All Airframers news – Page 1432
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News
FAA cracks the whip on US Classic 737 bulkheads
The US Federal Aviation Administration has ordered US operators to inspect 500 of their Classic Boeing 737s for fatigue cracks in aft pressure bulkheads. An airworthiness directive (AD) requires operators of early model 737s to perform either electronic or visual inspections. The emergency order stems from the discovery of ...
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Airbus' Japan sales drive pays off with Mitsubishi contract
Andrzej Jeziorski/TOKYO Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has secured its first airframe components subcontract on an Airbus Industrie programme as the European manufacturer steps up its sales efforts in Japan. The contract, awarded to Mitsubishi via Airbus partner British Aerospace, covers production of an A319/A320 wing root component, the shroud ...
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Delta-ALPA skirmish may start scope clause battle
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Delta Air Lines and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) have locked legal horns over the use of Comair regional jets on the new Boston-Washington DC shuttle in what could be the opening shots of a much wider battle over pilot scope clauses. ALPA is ...
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Air Europe A320s arrive for Alitalia challenge
Marco Messalla/ROME Italy's Air Europe has received the first two of five leased Airbus A320s for its new north-south domestic network in competition with Alitalia. One more A320 will be delivered in time for the 8 May start of scheduled services from Milan's Malpensa Airport to Catania and Palermo, ...
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Korean MD-11 crashed 'out of control'
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE David Learmount/LONDON The crew of the Korean Air (KAL) Boeing MD-11 freighter that crashed in China on 15 April appears to have lost control of the aircraft during climb-out from Shanghai. Evidence suggests a stall after the aircraft reached 4,600ft (1,400m), says a preliminary report from the ...
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US Airways joins the P@ssport providers
Emma Kelly/LONDON Sony Trans Com has secured a third customer for its P@ssport interactive in-flight entertainment system, with US Airways ordering the equipment for an initial seven Airbus A330-300s. The P@ssport order could increase, as the carrier holds options on a further 30 A330s. The first A330, which will ...
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Lufthansa agrees to buy up to 120 Fairchild 728JETs
Andrew Doyle/FRANKFURT Fairchild Aerospace has secured a major breakthrough in its bid to develop the 728JET - Lufthansa's supervisory board has decided to approve the purchase of up to 120 of the regional airliners by its CityLine commuter subsidiary. The German flag carrier has signed a firm order for 60 ...
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Airbus presses on with A3XX as Boeing studies LAPD
Airbus Industrie is stepping up A3XX development work and has reaffirmed its commitment to a launch decision in early 2000. Meanwhile, Boeing continues to play down its Large Aircraft Project Development (LAPD) study efforts in favour of low-cost 747-400X alternatives. "The pace is picking up and Airbus and its ...
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CFMI lobbies Airbus on A318 powerplant
Julian Moxon/PARIS Guy Norris/LOS ANGELESCFM International is in talks with Airbus to try to get its CFM56-5A engine included as a powerplant for the newly launched Airbus Industrie A318. But the European consortium is sticking to its position that it is "offering only the Pratt &Whitney PW6000". Air France, Lufthansa, ...
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EC bows to US pressure on hushkits
The European Commission (EC) has formally approved a ban on the European operation of aircraft fitted with hushkits, but in a last-minute concession to the USA has postponed the regulation's implementation by a year, until 1 May, 2000. As part of the compromise deal thrashed out in the past ...
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Shorter story
Smaller may not always be better, but for Embraer it is a route to further success Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DCIt seems a simple, sensible approach: take a proven airframe, shorten the fuselage to produce a smaller aircraft, leave the rest unchanged, and avoid the time and cost of developing a new ...
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Scope for change
Pressure is mounting for the reform of regional airline pilot scope clauses Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC The simmering debate over regional airline pilot scope clauses is slowly coming to the boil. With most labour agreements due for renewal from next year, pressure is building from a range of sectors - airlines, ...
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Fares fair in Japan
Japanese start-up Skymark Airlines has raised its fares, relaxing a price war which has hit the yields of all three major Japanese airlines on two of Japan's highest-density routes. Skymark's announced 17% increase in its Tokyo-Fukuoka one-way fare was matched by Japan Airlines, with All Nippon Airways and Japan Air ...
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Head start
Lufthansa CityLine's decision to sign on the dotted line for $1.6 billion-worth of Fairchild Aerospace 728JET regional airliners undoubtedly represents a major achievement for a (relatively) small US-German aircraft manufacturer with big ambitions. But it does far less to answer the question of how this overcrowded sector of the market ...
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United joins PETAL II datalink trials
Emma Kelly/LONDON United Airlines has committed its Boeing 777s (above) to Europe's Preliminary Eurocontrol Test of Air/Ground Data Link (PETAL II) programme. PETAL II is Europe's groundbreaking datalink programme aimed at validating air-ground datalinks in an operational air traffic control environment. The three-phase programme involves air traffic controllers and aircraft ...
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Rockwell Collins makes Boeing comeback on 767
Boeing has chosen Rockwell Collins to provide the flightdeck liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for the 767-400ER. This is a significant victory for Collins in its battle to regain Boeing flightdeck display market share from Honeywell. "In a sense it is a comeback for us," says Steve Piller, vice-president Boeing ...
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Routes
LanChile is to offer three nonstop flights a week between Los Angeles, California, and its base at Santiago, Chile, from 3 July, in addition to the daily Los Angeles service via Lima, Peru. It is also adding direct services to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with connections to Cordoba and Mendoza. Swedish ...
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Southwest gets more 737-300s
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Southwest Airlines is looking to expand its Boeing 737-300 fleet with secondhand acquisitions. This follows its conversion of more 737-700 options to firm orders. The extra capacity is needed for the airline's planned launch of 50 more US domestic services in the third quarter of this ...
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Franchise relationships boost expansion of regional market
Chris Jasper/LONDON The rapid expansion of the regional market in North America and Europe continued unabated last year, fuelled by US majors focusing on the consolidation of regional franchise relationships, and franchise expansion by their European counterparts. The US Regional Airlines Association (RAA) reports that passenger traffic increased ...
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Private conversions
Two private Middle Eastern operators have chosen BFGoodrich's Super 27 re-engining kit for their Boeing 727-200s. The conversion involves replacing the number one and three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7/9 powerplants with the higher bypass-ratio -200 series derivative. As well as Stage 3 compliance, BFGoodrich says that the Super 27 modification ...