All Systems & interiors articles – Page 832
-
News
GEC voices fears over European mega-mergers
Ian Sheppard/LONDON A new report from GEC- Marconi highlights fears within the UK avionics sector that it may lose out in the pending consolidation of the European aerospace industry with its interests potentially swamped by those of the aircraft manufacturers within proposed mega-mergers. Senior sources at GEC, ...
-
News
Utilicraft negotiates first Freight Feeder orders
American Utilicraft (AUC) says that it is negotiating a 50-aircraft launch order for its FF-1080-200 Freight Feeder with an unnamed US air cargo operator. Funding for the programme is tied to securing a launch customer for the twin-turboprop aircraft, says AUC president John DuPont. "We are in pretty strong ...
-
News
Moving goalposts
The UK Government's decision to give British Aerospace £123 million ($200 million) launch aid for development work on the wing of the Airbus A340 500/600 airliner may give a much-needed morale boost to the UK aerospace industry, but it may also do little to bolster (and may even harm) the ...
-
News
NASA works on runway-friction indexing
Ian Sheppard/LONDON NASA is calibrating a new runway-friction indexing method designed to prevent aircraft accidents on icy runways, after it was realised that poor surface-friction information had contributed to incidents where aircraft have slid off the runway or been dangerously slow to reach lift-off speed. The NASA-led tests ...
-
News
Light twin, right price
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC When Bell introduced the Model 407 light single-turbine helicopter it was essentially competing with itself, or rather with the longevity of its popular Model 206 JetRanger/LongRanger family. With the new Model 427 light twin, the company is breaking new ground, and competing with helicopters from established manufacturers. ...
-
News
Regional revolution
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Regional aircraft manufacturers must, by now, be getting used to living in a perpetual state of revolution, and 1997 was no disappointment. The year began with Fokker delivering its last few aircraft and ended with the loss of another famous name, as Saab Aircraft announced its retreat ...
-
News
US airline profits are 'best ever'
The major US airlines ended 1997 with their strongest profits on record, but the celebrations were accompanied by the promise of more turbulence ahead, with the fall-out from Asian economic crisis and the prospect of a renewed round of consolidation closer to home following the Continental/Northwest Airlines tie-up. With only ...
-
News
Insurers threaten to withdraw cover unless airlines tackle computer bug
Aviation insurers have challenged airlines to prove that their fleet avionics are free of the "millennium bug" which threatens to disrupt computer software, or lose their cover for any incidents which result from it. The issue, says a major Lloyds insurance-market underwriter, is what may happen to embedded computer ...
-
News
Northwest and Continental tie-up raises Alitalia/KLM hopes
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Julian Moxon/PARIS The tie-up between Northwest and Continental Airlines has been welcomed by European partners Alitalia and KLM, offering the prospect of a global alliance within five years. "The deal opens the door to a much wider co-operation," says Fausto Cereti, chairman of Alitalia, which already ...
-
News
Going with the flow
Tim Furniss/KENNEDY SPACE CENTER With six International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions scheduled for 1999, and 18 more due to take place between 2000 and 2002, NASA's Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, is soon going to be a hive of activity. The Photovoltaic Module ...
-
News
Do not pass 'go'
So British Airways' no-frills start-up is "Go"; but will it - and what sort of response will it attract from powerful European competitors like Lufthansa? Even more important, from where will the passengers come to make these no-frills airlines work? The justification for an existing airline to launch a ...
-
News
DOT spotlights fare changes
The US Department of Transportation began publishing its domestic airline fares consumer report in response to an increasing number of inquiries about ticket prices. The first report, for the third quarter of 1996, was released in June last year and the latest report is based on data for the second ...
-
News
Islands apart
A grand plan for Air Jamaica to be the focus of closer cooperation in the Caribbean region has failed to materialise, and instead would-be partners like BWIA continue to pursue their own separate strategies. Karen Walker reports. According to a joke that circulates in the Caribbean, St Peter allows newly ...
-
News
No more red China blues?
Tom Ballantyne China's airlines are getting their first taste of capitalism as the country's carriers drastically slash their air fares and liberalisation hits the region. The Civil Aviation Administration of China has given its 27 CAAC-approved airlines the go-ahead to cut prices by up to 40 per cent ...
-
News
Carriers free private parts
Doug Cameron Belgium-based City Bird's rocky initial public offering suggests that the recent spate of successful IPOs by European airlines may be over. Last year, low-cost European airline stocks benefited from a surge in interest from US investors who moved heavily into Ryanair and Virgin Express. However, the ...
-
News
Cheap thrills with no frills
Lois Jones Low-cost startups are beginning to looking extremely vulnerable as more majors launch low-cost subsidiaries, ignoring the argument that the independent players should instead be left to satisfy the demand for low fares in underserved markets. By Lois Jones. To your corners, please. To the left of the ring ...
-
News
US hubs need to be consolidated
Karen Walker Driven as they are by the shareholder, the major US carriers will no doubt sit up and take notice of a new report from a Wall Street analyst that assesses their growth potential, and therefore investment worth, based on the relative strengths and weaknesses of their hubs. ...
-
News
Taiwan demob
Taiwan's parliament has passed a law allowing police to board aircraft to break up demonstrations by travellers. Airline customers in Taiwan regularly stage cabin protests on both domestic and international flights when they are delayed, demanding free tickets or cash compensation for the inconvenience. Source: Airline Business
-
News
Higher US fares are hitting home
As US domestic fares continue to rise, more business travellers are making concessions in order to obtain lower fares, or are switching to low-cost carriers. Report by Karen Walker. The New Year had barely been rung in when both American Express and the US Department of Transportation confirmed what most ...
-
News
NTSB calls for software rethink after A300 lost speed in descent
Software redesign following investigation of an in-flight upset to an American Airlines Airbus Industrie A300-600R has been recommended by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The aircraft's airspeed was allowed to decrease dangerously when it levelled out at 16,000ft (4,900m) during descent, before the stall-warning sounded and the aircraft ...