All Ops & safety articles – Page 1285
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News
Lufthansa looks at cargo version of Tu-204
Sirocco Aerospace demonstrated the Rolls-Royce RB211-powered Tupolev Tu-204-120C to Lufthansa in early June as a potential medium haul freighter for the airline's cargo division. Lufthansa is the technical advisor to the Sirocco programme, but wanted to check the freighter version's capacity to load/unload the containers and pallets used by ...
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Xian signs Y-7 deals with five Chinese domestic airlines
Xian Aircraft (XAC) has signed initial sales agreements with five domestic airlines for 11 Y-7-200A passenger aircraft, following recent Chinese airworthiness certification of the improved twin-turboprop development. China's Changan Airlines, Guizhou Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Swan Airlines, and Zhongyuan Airlines have each signed letters of intent to take two to ...
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Cimber picks ATR 72s in fight to win Danish rail travellers
Julian Moxon/SONDERBORG Danish regional airline Cimber Air is to expand its fleet with the purchase of ATR 72s and, eventually, regional jets. The plan follows the airline's sale of a 26% stake to SAS. The carrier has been linked with SAS since October 1995, operating feeder services into ...
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EC acts on open skies discord
Alan George/BRUSSELS The European Commission (EC) plans to begin legal action this month against states which have defied Brussels by refusing to abrogate bilateral open skies agreements with the USA, according to a senior EC official. In March, EC transport commissioner Neil Kinnock warned European states in writing ...
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IATA seals Afghanistan deals
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE The Afghanistan Government and national carrier Ariana Afghan Airlines have concluded a series of wide ranging agreements with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to overhaul local air traffic communications as well as to improve aircraft and airport safety. Under an $8 million deal concluded with ...
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EGPWS move leads Korean Air safety drive
Korean Air (KAL) is to begin fitting its entire fleet with enhanced ground proximity warning systems (EGPWS), starting in July with the delivery of new Airbus Industrie A330-200/300s and Boeing 777-200/300s. The airline warns, however, that some of its future widebody deliveries may be delayed because of the economic ...
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Surprise share plan changes UK's air traffic control chart
David Learmount/LONDON Privatisation of the UK air traffic control (ATC) system has been put back on the political agenda, with the year-old Labour Government mooting the sale of 51% of the Civil Aviation Authority's National Air Traffic Services (NATS). ATC privatisation has been a running issue within UK ...
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BA demands give Airbus and Boeing delivery headaches
Max Kingsley Jones/LONDON British Airways is entering final negotiations with Airbus and Boeing to acquire its new short haul fleet, but the two manufacturers are having to discuss deals with leasing companies to help them meet the airline's requirements for early delivery slots. The UK carrier is aiming ...
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Carriers push Airbus on LCDs
Paul Lewis/SINGAPOREAirbus Industrie is being pressed by major international carriers to offer a choice of new liquid crystal display (LCD) systems in the cockpits of future aircraft, as the consortium narrows the final selection of vendors to Rockwell Collins and Sextant Avionique. The European consortium plans to fit its A320/A330/A340 ...
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Airline comeback disguises Asian crisis
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Airline profits rebounded strongly to near record levels last year, says the International Air Transport Association (IATA),but director general Pierre Jeanniot again warns that margins remain too low and that the headline figures disguise the crisis still unfolding in Asia. The detailed figures, issued in the ...
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Crisis spreads to China as airlines make losses
The Asian economic downturn has begun to have an impact on the Chinese air transport industry, with the country's 11 largest carriers announcing for the first time a collective loss of ¥1.7 billion ($206 million) in the opening quarter of the financial year. According to the state-run China ...
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Objections threaten Moscow business airport
Plans to build a business airport at Khodynka, near Moscow, have suffered a setback following objections from a government agency and strong public opposition to the project. The airfield, 10km (6 miles) from the Russian capital, is surrounded by aircraft industry enterprises such as Ilyushin, the Sukhoi Design bureau ...
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IATA approves millennium bug plan
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which estimates that the so-called "millennium bug" will cost the airline industry $1.6 billion, has won approval from airlines for a plan to ensure that airlines, airports, air traffic control providers and manufacturers work together to minimise the effect of ...
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Asian crisis prompts Boeing to slow production
Boeing has confirmed that production of the 747 and 777 will slow next year in response to the economic downturn in Asia. The expected axing of some 12,000 jobs is also beginning as the company overcomes the worst of its fraught production ramp-up. Boeing's official production rate announcement for ...
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New-entrant blues
Dave Higdon/WITCHITA, KANSAS It IS a long, arduous path from membership of the kitplane-producing community to becoming a certificate-holding member of the production-aircraft industry and not one of the three US companies travelling the route has actually reached its goal - yet. Although all three companies started their aircraft development ...
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PAL fights for survival as pilots are sacked and flights slashed
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Philippine Airlines (PAL) is drawing up survival plans for a massive shrinkage of its international and domestic operations, after sacking 600 pilots involved in a week-long strike that has brought the national carrier close to financial ruin. Pilots were protesting over plans to force redundancies among older ...
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New group set up for transpolar routes
The outgoing governor of the Krasnoyarsk region in Central Siberia, Valeri Zubov, has established the Krasnoyarsk Aerospace Consortium to develop transpolar air routes to link North America with a range of Asian cities. It is also planning to develop new routes over the region linking Western Europe with Eastern Asia. ...
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Japan promises no-notice safety inspections
Andrew Mollett/TOKYO Japan, Shocked by fatal accidents to foreign airliners in its own territory, is to carry out no-notice inspections of aircraft starting next year, according to the Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB). The Bureau expects to conduct ramp inspections, implement tighter safety administration of wet-leased foreign aircraft, and ...
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Marketplace
-Air Macau is subleasing an Airbus A320 and five crews to TAP Air Portugal for six months during the period of the Lisbon Expo. The airline, in which TAP holds a 25% stake, has been suffering from falling demand on some Asian routes. -US Airways has accelerated deliveries of its ...
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GE inspects CF6-80E1s after A330-200 oil leak problem
General Electric has asked airlines to inspect all CF6-80E1 engines after Canada 3000's first Airbus A330-200 was forced to make a precautionary diversion on its inaugural flight. The diversion followed the discovery of an oil leak in the number four bearing area. GE says the aircrew, who were flying from ...