All air transport news – Page 2616
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EMB-145 'exceeds expectations'
EMBRAER'S EMB-145 regional jet is performing better than predicted, the Brazilian manufacturer says. One prototype and two pre-series aircraft are now in flight-test and a fourth EMB-145, is scheduled to have been flown, by 20 March. Engineering director Luis Affonso says that the performance is exceeding specification because ...
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Air Canada chairman Harris to step down
Hollis Harris, Air Canada's chairman and chief executive, will step down at the airline's next annual meeting on 14 May. His replacement is Lamar Durrett, a former Delta Airlines executive who came to Air Canada with Harris in 1992. Harris stays as executive chairman. Durrett worked at Delta ...
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New technique speeds wing design
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES NORTHROP GRUMMAN is testing a pressurised wing concept using rapid prototyping methods at its B-2 plant in Pico Rivera, California (Flight International, 28 February - 5 March). The "distributed exhaust" or high-tolerance "blowing-wing" design, forces pressurised air bled from the engine through ...
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Northwest takes A320s and defers A330 deliveries
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC NORTHWEST AIRLINES has postponed and may eventually cancel delivery of 16 Airbus A330s in favour of acquiring 20 more A320s and hushkits for its 32 Boeing 727-200s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s. The decision puts in doubt the US carrier's intentions of ever ...
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ARIA prepares to expand Shannon hub
Paul Duffy/SHANNON THE AEROFLOT Russian International Airlines (ARIA) hub, set up at Shannon in the west of Ireland in 1995 to transfer Russian and CIS airline passengers to transatlantic services to the USA, is to be expanded to take in more airlines and routes. Set up ...
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Fokker given two more weeks to secure its survival
THE DUTCH Government has allowed Fokker a two-week stay of execution until 15 March, to give the ailing aircraft manufacturer time to talk with potential rescuers. The decision to extend Fokker's credit for another two weeks followed the announcement by the Bombardier group that it would not be ...
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Nepal looks to modernise fleet
NEPAL'S FLEDGLING airline industry is looking for more modern aircraft, in response to market deregulation, growing competition and new regulations forcing the retirement of older equipment. The number of fixed-wing Nepali carriers has grown to four since deregulation of the country's domestic services in 1992. State-run Royal Nepal ...
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Surplus European F-16s may go to eastern Europe
Douglas Barrie/LONDON Andrzej Jeziorski/WARSAW LOCKHEED MARTIN is examining the use of surplus F-16A/Bs drawn from stocks in Belgium and the Netherlands to offer in fighter competitions in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Belgium has around 32 early-model F-16s, and the Netherlands up to ...
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German missile deal draws close
GERMAN MISSILE manufacturer Bodenseewerk Geratetechnik (BGT) expects to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering the definition phase of the IRIS-T air-to-air missile programme with international partners in April. The infra-red-guided IRIS-T is intended to fulfil Germany's requirement for a new short-range missile to arm its Eurofighter EF2000s ...
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Thai Airways plans fleet shake-up over five years
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE THAI AIRWAYS International is to purchase 21 new jet-powered airliners and dispose of 31 older aircraft, under a five-year fleet-rationalisation plan approved by its directors. The carrier's 1996-2000 long-term plan calls for a reduction from 14 to six baseline aircraft types and a ...
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BAe calls for Airbus restructuring
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON AIRBUS INDUSTRIE must start to rework its consortium structure and finances, before going ahead with the launch of a new A3XX large-aircraft project, says British Aerospace chief executive Dick Evans. There is little prospect of BAe approving a new Airbus programme "...unless there ...
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PS-90A certificated - and criticised
SERIES PRODUCTION, of the Aviadvigatel PS-90A turbofan at Perm Motors, has been approved, by the CIS Aviation Register. The certificate has only been issued for two years, during which time engine-reliability problems will have to be ironed out, says the aviation authority. The engine has come in for ...
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Second Trent 777 returns to Seattle after testing
THE SECOND Rolls-Royce Trent 800-powered Boeing 777 was expected to return to Seattle on 1 March after undergoing 91 route sectors with Cathay Pacific Airways. Boeing is striving to achieve early extended-range twin-operations (ETOPS) clearance for the aircraft. By the end of February, the Trent 777 had undergone ...
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Recorder reveals clue to 757 crash
A FAULTY AIR-SPEED indicator has emerged as a possible factor in the 6 February crash of a Boeing 757-200 in the Caribbean, which claimed 189 lives. Dominican Republic accident investigators, aided by the US National Transportation Safety Board, say that data from the recently retrieved cockpit-voice recorder ...
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MDC/NASA to show X-36 fighter testbed
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) and NASA are to unveil a newly de-classified future fighter research aircraft at the company's St Louis, Missouri headquarters on 19 March. The exact configuration of the X-36, as the sub-scale vehicle is called, is being kept secret until ...
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Desert Dash 8s
Saudi Aramco has ordered three Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8-200s, to support oil exploration and production operations in Saudi Arabia. Deliveries will begin in July, and the aircraft will be convertible to medical-evacuation, cargo, cargo/passenger or passenger configuration. The aircraft will be operated in temperatures of more than 50¡C, and ...
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Lufthansa and United apply for anti-trust immunity in USA
LUFTHANSA AND United Airlines have applied for US anti-trust immunity to expand their strategic alliance. The move came just hours, after a new open-skies bilateral air accord was initialed, by US and German transport officials. Final signature on the bilateral is expected by the third quarter. German transport ...
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Combi Saab 2000 nears certification
SAAB AIRCRAFT is hoping to complete development and certification of a passenger/cargo combi version of its Saab 2000 turboprop by the end of 1996, in an effort to boost flagging sales. The Swedish manufacturer is proposing two different basic combi configurations. The aircraft can be configured typically for ...
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PZL-Swidnik works through SW-4 problems
Andrzej Jeziorski/SWIDNIK POLISH HELICOPTER manufacturer PZL-Swidnik is anticipating a second-quarter debut for its SW-4 light helicopter after rotor and vibration problems delayed the programme by more than a year. The first prototype of the four- to five-seat helicopter was completed at the end of 1994, and ...
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JAL takes keys of first 777
JAPAN AIRLINES WAS HANDED the keys to its first Boeing 777-200 at a ceremony in Seattle on 16 February. The aircraft, which has 389 mainly economy seats, will begin services between Tokyo's domestic hub at Haneda and Kagoshima on 26 April. The airline has ten 777-200s on order and another ...