Systems & interiors – Page 763
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A sense of balance
CHRIS TARRY COMMERZBANK IN LONDON The traffic forecasting model developed by Commerzbank and Airline Business highlights the extent to which capacity ran ahead of demand in 1999. But the coming year could bring markets back to balance. If further evidence was needed over the pain that excess seat capacity can ...
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Canberra considers Sydney public float
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE The Australian Government is considering a public float of Sydney Airports Corporation (SACL), departing from its previous privatisation policy. Australia's finance minister, John Fahey, says the government is considering offering SACL shares publicly rather than through trade sales as it did with the country's 17 other airports. ...
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Cargo shapes up for rapid shake up
PETER CONWAY LONDON The year ahead looks likely to see dramatic changes in air cargo, with more and more carriers offering time-definite services, and the old wholesale-retail relationships between airline and forwarder becoming more flexible. Wilhelm Althen, retiring chairman of Lufthansa Cargo, which introduced time-definite services and a programme of ...
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Ramp Up
TOM GILL LONDON Deregulation in Europe's ground handling market is improving prices - but not necessarily service levels This year will be a busy one for European ground handling. By January 2001, most of the region's airports must have opened their doors to competition, ushering in a new era of ...
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Sabre rattling
TOM GILL LONDON Sabre is moving ahead with its bid to be the leading single-source supplier of IT services to the airline industry. Completely out-of-control is how John "Bo" Boedecker describes the state of the information technology budgets of some its prospective client airlines. According to Boedecker, Sabre's president, worldwide ...
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Spinning a Web
KAREN WALKER WASHINGTON DC A smart and easy-to-use web site may become an airline's most powerful tool for retaining control over the customer. But most carriers have a lot of work ahead of them before their sites meet passenger expectations. Airline managers might want to try an experiment: log on ...
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First Hughes 702 will be largest in orbit
Hughes Space and Communications' first HS-702 satellite was due to be launched on 21 December aboard an Ariane 4. The HS-702, which will be PanAmSat's Galaxy XI satellite, will be the largest commercial communications satellite deployed in orbit - equipped with 64 transponders (40 Ku-band and 24 C-band) and ...
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'Real estate in space' for ISS
Spacehab and Russia's Energia plan to build the first privatised commercial module for the International Space Station (ISS). Called Enterprise, the module will be used for commercial microgravity experiments and to host a studio for television and Internet broadcasts. The latter is expected to be in conjunction with an established ...
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Forecasts for 2000 - Safety
Global pressures will force airlines to improve David Learmount/LONDON During 1999, new global forces for aviation safety kicked in for the first time in the form of sanctions. Where carrots failed, the stick was applied, and Korean Air felt the effect. Powerful global safety forces have recently come into ...
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Forecasts for 2000 - Environment
Green issues pose biggest industrial challenge David Learmount/LONDON Glimpses of how environmental issues will be handled in the future are visible in the Euro-US row about hushkits. Ostensibly, environmental concerns embrace purely the control of noise, emissions, and safety for those who live near airports. However, this debate ...
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In the front seat
Flight International samples Airbus' new flight desk technology for the A3XX Peter Henley/TOULOUSEAirbus Industrie has built up vast experience in the design and production of fly-by-wire commercial aircraft. A bedrock philosophy behind the consortium's ever-expanding family has been to achieve maximum commonality between cockpits. This means pilots can fly ...
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Forecasts for 2000 - Airframers
Ultra-large aircraft and regional jets to move ahead, but production to slow Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON Although 1999 promised some dramatic airliner developments, few came to fruition. But the stage has been set for key activities over the next 12 months - most notably in the ultra-large aircraft and regional-jet sectors. ...
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Reims analyses demand for Western version of An-140
Francois Legros/PARIS French light aircraft manufacturer Reims Aviation is evaluating the market for a possible Westernised version of the Antonov An-140 turboprop. Reims Aviation sales manager François Billet says the company's relationship with the Ukrainian design bureau Antonov is "very close" and that it is "undertaking a market ...
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SAS board approves A330/A340 purchase
The SAS board has finally approved the Scandinavian flag carrier's long-awaited purchase of four A330-300s and six A340-300s to replace Boeing 767-300ERs on long-haul routes. The airline's selection of the Airbus types over the rival 777-200ER was revealed by Flight International in January, although the order was delayed until internal ...
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Forecasts for 2000 - Aerospace
The shape of the industry is changing radically Chris Jasper/LONDON The face of aerospace manufacturing has been transformed over the past few years by rampant merger activity, but in 2000, the industry may at last be prepared to take a breather as companies concentrate on extracting value from the ...
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Euro capacity plans sought for 8.33kHz success
Emma Kelly/LONDON Eurocontrol is urging member states affected by the implementation of 8.33kHz channel-spacing to provide details of their capacity plans for next summer to ensure the success of the programme and alleviate congestion in European airspace. The mandatory carriage of 8.33kHz-compatible airborne radio equipment came into effect above ...
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Airbus flying-wing studies
Alongside immediate plans on the A3XX, Airbus Industrie and its partners are looking at configurations that could lead to the introduction of radical airliner designs further into the 21st Century. The first of a series of meetings to consider future concepts took place in November at Airbus Toulouse headquarters. Airbus ...
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Aeroflot agrees to lease six Ilyushin Il-96-300s
Aeroflot Russian International Airlines has signed an agreement with Ilyushin's finance arm to take delivery of six Ilyushin Il-96-300s on lease. Production of the 240-seat Il-96-300, powered by the Aviadvigatel PS-90A, has been running at a trickle at the VASO Voronezh plant, where unfinished aircraft have been stockpiled. ...
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Crossair gears up for ATM-2000+
Andrew Doyle/SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS Crossair aims to become the first regional airline to have aircraft compliant with Europe's future communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) operating environment when it begins taking delivery of a fleet of 15 Embraer ERJ-145s in February. The carrier says it decided ...
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Next-generation datalink held up
Efforts by the US Federal Aviation Administration to develop and deploy the next-generation digital air-to-ground communications system could be delayed by budget cuts, US aviation agency officials have warned. For now, controller pilot datalink communications (CPDLC), a key element of the FAA's "free flight" programme, remains on track despite ...