All Systems & interiors articles – Page 769
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Teledesic chief in ICO rescue
Emma Kelly/LONDON Teledesic chairman Craig McCaw is leading a rescue package for ICO Global Communications. It is designed to provide the bankrupt mobile satellite communications company with $1.2 billion so that it can launch services in 2001. McCaw and his affiliated companies, Teledesic and Eagle River Investments, will lead ...
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Rockwell Collins heads for I²S first
Rockwell Collins and Lufthansa affiliate Condor expect to receive German certification of the Integrated Information System (I2S) by mid-November. Certification, which follows a successful test flight on a Condor A320 in September, will pave the way for the launch of a year-long operational trial of the advanced information management system ...
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Recorders may solve EgyptAir crash riddle
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hopes the impending recovery of EgyptAir flight 990's cockpit and data recorders will shed light on the Boeing 767-300ER's rollercoaster plunge into the sea on 31 October. NTSB investigators were waiting for a break in stormy weather last week ...
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ISS suffers further delays
Tim Furniss/LONDON The International Space Station (ISS) project has been dealt a new blow with the delay of the next Space Shuttle assembly mission, STS101 Atlantis. NASA has moved it from February next year to no earlier than 16 March. This comes after the Russian Proton launch failure ...
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Express way to success
Airlines catering for luxury travellers have often gone to the wall. Midwest Express, however, is thriving. Paul Seidenman/MILWAUKEE Since US airlines were deregulated, a few carriers have tried to offer a single-class service catering to the demands of high-fare business travellers. Generally, these luxury operations have been unsuccessful. ...
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Intertechnique to stay in French hands
Intertechnique is to be taken over by another French aviation equipment company, Zodiac, ending speculation of a takeover by a US or UK bidder. The move signals a further consolidation of the French equipment industry, following the merger of Latécoère and Hurel-Dubois in August. The deal, valued at around ...
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Swissair hangs up satphones
Swissair is removing the satellite communications (satcom)-based in-seat telephones installed on its narrowbody Airbus fleet due reliability problems and a lack of passenger demand. The in-seat phones will be removed from January, but one bulkhead-installed phone will remain on each aircraft, says Don McLaren, Swissair in-flight entertainment and communication ...
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F-22 test milestones completed
Lockheed Martin and Boeing have completed all F-22 test milestones originally established for this year. These include engine runs of the third development aircraft. Updated software has been delivered for the Boeing 757 avionics flying testbed. The milestones had been established as prerequisites for a US Department of Defense decision ...
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Ibis targets December for roll-out of Ae270
Ibis Aerospace, the Aero Vodochody/AIDC joint venture, expects to roll out the single-turboprop Ae270 multimission aircraft on 10 December. The first production prototype will be an Ae270P variant, powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A. The aircraft is pressurised, with retractable landing gear. The non-pressurised Ae207W, which has a ...
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Dragonair hunts A320 customers
Andrzej Jeziorski/HONG KONGHong Kong-based Dragonair expects to sign the first contracts with customers for its new Airbus A320 flight training centre in January. General manager Felix Hart says the centre should become operational next June. The company is in talks with A320 operators in the Asia-Pacific region, with possible customers ...
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A330s set to wing their way to Iran
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Iran has reached agreement with France over its planned purchase of four Airbus A330-300s for operation by flag carrier Iran Air, with deliveries of the aircraft to begin in 2001. Iranian transport minister Mohammed Hojjati told the country's official news agency, IRNA, that the $480 million deal was ...
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Europe's Allianz is tipped to acquire Fairchild Aerospace
European insurance and financial services giant Allianz has emerged as a potential buyer of regional jet manufacturer Fairchild Aerospace, which has headquarters in the USA. Allianz will not comment on any possible bid for the 56% share of Fairchild held by chairman Carl Albert, but industry sources say the ...
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Onex raises offer for Air Canada
Brian Dunn/MONTREAL The Onex investment group has improved its takeover offer for Air Canada in response to Star Alliance's bid to keep the carrier in the airline grouping, but there appears to be no quick end in sight to the Canadian airline industry's nine-week old merger battle. Onex ...
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Eurocontrol steps up air traffic enforcement
Eurocontrol is stepping up its activities to implement a European notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) process. The air navigation organisation is working towards introducing formal contractual arrangements with air traffic management (ATM) service providers after proposals from Eurocontrol's council were approved last month. A European NPRM, which would allow ...
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Travel agents outraged by commission reductions
KAREN WALKER WASHINGTON DC Taking their lead from United Airlines, most major US carriers have slashed travel agent commission rates from 8% to 5%. The cuts have provoked outcry from travel agent groups, already reeling from efforts by the airlines to steer customers towards Internet bookings. Within days of ...
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Air Canada's allies prepare rescue bid
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE A showdown is expected by 8 November on the bid by Onex to acquire Air Canada and merge it with Canadian Airlines. With high stakes for the Star and oneworld alliances, United and Lufthansa Airlines appear ready to intervene on Air Canada's behalf. Onex ...
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Free for all
KAREN WALKER WASHINGTON DC US plans for a modernised air traffic control system have undergone a sharp change in direction, making them evolutionary rather than revolutionary and putting the emphasis on government-industry collaboration. Such a programme is more likely to win Congressional support and become a reality. "Ask 10 controllers ...
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Births, deaths and marriages
Sifting the sands of global alliance networks is quickly becoming an art. Over the next year to 18 months this skill will be tested to the limits as exposed "independent" carriers seek shelter in global alliances. These are interesting times for alliance watchers everywhere. Swissair's long-running Atlantic Excellence alliance ...
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More to come says Star, as it welcomes new members
BEN MCMILLAN/ATI TOKYO Singapore Airlines (SIA) took centre stage at the inauguration of Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) into the Star Alliance in Tokyo in October by confirming its widely anticipated entrance into the multilateral airline grouping from spring next year. ANA was to join Star on 31 ...
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A lesson in low cost
Debonair's demise has provided a salutary lesson to other of Europe's low-fares carriers not to stray too far from the low-cost formula. Conventional wisdom may be much maligned, but it is not always wrong. Almost from the day that Franco Mancasola sketched out his plans to launch a ...