News from FlightGlobal – Page 2264

  • News

    Indian fare war erupts

    1999-08-01T00:00:00Z

    India's airlines have slashed their fares by 20-25%, taking them to their lowest level in four years and setting the scene for a long and bitter war. Besides discounts, a wide range of gifts are on offer, from free holidays to complimentary stays in hotels and free travel for spouses. ...

  • News

    Qualiflying seamless service

    1999-08-01T00:00:00Z

    With its new joint sales initiatives, the Qualiflyer grouping could be stealing a march in the alliance stakes. The promise of seamless customer service from the global alliances may seem a little distant, but progress appears to be under way. At the forefront has been a series of announcements from ...

  • News

    Playing your cards right

    1999-08-01T00:00:00Z

    Jackie Gallacher LONDON Frequent flier co-operation is reaching new levels of sophistication within the global alliances, threatening to leave others out in the cold. Not so long ago, an alliance based only on links between frequent-flier programmes (FFP) would have seemed hopelessly optimistic. Yet the real force of the global ...

  • News

    Playing it safe at KAL

    1999-08-01T00:00:00Z

    Nicholas Ionides SEOUL A big management shake-up at Korean Air has produced a new president and chief executive, Shim Yi-taek. His main task is to improve KAL's safety. Each day at noon, thousands of Korean Air (KAL) employees working at the carrier's Kimpo Airport headquarters building in Seoul make ...

  • News

    IT Trends Survey

    1999-08-01T00:00:00Z

    Kevin O'Toole GENEVA Joint industry research conducted by Airline Business and SITA attempts to establish how far the airline industry is keeping pace with the new wave of information technology and the dawn of the Internet age. Is the airline industry keeping step with information technology? Less than a decade ...

  • News

    Netting a bargain

    1999-08-01T00:00:00Z

    Now in their third year, sales of discount fares via the Internet appear to be a rousing success for US carriers. Is this a glimpse of the future? American Airlines started it all three years ago. Other US majors were quick to follow. Now, Internet discount fares are beginning ...

  • News

    50 years ago...

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    As Airbus fine tunes its A3XX design, the world celebrates a half century of jet travel On Wednesday 27 July, 1949, the world's first jet airliner, the de Havilland (DH) 106 Comet, made its first flight from Hatfield airfield, just north of London. That historic half an hour trip marked ...

  • News

    Back to the future

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Capacity is driving Airbus' future large airliner plans but cost will decide how and where it will be built Julian Moxon/TOULOUSEAirbus will know only after a six-month commercial marketing campaign that begins in January whether it has predicted correctly the demand for its A3XX. If enough airlines, with enough geographical ...

  • News

    Pan Pacific plans for Let L-420 flights to small US communities

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Pan Pacific Airways' plans to serve small communities in the north-western USA are back on track after the company agreed to acquire Czech-built Let L-420s. An aircraft arrived in mid-July to enable training to begin. Burlington, Washington-based Pan Pacific hopes to begin operations by year-end. Chairman and ...

  • News

    UPS share sale

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    United Parcel Service (UPS) is to sell 10% of its shares by the end of this year in what is likely to be one of the biggest initial public offerings ever, raising up to $3 billion. UPS, one of the largest privately held companies in the USA, and says the ...

  • News

    DHL poised to take British Airways 757s

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON British Airways is in final negotiations with express package specialist DHL for the sale of almost half of the UK airline's Boeing 757s, with a deal expected to be concluded in the coming months. The transaction, valued at around $500 million (including conversions), would give Boeing a launch ...

  • News

    Spoiling tactics

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    When Boeing concluded its recent trade-in deal with Singapore Airlines (SIA) for 10 more 777s in exchange for a guarantee to buy and remarket its entire A340 fleet, the move seemed as capricious as it was masterful. But, with arch rival Airbus Industrie putting the finishing touches to a ...

  • News

    South Africa to levy 'safety' fee

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Doug Birch/LONDON Foreign airlines flying to South Africa will have to pay fees totalling almost $3 million over the next 18 months as a contribution to an "aviation safety charge", according to the South African Civil Aviation Authority. The fees replace a fuel levy implemented in January by ...

  • News

    All systems go for Transpac Express Pacific services

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Paul Phelan/CAIRNS Australian cargo start-up Transpac Express has received outline approval to launch cargo services to Pacific islands, using widebody freighters. The draft approval from Australia's International Air Services Commission will allow the Brisbane-based company to operate separate weekly freight services from Brisbane to Nauru, New Caledonia, the ...

  • News

    Eurocontrol settles on remedies to increase capacity

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Eurocontrol's Council has approved measures to increase air traffic capacity in Europe this summer and cope with potential capacity shortfalls between 2002 and 2005. At its 16 July meeting, the council approved the process for enhancing co-operation between area control centres (ACCs) to improve traffic flow. Eurocontrol has already ...

  • News

    MD-10 speeds up as passenger version is studied

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Boeing is talking to potential customers about developing a passenger version of the MD-10, as it considers accelerating the cargo-led programme by up to three months. US express carrier FedEx is so far the only customer for the MD-10 conversion of the DC-10, with orders and options for 120. ...

  • News

    Airbus plans to thwart Boeing's SIA deal

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Airbus Industrie has drawn up a confidential business plan aimed at frustrating Boeing's efforts to remarket 17 A340-300s it is to acquire from Singapore Airlines (SIA)as part of a recent 777 deal. The consortium declines to comment on the plan, but a source familiar with its contents says: ...

  • News

    Airbus expects Asian order bonanza after recovery

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPOREAirbus Industrie is predicting that Asia's airlines will order 4,300 passenger aircraft worth $450 billion over the next two decades as the Far East renews its economic growth. Adam Brown, Airbus vice-president, forecasting and strategic planning, says signs of recovery in the Asia-Pacific market will appear by the second ...

  • News

    BA CityFlyer takeover approved

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Chris Jasper/LONDONBritish Airways has won UK Government approval for a £75 million ($117 million) takeover of its franchise carrier CityFlyer Express. The planned purchase had been referred to trade secretary Stephen Byers amid claims that it was anti-competitive in terms of its likely impact on control of slots at London ...

  • News

    SIA plans spending spree on shares

    1999-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Singapore Airlines (SIA) is planning to spend up to S$1 billion ($586 million) on a share buy-back that may signal a departure from the carrier's strategy of directing its capital reserves towards airline purchases. Cash-rich SIA has in the past year pursued stakes in China Airlines, South African Airways, Thai ...