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Aviation History
1976
1976 - 0282.PDF
398 AIR TRANSPORT "Dead? Only the British Government is dead. One day Skytrain will be in operation. It is inevitable. I shall fight this until RIP is on my headstone." Laker last week published Skytrain, A National Scandal, setting out the airline's "emphatic refutation of the argu ments and reasoning given by the Secretary of State." It is available from Laker Airways, Gatwick Airport, Sussex, England. The end of dual designation and the establishment of the new spheres of interest form the bulk of the changes to the CAA policy guidance. The spheres of interest directly replace the earlier principle of preference for BCAL in the award of new routes. There is, however, a difference between the two spheres. British Airways is to be given strong preference over BCAL, but only BCAL in its sphere is given preference over all British airlines in the non-scheduled market. The White Paper acknowledges that the CAA will not be self-supporting financially by 1977, as had been planned. The new target is that the CAA should be recovering its costs by 1978, with the exceptions of the Highland airports and Eurocontrol charges. The new policy guidance also outlines the importance of airports strategy, and says that the CAA should remain in close consultation with the British Airports Authority. FLIGHT International, 21 February 1976 CONCORDE TO NEW YORK IN MAY BRITISH AIRWAYS has taken more than 2,000 bookings for Concorde flights to New York and it is expected that services will start in May. Key legal question to be answered before operations can begin concerns the right and duty of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to apply noise regulations to a properly certificated foreign aircraft, even to the extent of banning an aircraft which it does not see as complying with its regulations. Has the Port Authority the right to ban properly certi ficated aircraft from its airports? It has been exercising that right since 1952. Although airlines have questioned it on occasion it has never been tested in the courts. It is open to challenge as an interference with interstate com merce (which only the Federal Government may regulate), as a violation of airlines' rights under their airport leases or, in the case of Concorde, as a violation of international treaties. The Federal Government has previously recognised the Port Authority's right to decide whether aircraft may use its airports. The State Department has asked the Port Authority on a number of occasions to make special excep tions for aircraft carrying diplomatic missions. The State Department also assured the Port Authority in writing, when it was negotiating a bilateral with the Soviet Union, continued on page 400 Airliner market Airbus Industrie is talking to Braniff, United Airlines and Western Airlines in the USA, although consortium execu tives are wary of predicting early successes. Tests under way at Toulouse will determine whether A300 can use the 5,700ft runway at Edmonton, Alberta, in readiness for a presentation to CP Air. Mexicana is another target on the continent. Singapore Airlines remains the hottest pros pect in the Far East region • Allegheny has ordered new interiors for ten McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s, with options on 31 more shipsets, from Heath Tecna Corporation • twenty-two ex-RAF BAC Britannias in all have been given civil certificates of airworthiness Q Balair has ordered a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30ER extended-range twin jet. Fitted with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17s of 16,0001b thrust, the Balair aircraft will gross 121,0001b on take-off, 13,0001b more than the standard aircraft, with an extra 2,250 US gal of fuel in the belly. Range with maxi mum payload will be 2,000 n.m. The aircraft will be delivered in December • The ending of British Airways and British Caledonian uncertainty, with publication of the UK policy review, will spark off a sales battle. Eventual orders for as many as 40 long-range wide-bodies are at stake. Both airlines can now make investment plans and decisions are likely this year. Main contenders are believed to be the TriStar 500 and DC-10-30R, but Boeing will prob ably not stand idly by. BCAL has bought another Boeing 707-338 from Qantas • Cuba has offered to buy East African Airways' four BAC Super VClOs. Negotiations were being carried forward with some urgency, with an EAA team in Cuba last week. The Cuban Government wants long-haul jets with cargo doors to establish a link with Angola • Gulf Air continues to weigh the choice of a twinjet, with BAC offering better terms, although the Boeing 737 remains the technical choice • Cathay Pacific has cancelled two Lockheed TriStar options, while one executive has resigned following an investigation into "commission" paid by the manufacturer, and TWA has sold its two latest TriStars to Saudia straight off the production line. The total price, $55-5 million, covers the cost of modification to Saudia specifications. TWA makes no profit or loss, but gains a significant cash infusion. New price of the aircraft is now $21-$22 million • Fred Olsen's Flyveselskap has acquired an ex-VASP Hawker Siddeley HS.748 • Overseas National Airways, previously reported not to be interested in replacing its two written-off McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s, is now rumoured strongly to be in the replacement market. Watch out for ONA to order two DC-10-40s with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-70s. UTA's new DC-10-30, mentioned last week, will be delivered in December of next year • SAS will decide shortly whether to acquire a Boeing 747 Combi. Two DC-10-30s have been accepted this year. SAS is leasing DC-9-41 time to Linjeflyg to allow the domestic carrier to operate the recently awarded Stockholm-Lulea route • Sterling is claiming that Aerospatiale owes it DKr30-40 million ($5-6-5 million), following the grounding and restriction of its fleet of six Caravelle 12s last year. Routine testing revealed cracks in the lower wing skins, which will have to be replaced. Sterling had to lease two 727-200s from National Leasing Corporation of Chicago to meet its summer commitments, and it is this outlay which the carrier wants to recover. Three Caravelles are now at Nantes for modifications; the others will operate under restriction until next winter. Until the five-month retrofit has been carried out the aircraft are restricted to the equivalent of 117 passengers and 250kt CAS • Sterling has surplus Caravelle capacity despite the restrictions on the 12s. Two out of seven Caravelle lORs are on lease to Finnair and one to Sterling Philippine Airways. Another 10R will probably be delivered to the latter company later this year, leaving Sterling with four lORs. One of Sterling's eight Caravelle 6Rs will be delivered to a new charter com pany, Starline of Naples, on March 1. Sterling holds one- third of the shares in the new company, which will prob ably receive a second 6R this year, leaving Sterling with six • Zambia Airways was the owner of the DC-8-43 _^ acquired by IAS Cargo Airlines, not East African Airways as reported in this column.
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