All Ops & safety articles – Page 1396
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News
Likud victory fires doubts
The Likud election victory in Israel will have profound implications for both El Al's future and plans for Palestine's fledgling air transport sector. Somewhat surprisingly, El Al changed course in its search for capital before the general election at the end of May. The new policy aims to ...
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Northwest's eastern edge
The launch of Northwest Airlines' non-stop Detroit-Beijing service in May is a competitive response to United Airlines' dominance in the US-China market that has been a long time in coming. The carrier says the new route gives it an edge in the eastern US, which generates two-thirds of China-bound traffic ...
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Financial results
Air-India moved to a loss despite sales growth of almost 10%. The carrier blamed competition and interest charges and depreciation on its B747-400s. British Midland's pretax profit fell 7% to £4.1m (US$6.4m) but the Manx and Loganair regional airlines moved from a £5.1m loss to a £1.3m profit. ...
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Modi loses German link
The termination of Lufthansa's technical agreement with ModiLuft is a severe body blow to the cash-strapped Indian independent but does not spell the end of the German carrier's involvement in the subcontinent. The decision in late May to terminate the relationship with ModiLuft is a result of the ...
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Cargo sale
Cargolux has sold its Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7J-powered Boeing 747-200 Freighter (LX-DCV) to Atlas Air. The aircraft, which had been on lease to Atlas, has been leased back by Cargolux for four months, to cover for seasonal demand. Meanwhile, the Luxembourg-based carrier is seeking to accelerate the delivery of its ...
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Brunei FANS-1 upgrade is first on 'Classic' 747
Andrew Doyle/LONDON THE Brunei royal family has ordered the world's first Future Air Navigation System-1 (FANS-1) upgrade for a "Classic" Boeing 747. Work on the modification, which is being performed by Lufthansa Technik, is under way. The aircraft, a 747SP, is being fitted with ...
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Investigators query Garuda DC-10 abort
INVESTIGATORS of the Garuda Indonesia Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 fatal runway overrun (Flight International, 19-25 June) are examining the captain's decision to abort the take-off following a No 3 engine failure, say sources close to the accident inquiry. The aircraft had been rotated for take-off. At that stage, ...
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Aer Lingus evaluates 180-seaters
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON AER LINGUS IS evaluating the various 180-seat (two-class seating) aircraft types, with a view to introducing a new aircraft in 1997, but more likely in 1998. The airline says that it is in "-the early days of looking at the options available". The ...
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Inertial-platform failure is identified in Ariane 5 loss
Tim Furniss/LONDON INSPECTION of a segment of the vehicle-equipment bay recovered from the debris of the Ariane 5 booster lost on 4 June has revealed a malfunction in the inertial platforms, the European Space Agency (ESA) says. ESA and French space agency CNES had earlier reported ...
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Boeing prepares to offer 747-500/600MD
Guy Norris/SEATTLE BOEING IS to seek board authority to offer the "Major Derivative" (MD) 747-500/600 in July, but may be forced to extend the development timescale by more than a year to incorporate more advanced technology, at the insistence of its airline advisory group. Boeing ...
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MDHS fights to keep MD600N on track
McDONNELL DOUGLAS Helicopter Systems (MDHS) is instituting "aggressive scheduling" to minimise the impact on the certification and delivery timetable of the crash of the second MD600N prototype. Key to the recovery plan, however, is the findings of the board set up to investigate the 28 May accident. Should ...
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Unions agree to Alitalia facelift
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Andrea Spinelli/GENOA ALITALIA'S UNIONS have given a tentative go-ahead to the airline's increasingly urgent restructuring plans, agreeing to accept cost-cutting in exchange for three places on the board and an eventual 20% stake in the group. The deal was finally thrashed out on ...
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Rivals set to benefit from ValuJet suspension of operations
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON VALUJET HAS built its main hub at Atlanta Harts-field, and at its peak, the airline represented about 8% of the passenger traffic at the airport, ranking it second only to Delta Air Lines. With ValuJet flights unavailable, "price-sensitive" customers from Atlanta have been ...
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China to resume satellite launches
CHINA GREAT WALL Industry (CGWIC) is to resume satellite launches with Asia Pacific Satellite's Hughes-built ApStar 1A aboard a Long March 3 (LM3) booster from Xichang, in July. This follows a hiatus in launches, after the loss of the first Long March 3B booster on 15 February, along with its ...
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EU to start talks with USA
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON EUROPE'S TRANSPORT Commissioner Neil Kinnock has won a mandate to start negotiations with the USA, which are expected to lead to a transatlantic open-skies pact, possibly within two years. The mandate was agreed by European Union (EU) transport ministers on 17 June, with ...
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ValuJet fallout hits FAA
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC THE FALL-OUT from the 11 May crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades has spread across the USA, from Long Beach, California, to the inner circle of the US Federal Aviation Administration. The unprecedented commercial-airline safety probe and subsequent grounding ...
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Lufthansa struggles with weak first half
CONCERNS ARE growing among analysts that Lufthansa may be left showing a loss for the first half of the year after a poor set of traffic performances over the first five months of the year. "The traffic figures are not very promising at all. The year has ...
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India's private malaise
MODILUFT'S dispute with Lufthansa over lease payments has made headlines, but it also highlights a deeper malaise afflicting India's fledgling private-airline operators. Of the five major private carriers established in India since liberalisation began some three years ago, only Jet Airways and the cargo carriers appear to ...
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Rising sun
An awareness of concerted safety action dawns in the Far East and Asia/Pacific. Paul Phelan/JAKARTA OPERATORS IN ASIA/PACIFIC regions, are having to monitor carefully, the stresses on almost every aspect of air safety, caused by the rapid growth of airlines and air traffic in the region. ...
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767 precautions
A high-capacity flight-data recorder is being fitted to the Martinair Holland Boeing 767-300ER which suffered total electronic flight-instrument system failure and partial flight-controls loss on 28 May (Flight International, 5-11 June, P8) before the aircraft may return to service, says the US National Transportation Safety Board. Investigator Robert Hancock says ...