All Safety News – Page 1299

  • News

    Air France plans image change

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Julian Moxon/PARIS Air France president Jean-Cyril Spinetta has launched a three-year programme to improve the airline's competitiveness and image as it prepares for a global alliance before the end of next year. A four-part plan has been unveiled to the workforce portraying Air France as an airline recognised ...

  • News

    Kitty Hawk mulls exit from charter work

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Kitty Hawk has parked one of two Boeing 747 passenger aircraft operated by its American International Airways (AIA) unit pending a decision about whether to sell the aircraft or convert it into a freighter. The decision leaves one 747-100 and two Lockheed L-1011 TriStars available for passenger charter customers, ...

  • News

    US DoT delays ruling on Northwest routes

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    The US Department of Transportation (DoT) is delaying its investigation into whether the "virtual merger" of Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines constitutes a transfer of international routes to Northwest. The DoT gave the airlines a one-year exemption from a new law requiring DoT approval of foreign route transfers. It ...

  • News

    Olympic Airways beats path to alliance link

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    The search for a strategic partner for struggling Olympic Airways has become the central feature of a new restructuring plan now being implemented by the Greek national carrier. The government, aware that Olympic has been brushed aside in the airline industry's global consolidation programme, has propelled its search for ...

  • News

    Pylon crack

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Boeing has amended its inspection procedures for Boeing 747 engine pylons after the discovery of serious fatigue cracking in a Cathay Pacific 747 pylon. The crack, in the number one engine pylon, was discovered during a post-flight inspection in December 1996. According to an incident report released by the Hong ...

  • News

    Crane files lawsuit against BFGoodrich and Coltec in merger bid

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    BFGoodrich's agreement to acquire Coltec Industries has come under attack from US engineering concern Crane, which has filed a lawsuit against both companies in a bid to force Coltec to consider its merger offer. Stamford, Connecticut-based Crane says the lawsuit is intended to remove anti-takeover provisions in the Coltec/BFGoodrich ...

  • News

    Buzzing along

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Allan Winn/LONDON According to the laws of mathematics and physics, bees cannot fly. Millions of bees every day prove, of course, that either this theory or the laws of physics are wrong: according to apiarist Rex Boys, it is the theory which fails the test. The physics are sound: it ...

  • News

    Moving swiftly

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Kanichi Amano/TOKYO Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE When the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) approved funding for a new supersonic engine demonstrator programme, Tokyo once again proved its readiness to put real money behind the development of technology for a new supersonic transport (SST) aircraft. In September, the ...

  • News

    Chasing a dream

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Paul Duffy/PERM The last seven years have been difficult for the Russian aviation industry. Long accustomed to producing to Soviet state orders, the industry's finance and income also came from the same source. Now in crisis, most state-owned companies in the industry are waiting for state rescue. If ...

  • News

    The final frontier

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Every time a Space Shuttle blasts off, its booming sound waves pass unseen over the forgotten bones of a long abandoned project. Lying at the edge of the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, are the forlorn remains of Boeing's 2707-200 supersonic transport (SST) full-scale mock-up. Abandoned when the ...

  • News

    Lufthansa delays decision on 728JET

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Lufthansa CityLine has backed away from making a formal commitment to the Fairchild Dornier 728JET programme by the end of 1998. A decision is not expected until March. The German flag carrier's regional arm had been due to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in December, ...

  • News

    Thai probe focuses on ILS and weather

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Investigations into the accident which destroyed the Airbus A310 operating Thai Airways International flight TG261 on 11 December are focusing on weather conditions, human factors and the lack of a working instrument landing system (ILS) at Surat Thani Airport, Thailand. The 12-year-old A310-200 (HS-TIA), one of ...

  • News

    Canada Boeing CF-18s to get life extensions

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Canada has launched a 10-year, C$1.2 billion ($780 million) upgrade to extend the life of its Boeing CF-18s by 14 years. The programme includes the possible sale of 22 or more of the Canadian Force's fleet of 122CF-18s to help pay for the upgrade, which will enable the aircraft ...

  • News

    India freezes airline merger with senior management purge

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    The Indian Government has purged the senior management of state-owned Air India and Indian Airlines airlines, claiming it wants to speed up their privatisation. The civil aviation minister, Ananth Kumar, dissolved the joint board of Air India and Indian Airlines on 11 December, days after the board announced plans ...

  • News

    P&W confirms major delay for Korean Air Lines 777-300

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Pratt & Whitney is being forced to recertificate its PW4098 engine for the heavyweight Boeing 777-300, adding several months to the already delayed programme and making first deliveries to Korean Air Lines almost a year late. The latest problems with the PW4098 emerged during flight ...

  • News

    Pan Am to set up two centres

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    Pan Am International Flight Academy (PAIFA) has won contracts to establish simulator centres for Atlantic Coast Airlines and DHL Airways. PAIFA, which operates a simulator centre in Miami, won a contract earlier this year to build and operate a training centre for FedEx. Under the 10-year agreement with Atlantic ...

  • News

    Hughes technology transfer error helped China's missile programme

    1998-12-23T00:00:00Z

    The US Department of Defense has confirmed that Hughes Space and Communications inadvertently aided China's missile and satellite programmes during an investigation into the failure of a Long March 2E launcher attempting to orbit the Hughes built ApStar 2 satellite in 1995. The Pentagon says that Hughes gave China ...

  • News

    Safety changes

    1998-12-16T11:27:00Z

    The US National Transportation Safety Board is urging the US Federal Aviation Administration to require safety-related changes for German-made Glaser-Dirks gliders. The recommendations, which result from a fatal accident in 1997 involving a DG-300 glider in Nevada, call for design changes to the aircraft which will enable "reliable jettison of ...

  • News

    BA chooses to bring A320 training in-house

    1998-12-16T00:00:00Z

    British Airways is to bring training for its new fleet of Airbus A320s in house, with the airline's Flight Training (BAFT) division finalising the acquisition of its first Airbus simulator. In August, BA selected the A320 family for its future short-haul fleet, placing orders and options for up to ...

  • News

    Low cost is key for regional jet, airlines tell Bombardier

    1998-12-16T00:00:00Z

    Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Bombardier has launched technology cost/benefit studies after the first meeting of its BRJ-X airline advisory council confirmed that potential customers for the 90-seat regional jet are looking for the lowest possible operating cost. The council conducted preliminary talks on fly-by-wire versus conventional flight controls, steel ...