All Systems & interiors articles – Page 752

  • News

    TAESA faces bleak future

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE The rise in Mexico's credit rating to investment grade may have come too late to save Taesa, the country's third largest airline. Grounded since mid-November and under government orders to raise more capital before it resumed flying, the carrier entered bankruptcy in late February. Its future depends ...

  • News

    Blue sky thinking

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Colin Baker LONDON The aims of Europe's environmental policy have been There is little argument that last November's policy paper on transport and the environment from the European Commission was a comprehensive piece of work. Yet, while the air transport industry may agree on the broad aim of a ...

  • News

    SAA springs surprise with Boeing decision

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    ROGER MAKINGS JOHANNESBURG South African Airways (SAA) has acquired 21 Boeing 737-800s, plus 21 options, raising eyebrows among observers who expected the carrier to buy Airbus A320s. SAA chief executive Coleman Andrews claims that Boeing's offer was clearly ahead on price, but some in South Africa remain suspicious over the ...

  • News

    A people business

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    The departure of Bob Ayling from British Airways may have had more than one simple cause, but his apparent lack of ability to motivate staff and sell his vision provide important lessons as the airline looks for a new head. It may be a well-worn maxim, but the airline ...

  • News

    Changing channels

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Tom Gill LONDON Global distribution systems face unprecedented challenges to their traditional businesses as the Internet gathers pace "They have had a very easy life for a very long time. But distribution is no longer secure. Supply is no longer secure. Other people have replicated the technology functionality at a ...

  • News

    EASA delayed by debate over powers

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    ALAN GEORGE BRUSSELS The protracted project to create a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) now seems unlikely to come to fruition until 2002 at the earliest. It still remains uncertain whether the new body will be an agency of the European Commission (EC), or, as originally envisaged, an international agency ...

  • News

    KLM gives profit plan details

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    COLIN BAKER LONDON KLM has detailed its plans to bring the airline back to profitability next year. The measures include a cost-cutting programme and a change in fleet deployment to bring total savings of DFl700 million ($307 million). The airline says the measures, aimed to tackle rising fuel costs, ...

  • News

    Europe Online

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    COLIN BAKER LONDON European carriers have issued a response to the threat of the online travel market by clubbing together to launch their own joint website First it was the turn of the US majors to launch a joint Internet site. At the end of February, the European majors ...

  • News

    Galileo takes over Trip.com

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Jane Levere NEW YORK Galileo International, the US-based global distribution system (GDS), acquired the remaining 80% of web site Trip.com that it did not buy last year. The new purchase cost $269 million, in a combination of stock and cash. The web site, which uses Galileo as its ...

  • News

    Lawyers question trend to prosecute over safety

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    DAVID KNIBB WASHINGTON DC US lawyers are raising concerns over a growing tension between air safety and criminal law. An 80% rise in US airline fines in 1999 and a jury's conviction of SabreTech for its role in a ValuJet crash have drawn attention to a trend by prosecutors to ...

  • News

    Life at the top

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    KAREN WALKER SINGAPORE Airbus is right to feel proud of its 1999 performance, as it overtook Boeing on new orders. But the fight to stay on top will be fierce. If Airbus Industrie's managers find the heights to which they climbed in 1999 overwhelming, they show no signs of vertigo ...

  • News

    When size matters

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    The debate over the size of market for a new very large aircraft has become similar to a poker game; until the first cards are on the table, no-one knows which way the deck will fall. During a recent briefing in Washington, Airbus Industrie's senior vice- president, commercial, John Leahy ...

  • News

    OAG in search of new owner

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    OAG, the international travel information provider, is seeking a new owner. Parent company Reed Elsevier, which also owns Airline Business, put the business up for sale after a strategic review that will see the group focus on scientific, legal and business publishing - the last of which includes this ...

  • News

    Show time

    2000-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Jane Levere NEW YORK Providing passengers with the latest advances in on-board entertainment is a definite marketing plus, but reliability and maintenance are real issues. The in-flight entertainment (IFE) industry is gearing up to enter the high-tech world of e-mail and Internet access and carriers are clearly keen to let ...

  • News

    Investigators throw light on MD-11 crash cause

    2000-03-28T00:00:00Z

    Canadian accident investigators are again sifting the wreckage of the Swissair Boeing MD-11 Flight No SR111 to check whether cockpit map reading lights could have been the ignition source for the fire which brought down the aircraft, flying from New York to Geneva off Nova Scotia in September 1998. ...

  • News

    Japan's BK117 C-2 prototype flies at Gifu

    2000-03-28T00:00:00Z

    Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has successfully flown the first Japanese-built prototype BK117 C-2 medium-twin-turbine helicopter at its Gifu plant. First flight was on 15 March, for about 1h, says Masato Furusawa, KHI's senior manager of helicopter project engineering. The prototype hovered and demonstrated forward, reverse and sideways flight and ...

  • News

    767-400ER schedule set back

    2000-03-28T00:00:00Z

    Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing faces a delay to its 767-400ER certification and delivery schedule in the wake of its recently resolved engineering employees' strike. Before the 40-day strike by Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace members, Boeing was on target to certificate the -400ER in April and deliver ...

  • News

    Performance snags delay first 728JET delivery to Lufthansa

    2000-03-28T00:00:00Z

    Fairchild Aerospace has slipped 728JET development by six months because the 70-85-seat regional jet's performance would have failed to meet the requirements of launch customer Lufthansa CityLine. The US manufacturer claimed at the February Asian Aerospace 2000 air show in Singapore that the primary driver behind the decision to ...

  • News

    WAAS guides FAA to new approach

    2000-03-28T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration plans new categories of approach guidance based on the expected performance of the wide area augmentation system (WAAS). Details revealed at the WAAS users' summit in mid-March suggest the new levels will provide increased operational benefit earlier than expected. The FAA told users that ...

  • News

    Delta discusses CRJ order with Bombardier

    2000-03-28T00:00:00Z

    Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Delta Air Lines is discussing a major new order for the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) series and is studying a longer-term requirement for a larger 110-seat class aircraft. Industry sources say the Atlanta, Georgia-based carrier is in talks with Bombardier to order a substantial ...