All Systems & interiors articles – Page 754
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News
SAS closes on interactive IFE
Emma Kelly/LONDON Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) is to decide before the end of this month on the interactive in-flight entertainment (IFE) system for its new Airbus A330-300s and A340-300s. IFE manager Hermine Wachmeister says SAS has completed its evaluations of the final two candidates - Matsushita's new System 3000 ...
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In the dark
Kawasaki is puzzled by Eurocopter's reluctance to promote the BK117/EC145 Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) plans to lift the veil on its BK117C-2/EC145 helicopter programme, developed jointly with Eurocopter, at Tokyo Aerospace 2000 (TA2000). It faces an unusual problem, however, in its Franco-German partner's reluctance to ...
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JAL to entertain with Total system
Japan Airlines (JAL) has put into passenger service its first Boeing 747-400 equipped with the Rockwell Collins Total Entertainment System (TES). It will have to wait until the third quarter of the year to activate audio-and video-on-demand (A/VOD) services, however. The aircraft, which has the TES fitted to every ...
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News
Frequency protection
An industry-wide group comprising airlines, airports, pilots, air traffic controllers and regulatory bodies has formed a coalition and finalised an industry position designed to protect aviation's essential radio frequencies, in preparation for the International Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference in May. Meeting in London on 9-10 March, industry associations, including ...
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News
Television to go live on JetBlue
JetBlue Airways will launch Sextant In-Flight Systems/Harris' LiveTV service on its first two Airbus A320s this month. The New York Kennedy-based airline will be the first carrier to introduce the joint venture's live broadcast satellite service and the first to offer live broadcast television service across its fleet. The ...
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News
Rockwell venture makes News
Emma Kelly/LONDON Rockwell Collins has formed a joint venture with media giant News Corporation in the latest stage of the avionics manufacturer's continuing move towards providing equipment and services for the passenger cabin. The partners' In Flight Network (IFN) joint venture is designed to provide airline passengers with the latest ...
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News
Boeing unwraps avionics upgrade technique
Boeing has demonstrated a low-cost avionics upgrade technique that allows existing software to run unmodified on new commercial processors. The technique involves a computer program which "wraps" around the legacy software and allows it to operate with new commercial software and hardware. Boeing's demonstrations involved the C-17 Globemaster ...
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News
Star seeks busier fleet
Julian Moxon/PARIS French charter carrier Star Airlines has isolated improved aircraft utilisation as the key to matching 1999's financial performance during the current year. Star posted an after-tax profit of Fr11.72 million ($1.75 million) last year, up 128% on 1998, with operating profit up even more sharply, increasing to ...
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News
CAT detector ready for tests
Flight tests of the first predictive warning system for clear air turbulence (CAT) are set to begin by the middle of this year on a Honeywell-owned Boeing 720 testbed. The tests, if successful, will pave the way for eventual series production of a hybrid weather radar/infra-red (IR) laser radar warning ...
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News
Swissair to hand over most Geneva flights to Crossair
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Swissair is transferring the bulk of its Geneva-based services to regional subsidiary Crossair in a bid to cut costs and allow frequencies to be boosted on a large number of routes through the use of smaller aircraft. From the start of this year's summer timetable, Crossair ...
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News
Data overload
Current flightdecks can reduce pilot situational awareness David Learmount/LONDON Flightdeck avionics are supposed to give pilots "situational awareness", but there is evidence that modern systems can reduce it. Situational awareness is the pilot's mental picture of the aircraft relative to its three-dimensional operational environment, including navigation and terrain, the ...
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News
On-time software keeps FAA datalink on track
Key software for the US Federal Aviation Administration's controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC) programme has been delivered to prime contractor Computer Sciences (CSC). The on-time delivery of router software for the aeronautical telecommunications network (ATN) keeps the CPDLC programme on track as the FAA struggles with budget and schedule problems ...
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NASA details ISS price list
Tim Furniss/LONDON Users of the US share of International Space Station resources will be charged a standard price of $20.8 million a year, according to a preliminary price structure released by NASA. The charge is quoted for use of each of two typical "bundles" of equipment, excluding transportation ...
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Midland determined on long haul
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON British Midland (BM) is adamant that it will begin long-haul services next year, but is tight lipped about its contingency plans should it not receive clearance for transatlantic flights. The airline had expected to be in a position to detail its plans for transatlantic flights from London Heathrow ...
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News
More EchoStars on the way
DISH EchoStar communications has ordered three new satellites for its US DISH Network direct-broadcast system. Two craft will be built by Space Systems/Loral and one by Lockheed Martin. EchoStar operates five satellites, with a sixth to be launched in the second quarter. Of the new satellites, the Lockheed Martin-built ...
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Eclipse poised for market entry
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC US Engine manufacturer Williams International is developing a personal jet for new company Eclipse Aviation. Williams is under contract to develop and certificate the Eclipse 500 twinjet and its EJ22 engine, and to turn over to Eclipse a certificated factory ready to produce the aircraft. A team ...
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Gulfstream Five
Gulfstream has delivered its fifth GIV-MPA multipurpose version of the GIV-SP to the Japanese Air Self Defence Force. The aircraft, designated the U-4, is equipped with a multimission, rapid-change interior. Source: Flight International
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Jet power
The potential for Indian air transport has never been greater Julian Moxon/MUMBAIWith a population of close to 1 billion people, most of whom travel by train, India offers immense potential for air transport. That potential was unlocked with the Indian Government's liberalisation of the domestic civil aviation industry in 1990. ...
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Fairchild leads charge for 100-seater market
The 100-seat airliner market debate was freshly stirred at Asian Aerospace 2000 as the regional aircraft manufacturers showed themselves to be ever more confident about their prospects in this controversial sector. In a far cry from two years ago, when the regional manufacturers insisted that they would not risk ...
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Northwest adds new fare
Jane Levere New York Northwest Airlines is gambling on attracting a larger share of the US business traveller market by creating a new type of discounted advance purchase fare that does not include overnight an Saturday stay requirement. The new tariff, available only on US and Canadian routes, features ...