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Aviation History
1978
1978 - 0069.PDF
FL/GH7" International, Mlanuary (978 Narita still firm for March 30 TOKYO NARITA airport is still on course for a March 30 opening, and Notams announcing the inauguration of the new airport have been sent to Icao members and related states. Local communities and citizens' groups have now been placated with more than $420 million in financial aid to regional development programmes in the vicinity of the airport, although minority extremist groups are still try ing to prevent its opening. Political opposition and violence have delayed the opening of Narita Phase 1 since 1973, when construction was largely completed. Work on the site started in 1967. Narita Phase 1 is about half the area of London Heath row and one-sixth the size of Paris Charles de Gaulle. So far there is only a single runway (16/34) for all opera tions, 4,000m in length. Approach lighting for runway 34 will not be completed until the summer, however, because the towers constructed by protest groups occupied the land re quired until May. Until the lights are completed, aircraft will have to land 750m rather than 300m from the run way threshold. As yet there are no crosswind run ways; two new strips of 2,500m and 3,200m are due to be completed, under the Phase 2 plan, which is expected to reach fruition in the mid-1980s. The Phase 2 plan will also see a near- doubling of the site area and a trebling of passenger and freight capa city. The Phase 1 facilities will be able to cope with 5-4 million passengers and 410,000 tons of freight per year. Landing fee for a 747 is $4,200, which the Narita authorities say is the world's second highest, after Sydney. So far Narita has cost $2,500 million, and the New Tokyo Inter national Airport Corporation is paying $170,000 in interest alone for every day the airport remains closed. High landing fees are necessary in order to recover this cost. Domestic services from Narita will be limited to six round trips daily from Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo, putting great stress on the links be tween Tokyo Haneda and the new air port. Travel time between Narita and Haneda is two hours by car at off- peak times, and three hours in heavy traffic. Tokyo is 66km from the air port, 1-5-2-5 hours by car. There are three rail links with the city, but all of them require bus connections to the airport terminals. Another serious problem is the re stricted airspace around Narita. The new airport is only 48km from the Japanese Air Self-Defence Force base at Hyakuri, and the departure and approach routes run very close to the Hyakuri military training areas. Boeing closed 1977 with a batch of orders almost as encouraging for the Seattle company as the SAS order was for Airbus (see World News last week). The 747 continues to sell strongly. A Combi for Avianca will follow a second-hand 747-100 into service with the Colombian carrier in May next year, bringing 1977 sales of the 747 to 40 aircraft. In the new year KLM ordered two more CF6-powered Combis for delivery in May and Sep tember of next year, and it is reported that El AX will buy another 747F for delivery around the turn of this year and take an option on another for August 1979 • Boeing has also announced the sale of three late-1978 737s to Piedmont, together with 20 wide-body-look kits for the rest of its fleet; these are the first retrofit kits to be sold for the 737. Boeing has confirmed the sale of four more 727s to Alitalia, and it is reported that Pacific Western Airlines has ordered a 14th 737 for delivery in December • Seven Convair 580s have been sold to four customers by Allegheny Airlines in a deal worth nearly $4 million. Delivery of three 580s to Summit Air lines will be complete by the end of next month; the purchaser is having IT IS becoming increasingly unlikely that the first round of talks on a new UK-Scandinavian air agreement, set for January 25 and 26, will take place as scheduled. The British Government is waiting for the Scandinavian Air line System parent governments— Norway, Denmark and Sweden—to make a formal approach and start negotiations on a new agreement. The Scandinavian governments have given 12 months' notice of termination of the existing agreement, which will expire on December 31. The earlier agreement is still effective. The British Government is still pressing the Scandinavians to issue a licence for British Midland Airways' Birmingham-Copenhagen service, but the Scandinavian governments say JAPAN is planning to set up a new non-scheduled cargo airline to meet growing competition from US flag freight services, according to a report in The Japan Economic Journal. The new airline would be established under the auspices of the Japanese Ministry of Transport and would pool the resources of Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways and the country's six leading shipping companies to operate 747s to the USA. Both airlines are submitting separate proposals to the Transport 95 Airliner market the aircraft modified with oversize (120in X 74in) freight doors. Great Lakes Airlines and Aspen Airlines have taken delivery of one aircraft each, with an unnamed purchaser taking the remaining pair. Allegheny has now sold 22 out of its original fleet of 40 Convairs • Federal Express has bought seven Boeing 727-100s from United Airlines, with an option on six more. Deliveries of the first seven, priced at a total of $26 million, will be complete by September • Luxair is retiring its Caravelles • An Olympic Airways planning group has reported in favour of buying the Airbus A300. Five of the European wide-bodies would be acquired, as well as two more Boeing 747s and another 737. that they "are not prepared to grant new operating permits to independent British carriers." Ironically, the British Government, like the US in the Bermuda 2 talks of 1976-77, is now renegotiating an air services agreement with the objectives of increasing competition and resist ing an attempt by the other party to increase its market share. • Malaysian Government officials are still studying environmental data, supphed by the British Government before Christmas, on the effects of Concorde overflights. The Department of Trade tells Flight that no further communication has been received from the Malaysians since the British team left Kuala Lumpur before the holiday. Ministry, but the MoT is likely to suggest that the proposals be merged. ANA sees the cargo airline as a way into the international market now that Narita Airport appears sure to be opened and restrictions on new inter national air services have been re moved. ANA's submission to the MoT, made in conjunction with three Japanese shipping concerns, envisages the use of two all-freight Boeing 747Fs on six weekly Tokyo-San Fran cisco-New York services. British wait for Scandinavian approach in air dispute New Japanese freight carrier?
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