News from FlightGlobal – Page 2394
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Emirates closes on stake in Air Lanka
Emirates has entered detailed talks with the Sri Lankan Government to acquire management control and a 40% equity stake in flag carrier Air Lanka. The Dubai-based carrier was selected from a shortlist of potential international bidders. A Government technical evaluation committee says that Emirates was the only contender to ...
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French Government gets going on Air France privatisation
Julian Moxon/PARIS The privatisation of Air France has officially been launched, with the appointment of the two investment banks which will handle the sale for the French Government. Astake of close to 50%could be sold, including a holding for staff. The USA's Morgan Stanley and France's Crédit Agricole ...
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Moving goalposts
The UK Government's decision to give British Aerospace £123 million ($200 million) launch aid for development work on the wing of the Airbus A340 500/600 airliner may give a much-needed morale boost to the UK aerospace industry, but it may also do little to bolster (and may even harm) the ...
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Italy breaks waterbomber sales drought
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Bombardier anticipates additional orders for its CL-415 waterbomber this year, after breaking a year-long sales drought with the follow-on purchase of two aircraft by Italy's civil protection department. The company is confident that it will find customers for most of the 21 aircraft remaining from the first ...
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Fairchild Dornier wins corporate 328JET orders
Fairchild Dornier has won six orders from four customers for its 328JET in executive jet and air ambulance configurations. Tyrolean Jet Service of Innsbruck, Austria, has become the launch customer, with an order for one aircraft in its corporate version, plus one for an air ambulance, to be delivered ...
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Investors rap Mesa for SJ30-2 distribution deal
Troubled US regional airline operator Mesa Air Group is coming under fire from investors for its year-old agreement to distribute the Sino Swearingen Aircraft (SSAC)SJ30-2 business jet. Wholly owned subsidiary Four Corners Aviation (FCA), a fixed-base operator located at Mesa's Farmington, New Mexico, headquarters, signed the distributorship agreement in ...
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New stretch of 747 defined
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing has revised its future 747 growth studies to include a 500-passenger stretch version with a larger wingspan, known as the -400Y Stretch, while dropping another long range variant dubbed the -400ERY. The company stresses that the only new version of the 747 being formally ...
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Airbus puts back entry into service of A3XX
Julian Moxon/PARIS Airbus Industrie is to delay the entry into service of its planned 555-seat A3XX by at least nine months, to the third quarter of 2004. The consortium claims that the delay is "minor" and says that the current economic chaos in key Asian markets is not responsible ...
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EC to decide on Alitalia state aid probe
Julian Moxon/PARIS Marco Messala/ROME The European Commission(EC) is to decide on 11 February whether to open an investigation into allegations that Alitalia has broken the state aid deal agreed in July 1997. EC transport commissioner Neil Kinnock has written to Italian minister for transport and navigation Claudio Burlando, ...
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Iberia picks Airbus A320 family for short haul fleet
Iberia is to standardise on Airbus Industrie aircraft for its short haul fleet, following a decision to place orders for up 76 A320 family aircraft. The airline is to add 16 additional Boeing 757s for its short term needs, however. The Spanish flag carrier has signed a memorandum of ...
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Boeing nears 737-700 European approval
Boeing is hoping that last minute flight demonstrations of "small system changes" on a 737-800 test aircraft will clear the way for European certification of the -700, after a four to five month delay. Boeing hopes to have certification in time to start deliveries to European launch customer Maersk Air ...
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ICAO examines global aviation impact model
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is considering adopting a model developed by Dutch civil-aviation authority, the RLD, to predict the environmental and socio-political effects of aviation regulatory decisions. Richard Hancox, project manager for UK transportation modelling specialist MVA, believes that Project AERO represents "the only detailed global model ...
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Regional revolution
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Regional aircraft manufacturers must, by now, be getting used to living in a perpetual state of revolution, and 1997 was no disappointment. The year began with Fokker delivering its last few aircraft and ended with the loss of another famous name, as Saab Aircraft announced its retreat ...
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Jet age dawns for 328
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH When the completed Fairchild Dornier 328JET was first shown to Reinhold Birrenbach, head of the 328 project since its turboprop days, he must have felt a little self-satisfied. "This is the way the aircraft always should have looked," he said, observing the clean lines of the newly fitted ...
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Brit float
French regional airline Brit Air has floated 37% of its shares with the aim of raising around Fr150 million ($25 million) to help finance its new franchise operations for Air France. Under a deal signed in October, Brit Air will operate franchise services on 32 domestic routes. It is also ...
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Alliance Express
Alliance Air has confirmed that it has taken a 49% stake in Air Rwanda, which it will run as Alliance Express. The new airline will start operations on 1 March from Rwandan capital Kigali, using a leased Boeing 737-200. Alliance hopes to establish an African feeder network to support its ...
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Air Europa focuses on feeding Balearic Islands
Air Europa has revised its involvement in its regional subsidiary, Air Europa Express, focusing on feed within the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. Air Europa Express began operations in early 1997 as a 50:50 joint venture between Air Europa and Canary Islands start-up Canarias Regional Air (CRA). It initially operated ...
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Boeing weighs up crisis in Asia
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Boeing expects to deliver 60 fewer aircraft, mainly 747s and 777s, to Asian airlines over the next three years, because of the region's economic downturn. The revised forecast implies the near-term cancellation or deferral of orders in hand from Asian airlines, but the company has yet ...
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Qantas and Virgin compete for Cathay's surplus 747-200s
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Cathay Pacific Airways has entered into detailed discussions with Qantas of Australia and Virgin Atlantic Airways to sell its fleet of seven surplus Boeing 747-200 passenger aircraft. Qantas is also being offered an interim development of the proposed 747-400 increased-gross-weight (IGW) variant by Boeing to meet the carrier's ...
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Emirates nears A340 decision
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Emirates Airlines is preparing to make a decision on its long-awaited requirement for ultra-long-range aircraft. The airline signed a letter of intent (LoI) with Airbus for up to A340-500s in November 1997, but has kept the manufacturer waiting because of Boeing's last-minute attempt to meet performance demands ...