All air transport news – Page 2498

  • News

    Maintenance DirectoryPart 2, Africa, Asia and Australasia

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    The growing importance of the Asia-Pacific market for aviation is attracting considerable investment in the region's airframe and engine repair and overhaul capabilities. With large numbers of new Airbus and Boeing aircraft entering service with Asia's carriers, local-airline engineering divisions and third-party maintenance companies are wanting to cash in on ...

  • News

    Grizzly delivery

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    Kaman has delivered a K-MAX external-lift helicopter to Grizzly Mountain Aviation, of Prineville, Oregon. The company has now sold 13 of the intermeshing-rotor helicopters, and two are on lease to operators. Grizzly Mountain will use the single-seat, single-engined aircraft for logging operations. An aircraft was also recently handed over to ...

  • News

    Boeing accelerates 747 growth project again

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    Boeing is stepping up work on its revamped 747-400IGW (increased gross weight) and IGW Stretch plan, and is pushing Rolls-Royce and the General Electric /Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance to firm up plans for new 289kN (65,000lb)-thrust engines to make the proposed aircraft more attractive to airlines. "You'll ...

  • News

    Kai Tak engine strike

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    A Nippon Cargo Airlines Boeing 747-200 was damaged when its No 1 engine hit the ground during a 17 May attempted landing at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport. After the captain had elected to go-around, the aircraft returned for a safe landing 17min later, according to Kai Tak air traffic ...

  • News

    EC threatens to ban Boeing/MDC imports

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    The European Commission (EC)has told Boeing that its proposed merger with McDonnell Douglas (MDC) will lead to the resulting company holding a "dominant" position in global markets, and has threatened to ban imports of Boeing/MDC aircraft to European Union markets if its objections are not satisfied. A letter ...

  • News

    UK industry makes funds appeal to new Labour Government

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    UK INDUSTRY representatives have made a fresh appeal to the UK Government for direct aerospace-research funding, following the Labour Party's general election victory on 1 May. Similar approaches to the previous Conservative Administration had been repeatedly rejected. Mike Turner, president of the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC), ...

  • News

    Delta opts for fire-protection

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    Delta Air Lines has decided to fit its entire narrowbody fleet with cargo-bay fire-protection systems well ahead of an expected US Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive. Walter Kidde Aerospace, a division of Kidde Technologies, is Delta's chosen supplier of cargo-hold smoke-detectors which, together with Kidde's central cargo electronic-monitoring unit and ...

  • News

    BFGoodrich plans to expand Skywatch

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    BFGOODRICH PLANS to begin shipping its Skywatch traffic-advisory system in June, following USFederal Aviation Administration approval of the system. The company says that it has taken 65 orders since launching the Skywatch, which is aimed at the general-aviation market, at the beginning of April. Flight International was given ...

  • News

    Minister warns industry on need to restructure

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    Russia's aerospace industry must regroup around as few as two Western-style integrated companies which will have to survive without state support, warns Andrew Svinarenko, the country's first deputy minister of economics, who has now taken over responsibility for restructuring the country's aviation sector. "We need to have integrated ...

  • News

    ARIA claims selecting Western aircraft was 'mistake'

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines (ARIA) made a "mistake" in attempting to base its fleet around Western-built aircraft, says Valery Okulov, the airline's general director. "In the past, we thought we could work on the basis of Western aircraft, but we now know that was a mistake. We cannot base ...

  • News

    Air Ukraine closes on Western fleet

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    Air Ukraine expects to introduce the first of at least five Western-built airliners later this year as it seeks to replace its fleet of ageing Soviet-built aircraft. According to Sergey Goncharenko, corporate secretary of the Kiev-based airline, contracts are expected to be concluded soon with Airbus Industrie and ...

  • News

    FAA warns on joint Russian certification

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration has warned that progress towards a US-Russian bilateral on aircraft certification has been halted by confusion over which bodies will be responsible for airworthiness under the new Russian Air Code, and continuing problems with quality control at production plants. "The FAA has been ...

  • News

    Ilyushin Il-96T flies for first time

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    The Ilyushin Il-96T freighter had its maiden flight on 16 May at the VASO Voronezh production plant. The aircraft, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW2337 engines and equipped with Rockwell-Collins avionics, was flown for 21min. It has now been ferried to the Zhukovsky flight-test centre where it will be flight-tested ...

  • News

    Airbus will limit A3XX engine choice

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    Airbus Industrie says that it will give airlines a choice of two engines only for the 550- to 650-seat A3XX. Three are now being offered: the Rolls-Royce Trent 900, a Pratt &Whitney PW4000 derivative, and a new engine from General Electric Pratt &Whitney Engine Alliance. "We are evaluating ...

  • News

    ANZ drops Rolls for GE on next 747-400

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    AIR NEW ZEALAND (ANZ) has switched its allegiance from Rolls-Royce to General Electric for its next Boeing 747-400, due for delivery in 1998. The flag carrier opted for GE's CF6-80C2 over R-R's proposed RB.211-524G/H-T improved turbofan. The decision is a setback for the UK manufacturer's effort to sell ...

  • News

    British Midland plans a foray into third-party maintenance market

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    British Midland is planning a major expansion into the third-party maintenance market, with the formation of British Midland Engineering, a new subsidiary company based at East Midlands Airport in the UK. The airline is also setting up a separate ground-handling company to expand its services in this area. ...

  • News

    Boeing increases rates - again

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    BOEING IS TO raise production to 43 airliners a month by mid-1998 - the sixth rate increase announced over the past 14 months - citing its 1,389-aircraft firm-order backlog and the signing of long-term exclusive agreements with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Continental Airlines reportedly has agreed an exclusive ...

  • News

    FAA grounds Great Lakes Aviation

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    GREAT LAKES Aviation suspended flights on 16 May in the face of a US Federal Aviation Administration-imposed shutdown because of alleged deficiencies with maintenance operations. The action forced codeshare partners United Airlines and Midway Airlines to accommodate stranded passengers. Great Lakes served 82 cities in 21 US states ...

  • News

    Fokker to expand services in maintenance markets

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    Fokker Services plans to expand its activities beyond providing spares and technical support for Fokker turboprops and jet-powered aircraft, to include maintenance and modifications of other civil and military aircraft. As part of the Dutch company's planned diversification, it has acquired a two-bay service centre at Singapore's Seletar ...

  • News

    US Federal Aviation Administration demands EMB-120 ice-detection

    1997-05-28T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration has proposed an airworthiness directive (AD) calling for the installation of ice-detection systems on the Embraer EMB-120 regional turboprop. The AD follows the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report into the crash of a Comair EMB-120RT in Michigan on 9 January, which ...