All air transport news – Page 2685
-
News
Precise positioning
Boeing plans to evaluate GPS-based landing systems in parallel with the FAA. Graham Warwick/ATLANTA Boeing is leading an industry programme to validate use of the global-positioning system (GPS) for Category III automatic landings. While the US Federal Aviation Administration intends to demonstrate Cat III GPS, Boeing's ...
-
News
BA profits soar but its alliances falter
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON BRITISH AIRWAYS HAS once more cruised to a record set of results, helped by a mix of premium-passenger growth and cost-cutting. The performance was marred only by continuing problems at alliance partners TAT and USAir. Group pre-tax profits were at a new high of ...
-
News
Aerospatiale struggles with break-even target
Julian Moxon/PARIS CUT-THROAT competition from the USA and the slide in the value of the dollar mean that Aerospatiale will be hard-pressed to reach its target of break-even in 1995, says president Louis Gallois. The state-owned French manufacturer has been struggling to reduce its debt burden, ...
-
News
When an inspection calls
Operators are seeking better, less expensive ways to evaluate ageing airframe condition Graham Warwick/ATLANTA While cost-conscious carriers are keeping aircraft in service longer, they want to minimise the maintenance burden of ageing airliners. New inspection techniques provide one answer. The goal of NASA's Airframe ...
-
News
Airbus partners disagree over future development strategy
Julian Moxon/PARIS Major differences of opinion are emerging between French manufacturer Aerospatiale and its principal partner in the Airbus Industrie consortium, Daimler Benz Aerospace (DASA), over future aircraft development strategy. Aerospatiale is seeking German support for investment in a supersonic transport, for which it believes there ...
-
News
Team launches DC-10 upgrade
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) has teamed with Alenia subsidiary Aeronavali to launch a DC-10 product-improvement programme ranging in scope from a completely new, two-crew, digital flightdeck to a full conversion from passenger to freighter. The plan is aimed mainly at the expected growth in ...
-
News
Boeing to cut more jobs than expected
Boeing expects to cut as many as 12,000 jobs this year - some 5,000 more than the company had anticipated. Updated 1995 employment forecasts revealed by Boeing show that more than half of the reductions will come from employees taking advantage of its one-time special retirement-incentive programme announced ...
-
News
Ukraine wins first launch contract
Tim Furniss/LONDON NPO YUZHNOYE OF Ukraine has been awarded a contract from Space Systems/ Loral to launch 36 Globalstar telecommunications satellites into low-Earth orbit aboard three Zenit 2 boosters. The launches will be from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, in 1998. The contract is the first dedicated commercial-launch deal ...
-
News
Star performer
New Brazilian regional-airline Interbrasil STAR has begun operations with the first of three Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia Quick Change passenger/cargo aircraft ordered in 1994, for $22 million. Brasilia-based Interbrasil's main shareholder is Brazilian airline Transbrasil. Source: Flight International
-
News
A330 for Dragonair
Dragonair has taken delivery of its first Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered Airbus Industrie A330, leased from International Lease Finance (ILFC). The Hong Kong carrier is scheduled to receive a second A330, purchased from sister carrier Cathay Pacific Airways, in July, and an additional ILFC-owned aircraft in September. The aircraft will be ...
-
News
India tests engine
India's Hindustan Aeronautics has test flown an indigenously designed engine for the Lakshya unmanned air vehicle. It is uncertain whether the engine is a turbofan or turbojet. The first flight test of the engine took place on 18 May. Source: Flight International
-
News
MDC considers Delta 3 engine options
McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) IS CONSIDERING using the Pratt & Whitney RL-10 cryogenic engine for the second stage of its new Delta 3, due to be introduced on to the launcher market in 1998. The launcher will have a similar engine to the one used on the Delta 2, but will ...
-
News
FAA applies to join Boeing GPS trials
Boeing says that the US Federal Aviation Administration is negotiating to join the manufacturer's global-positioning-system (GPS) landing-system evaluation programme, scheduled to start in June with delivery of four rival systems for installation on NASA's Boeing 757. The Boeing programme would follow the FAA's GPS automatic-landing technology demonstration, conducted ...
-
News
Pakistan's F-16s offered to Taiwan and Philippines
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA LOCKHEED F-16s built for Pakistan would be supplied to the Philippines and Taiwan under a compromise proposed by the US senator responsible for the legislation which has blocked delivery of the 28 aircraft. Pakistan has demanded delivery of the F-16s or return of the ...
-
News
Comanche continues reversal of fortune
Ramon Lopez/STRATFORD THE FIRST RAH-66 Comanche helicopter was rolled out on 25 May, marking a significant milestone for the US Army's next-generation armed reconnaissance helicopter. After facing cancellation only months ago, project officials now believe that support is building for the programme to sustain it through ...
-
News
GE90 surge cured
A SCHEDULING problem in the low-pressure stator system of the GE90 was responsible for the single-pulse engine stall which hit the GE90 during tests on 4 May at Boeing Field in Washington, says General Electric. The engine self-recovered after the event, which occurred during stall-margin tests with the ...
-
News
P&W releases PW150 turboprop details
Pratt & Whitney Canada is talking to potential partners about joining it in development of the PW150 turboprop, selected to power the Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8-400. The 4,500-5,600kW (6,000-7,000shp) PW100 derivative includes an axial low-pressure compressor, new core materials and high-power/low-speed gearbox. P&WC says that it is talking to ...
-
News
Thailand puts pressure on USA for F-15
Thailand has stepped up pressure on the US Government to release the McDonnell Douglas (MDC) F-15 and Hughes AIM-120 AMRAAM active-radar air-to-air missile for sale in South-East Asia, following Vietnam's purchase of up to 20 Sukhoi Su-27 fighters. The Thai air force is due to select a new ...
-
News
Bandeirante in UK accident
AN EMBRAER EMB-110B Bandeirante belonging to UK regional carrier Knight Air crashed "shortly after take-off" from Leeds/Bradford Airport, UK at about 17:50 local time on 24 May, killing all three crew and nine passengers. The aircraft was on a scheduled flight to Aberdeen, Scotland. The pilot called the ...
-
News
China's aircraft-buying ban crumbles in face of demand
China's ten-month-old ban on commercial-aircraft purchases is showing signs of being relaxed, as small provincial carriers have had several new orders and leases approved. The clearest indication of the moratorium being eased was the $120 million order by China Aircraft Supplies (CASC) for three new Boeing 737-300s to ...