mooney Bravo high-performance piston single just above the cloud at 6,000ft (1,830m) brought home graphically the speed we were making. Billowing cloud tops blurred past the windows at more than 200kt (110km/h) as we raced south ...
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Star Alliance adds Australasian net
Air New Zealand (ANZ) and Ansett Australia are to join the Star Alliance in March 1999, adding a comprehensive Australasian presence to its rapidly growing network. ANZ already has various agreements with Star members. It has an alliance with United Airlines, a "strategic partnership" with Air Canada and frequent ...
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Corsair A330 order
Corsair is poised to become a new Airbus customer, with an order for two A330-200s to boost its long haul charter fleet. The French carrier operates an all-Boeing fleet of 737s and 747s on short and long haul charters for its parent company, tour operator Nouvelles Frontiers. The airline has ...
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Embraer studies market for larger regional jet
Graham Warwick/SAO PAULO Embraer will decide within a year whether to develop a larger member of its regional jet family. Speaking at the roll-out of the 37-seat ERJ-135 on 12 May, president Mauricio Botelho said: "We think there is a market, but we are not sure if it is ...
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Fairchild Dornier gives the go-ahead to 428JET project
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Fairchild Dornier is to launch the 42-seat 428JET programme at the Berlin International Air Show (ILA) as the centrepiece of a series of announcements on its regional jet programmes. The company is also expected to reveal a stretch of the 90-seat 928JET and new potential customers for ...
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PW4098 snags may delay 777-300
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Certification of the Pratt & Whitney PW4098-powered Boeing 777-300 is expected to be delayed following the last-minute discovery of problems with the engine during testbed runs at the powerplant maker's East Hartford site in Connecticut. The engine "-was performing very well on the flying testbed", ...
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Scottish ATC centre is delayed to 2004
David Learmount/LONDON A £200 million ($328 million) air traffic control centre planned to be built in Scotland has been delayed by around three years because of a reassessment of the complexity of the task in the wake of serious software problems with the associated Swanwick-based New En Route Centre ...
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Controlling the future
David Learmount/LONDON There was a deafening silence from UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) between 5 April and 13 May. At the beginning of the period, NATS had somewhat nervously announced that it had run the first full "operational" test of the much delayed new en route air traffic ...
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Out of the ashes
Julian Moxon/BEIRUT A visit to downtown Beirut to see at first hand the reconstruction that is now taking place is a powerful way of understanding something of the spirit that lies behind the rebuilding of the Lebanese national carrier, Middle East Airlines. Twenty years of indiscriminate shelling left more than ...
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Martini Ayres
Duijvestijn Aviation has signed a five-year agreement with Martini Airfreight for the lease of two Ayres Loadmasters. The Amsterdam Lelystad Airport-based aircraft sales and leasing company, which has an firm order for five Loadmasters and an option for a further five, is due to take delivery of the first aircraft ...
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R-R inspection
Rolls-Royce has placed an order with Scientific Measurement Systems (SMS) of Austin, Texas for a SmartScan computed tomography scanner. The engine manufacturer will use the scanner for inspecting turbine blades at its Derby, UK base. Source: Flight International