All Safety News – Page 1249
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Hong Kong starts US bilateral round
Hong Kong and the USA were due to have opened their first round of air services talks in four years in mid November in a key test of Hong Kong's resolve to liberalise. The two-day round was due to have begun on 17 November in Washington DC with ...
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KAL to face further operating ban
NICHOLAS IONIDES/ATI SINGAPORE Korean Air (KAL) faced further criticism in November when a US NTSB report concluded that the 1997 crash of one of its Boeing 747-300s on Guam was largely due to pilot error. South Korea's Civil Aviation Bureau (KCAB) - also criticised in the report for not ...
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Tokyo's promised runways get nearer
DAVE KNIBB SEATTLE Three separate initiatives, including a decision on a new airport, are underway to boost runway capacity in Tokyo, which remains Asia's biggest and most congested gateway. Construction could start before the end of the year on a second runway at Narita, allowing more room for regional services ...
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Reclaiming ATC
Taking air traffic control services away from government is starting to look like a necessity as Europe and the USA continue to battle with near-gridlock. But airlines too will have to be realistic about the cost of renewing the neglected infrastructure. For years, airlines on both sides of the ...
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Capitol route to chaos
KAREN WALKER WASHINGTON DC Everyone in the USA agrees that urgent action is needed to cope with increasing capacity constraints. The problem remains how to wrench control from Congress. Democracy may have notched another coup on 10 November, but it was a bitterly disappointing day for the US air traffic ...
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In Brief
WTO rules on aircraft tax Washington has appealed against a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling that foreign sales corporations are an illegal subsidy. US exporters use these corporations to shield income from tax. That creates opportunities for tax-based leasing on such exports as aircraft. If the ruling stands, Boeing ...
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Brighter spots on horizon for USA
Given heavy losses from Trans World Airlines and US Airways, the latest round of third quarter results from the US majors could have played much worse on Wall Street than it seems to have done. Most aviation analysts were keen to point to some bright spots on the industry's horizon ...
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Slots Logjam
ALAN GEORGE BRUSSELS KEVIN O'TOOLE LONDON Hopes are growing that the new team at the European Commission could finally end the long wait for new regulations on airport slot allocation. Even the contentious issue of slot trading could be back on the agenda. Could Europe at last be ...
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Judge rules out Canadian's takeover
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Everything came to a screeching halt late on the last business day before shareholders were set to vote on the counter-proposals from Onex and Air Canada. Quebec judge Justice Wery ruled that Onex's offer to acquire 31% of Air Canada and merge it with Canadian was illegal. ...
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Aviation industry ready for 2000?
TOM GILL LONDON The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is "not anticipating any major" disruption over the new year period, following advances in preparations for the changeover to 2000, despite what appears to still be a patchy picture. More than 500 out of 800 airports audited by IATA have ...
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Europe nears harmonised working hours
ALAN GEORGE BRUSSELS Key industry organisations are close to a general agreement on how part of the European Union's Working Time Directive, which sets a range of binding standards on working hours, can be applied to aviation. On 15 October, the European Commission (EC) and industry groups agreed a ...
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British Midland decides on the Star attraction
GÜNTER ENDRES LONDON After intensive talks with all the major alliances, with the obvious exception of oneworld, British Midland has opted to team with Lufthansa and the Star grouping. BM is expected to join in spring or summer of next year. The alliance signing is backed by Lufthansa taking ...
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Mixed messages from Japan
On the surface, results from Japan's big three carriers seemed to offer a few grounds for optimism. All showed better operating profits for the first half of their latest financial years, yet concerns linger. Lower fares have stimulated traffic and changes in depreciation have skewed results so it is still ...
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EgyptAir data fail to supply any answers
David Learmount/LONDON Initial evaluation of the crashed EgyptAir Boeing 767-300ER cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) has failed to confirm the causes of the dive which began the fatal manoeuvre sequence, says US National Transportation Safety Board chairman Jim Hall. On 17 November, Hall released ...
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Eurocontrol plan for congestion gets green light
Julian Moxon/PARIS Eurocontrol's Provisional Council has approved the agency's plans to reduce air traffic congestion in the short-to-medium term after a year in which delays have been among the worst on record. Although the Kosovo crisis has been blamed for causing most of the delays from April-July, the ...
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Catching African bugs
Age is beautiful for many African airports, which have avoided the biggest problems in becoming Y2K compliant Michael Wakabi/KAMPALA Africa is never short of contradictions. In the run-up to the year 2000, the very things that made some African airports the laughing stock of yesteryear are the reason that ...
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737 safety probe prompts tests
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing is modifying a 30-year-old ex-United Airlines 737-200 for ground and flight tests of the rudder system as part of a US Federal Aviation Administration-led safety evaluation. The 737 is being leased from Indiana-based Purdue University, which acquired the aircraft after United Airlines retired it in 1997. ...
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Southern Air ready to go after DoT vote
Start-up cargo carrier Southern Air has won US Department of Transportation approval to begin operations, but will have to do so without routes from bankrupt Southern Air Transport (SAT). Services will begin next year. The Columbus, Ohio-based company plans to offer aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) wet-lease services ...
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Canadian regionals may merge
Brian Dunn/MONTREAL A Toronto-based business group, Regional Airlines Holdings, aims to establish a new national airline by buying and merging the regional carriers of Air Canada and Canadian Airlines. The move would appear viable if the two majors themselves merge. Regional Airlines Holdings wants Ottawa to force Air Canada to ...
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Vulcan delivers Observer to Italian police force
VulcanAir has delivered its first Partenavia P68 Observer 2 to the Italian State Police, around 18 months after the Casoria, Naples-based company acquired fellow Italian company Aerocosmos, former owner of the P68 type certificate. The Observer 2 piston twin, an upgraded version of the standard Observer model, offers a ...