News from FlightGlobal – Page 2286
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Thai prepares for sale of stake
Chris Jasper/SYDNEY The sale of a stake in Thai Airways International to an airline investor is to take place next April, with a holding of around 15% to be sold off, the carrier's president, Thamnoon Wanglee, has revealed. Thai's planned privatisation has suffered a series of delays and the April ...
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Uganda discusses airline sale with SAA
Michael Wakabi/KAMPALA Unresolved issues over routes left Uganda's government with only one bidder in the sale of 49% of Uganda Airlines on 30 April. A decision to enter direct negotiations with South African Airways (SAA) was taken after British Airways and Sabena declined to submit bids by the 23 April ...
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Marconi aims to crack Brazilian deal
Marconi Electronic Systems and partner Lockheed Martin are seeking to take advantage of Elbit's troubled Northrop F-5E/F upgrade negotiations by offering Brazil a revived proposal that includes the option for a future beyond visual range (BVR) missile capability. Negotiations between Brazil, local F-5 upgrade prime contractor Embraer and Elbit ...
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Israel is key to F-15 production
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON Boeing's hopes of keeping the F-15 fighter production line open beyond early next year rests on an order from Israel, following its failure to dissuade Greece from purchasing additional Lockheed Martin F-16C/Ds and Dassault Mirage 2000-5s. The company's St Louis plant is to deliver its final outstanding ...
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Putting the family to work
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Max Kingsley-Jones/STOCKHOLM Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Guy Norris/LOS ANGELESWhen Boeing began to study a replacement for its successful 737-300/400/500 "Classic" family of narrowbody twinjets in the early 1990s, it faced difficult decisions. Airbus Industrie was on the scene with its technologically advanced fly-by-wire A320 family, but many of Boeing's ...
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Executive Jet makes room at European operations centre
Executive Jet has expanded its NetJets Europe operations and customer service centre, to accommodate expected growth in its fractional ownership programme on the continent. The 9,333m2 (100,500ft2) Oei-ras, Portugal, base is quadruple the size of the previous operations centre. "We expect to double our NetJets Europe aircraft inventory in ...
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USA takes up Sextant state support issue with EU
The USA IS to seek "consultations" with the European Union (EU) over the French Government's funding support of Sextant Avionique for development of a new flight management system (FMS) for Airbus aircraft. If the talks fail to resolve the dispute, the US Government plans to ask the World Trade ...
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SAir reconsiders TAP stake after pilot rise
SAirGroup is reconsidering whether to go ahead with its planned purchase of a 20% stake in TAP Air Portugal after a tribunal court recommended that the Portuguese national airline's pilots be awarded a 95% pay increase. The Swiss company is also negotiating to take a large minority stake in privately ...
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Airbus cost-cutting stalled by SCE crawl
Andrew Doyle/TOULOUSEAirbus Industrie's efforts to drive down production costs are being hampered by the failure of the partner companies to agree on restructuring the business into a single corporate entity (SCE). Though the consortium made record sales of $13.3 billion last year, huge amounts of cash are being tied up ...
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Star lines up recruits as Singapore delays entry into alliance
Chris Jasper/SYDNEYAir China, Mexicana, British Midland and Emirates are all being lined up for possible membership of the Star Alliance, while Singapore Airlines (SIA) has delayed signing up to the global grouping until at least October. Thai Airways International president Thamnoon Wanglee, speaking exclusively to Flight International, detailed Star's recruitment ...
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US Eximbank moves to repossess PAL 747s
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE The US Eximbank, a major creditor of Philippine Airlines (PAL), has initiated moves to repossess the airline's four Boeing 747-400s on which it holds liens. The move puts PAL in danger of collapse unless the government backs down on its earlier promises of non-intervention and bails ...
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Airlines push Airbus to speed up plans for A3XX freighter
Andrew Doyle/TOULOUSE Airbus Industrie is accelerating development of the freighter version of its proposed A3XX ultra-high capacity airliner, in response to strong demand from potential operators. The consortium has also revised the design of the cargo variant, to carry an increased payload of 150t over 10,545km (5,700nm) following ...
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Internet at work
Internet ordering has spread to aircraft parts Paul Seidenman/SAN FRANCISCOIf current industry trends hold, the Internet will become a major factor in aircraft parts sales and inventory management. That is the consensus of parts suppliers and re-sellers, many of which have web sites on line or in the planning stage. ...
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Manufacturers' perspective
Production, reliability and certification issues have dominated the 737's debut Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Between them, Boeing and CFM International faced the fastest ramp-up in production and delivery of any commercial airliner with the 737NG. Since delivery of the first aircraft to Southwest Airlines in December 1997, some 250 examples ...
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Fairchild wraps up 328JET testing and confirms stretch plans
Andrew Doyle/OBERPFAFFENHOFEN Fairchild Aerospace has almost completed flight-testing its 328JET30-seater and expects to receive certification from the European Joint Aviation Authorities and the US Federal Aviation Administration by 1 July. First deliveries to US carrier Skyways will take place that month. Meanwhile, the US company claims to have ...
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Boeing maintains 717 campaign
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Boeing aims to boost sales of its 717 regional jet by taking a role in maintenance support and certificating a "Lite" version that could cut airport and navigation charges for airlines. The move comes as Greek flag carrier Olympic signs as the type's first European airline operator. Its ...
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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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Airlines move back to Libya
Alan George/BRUSSELS Airlines have moved quickly to resume flights to Libya after the suspension of UN aviation and other sanctions following the North African country's surrender of the Pan Am 747 Lockerbie bombing suspects. EgyptAir has started two flights a week from Cairo to Tripoli and two weekly round ...