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Aviation History
1972
1972 - 0015.PDF
FLIGHT International, 6 January 1972 13 DUBLIN DISPUTE FOR HEARING THE dispute between Ireland and the USA over traffic rights will be aired in Washington this week or next when the Civil Aeronautics Board hears argument on the pro posed ban of Aer Lingus-Irish at New York. The US Gov ernment has warned the airline that it will terminate its right to serve New York next August unless US flag carriers are permitted to serve Dublin. At present they may only use Shannon, while Aer Lingus-Irish transatlantic services use Dublin. The Irish airline has said that the loss of New York traffic rights might force it to abandon the North Atlantic altogether. NOW THE NEW-LOOK DC-9 IMPROVEMENTS to the DC-9 announced by McDonnell Douglas include a higher gross weight for Series 30 air craft and (for aircraft delivered from 1973 onwards) up rated engines. The new developments are clearly aimed at broadening the DC-9 market in a manner similar to Boeing's improvement programme for its 727 and 737. Emphasis has been placed on increased runway perform ance. Some improvements are available for retrospective fitting to existing fleets. The new engine option is the 15,5001b, 69-0kN Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15, giving an extra 5001b, 2-5kN thrust over the JT8D-lls now fitted, and 1,0001b, 5-0kN over the -9s. Braking will be improved with the incorporation of the Mk III Hytrol anti-skid system. Other measures which are aimed at improving runway performance are the avail ability of modified thrust reversers and a kit for gravel- runway operations. The reversers will incorporate doors canted 15° from the vertical to minimise engine ingestion of dirt and exhaust gases when reverse thrust is selected. The gravel deflectors, on both main and nose undercarriage legs, are of a type developed some time ago for water deflection, says McDonnell Douglas. The DC-9 cabin interior has been the subject of some restyling intended to produce the effect of increased spaciousness. The new furnishings include closed overhead luggage lockers. FIVE YEARS OF EXPANSION THE 1972-1976 five-year plan about to be implemented by Japan Air Lines envisages an increase in the carrier's fleet from 69 to 90 aircraft. The current fleet consists of eight 747s, 47 DC-8s, 12 727s and two YS-lls. When the fleet reaches 90 aircraft, says the airline, it will be composed of 49 wide-body aircraft including four 747 freighters, plus two Concordes, 37 DC-8s and two YS-lls. (JAL has options on three Concordes but expects to be operating only two during the period of the plan.) JAL plans to put the 747 on its polar route to Europe this year and on domestic trunk routes in Japan in 1973. The type will be introduced on further services in South- East Asia in 1973-75, and' on the southern route to Europe and transatlantic services in 1976. By 1975 all the company's trans-Pacific flights (45 a week are planned) except those to Vancouver and Mexico are expected to be operated with 747s. (The Tokyo-Vancouver- Mexico route is due to be inaugurated in April.) The num ber of pilots employed by JAL is expected to increase from 900 to 1,450 over the next five years. Among other JAL plans are the inclusion of Athens and Nairobi in the airline's network and the extension of its Sydney route to Auckland. HIJACKINGS DEFEATED THE number of successful hijackings of US aircraft is decreasing thanks to the activities of the US Sky Marshals, according to John Volpe, Secretary of Transportation. He said last week that 11 out of 26 attempts were successful in 1971, compared with 18 out of 27 in 1970. He added that nine of the 11 successful hijackings could have been eliminated if airports and airlines had been using recom mended anti-hijacking measures such as gun-detection devices and psychological profiles. A front-loading passenger airside coach of a new type being supplied to BOAC by Sparshatts of Portsmouth, England. The coach is under going assessment trials at Heathrow, London, and is the first of a fleet of four destined for Karachi. Capacity is IS passengers; as access is at the front, alongside the driver, the vehicle can be nosed in to the air craft steps REDUCED PROFITS FOR LTU LTU, the German independent carrier based at Diisseldorf, has recently published its annual report for the financial year 1970. Though business is expanding rapidly, financial results are less satisfactory at the moment. Operating six jet aircraft, LTU reached total revenue of DM55-4 million (£6-6 million) in 1970. Nevertheless profits were down from DM3-3 million (£390,000) in 1969 to DM1-3 million (£155,000) in 1970. For the year 1971 LTU expects to carry more than 500,000 passengers with a fleet of eight aircraft. Total sales are expected to reach about DM72 million (£8-6 million) but costs, particularly of wages, have risen considerably during the past year. During the financial year 1971, according to managing director Ernst Jiii gen Ahrens, the company will do no more than break even. For the year 1972 it is expected that 7-5 per cent increase in charter rates will be obtained. As costs will rise again, however, Mr Ahrens does not expect the financial situation to be much better during 1972. In the long run, however, he sees good prospects for LTU. According to Mr Ahrens LTU will not enter the long- haul charter market on its own, but might do so in co-opera tion with another international carrier. At present LTU is mainly operating from Germany to the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands. The current fleet is composed of four Caravelle lORs and four F.28s. A fifth Caravelle 10B will be delivered to the company early in 1972. A decision whether or not the company will acquire two Boeing 727-200s is expected this month. A bilateral air service agreement between Ceylon and Jugoslavia was signed in Colombo in December. Sofia crash An 11-18 of Balkan Bulgarian crashed on take-off at Sofia on December 21. Of the 62 passengers and 11 crew on board, 28 were killed. Northeast Airlines withdrew the Britannia from scheduled services on December 31. It was the last of the type to be operated on scheduled services in Europe, says the airline. Universal Airlines expects to put its new Boeing 747 into service on May 15. It will be mainly used for affinity-group charters between the US West Coast and points in Europe, the company said last week. The aircraft, originally built for Braniff, was flown to Everett on December 2 for additional modifications and will be delivered to Universal shortly. The airline began operating transatlantic charters last summer after taking over American Flyers. x~- -
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