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Aviation History
1978
1978 - 0979.PDF
FLIGHT International, / 7 June 1978 1833 Air transport Southern Airways cancels Super 80s US REGIONAL carrier Southern Air ways has cancelled its order for four McDonnell Douglas DC-9 Super 80s, placed when the programme was launched last October. Although Southern has retained options on two Super 80s and has ordered four DC-9-30s, and says that it changed the order because it needed earlier deliveries, the loss of the only firm US Super 80 customer must be a blow to the programme. Southern will take delivery of its newly ordered DC-9-30s in the first quarter of 1980, some months before the Super 80s could have entered ser vice. In addition, the regional carrier is buying ten more DC-9-10s, includ ing eight from Eastern and two air craft now leased in by Southern. One influence on Southern's decision to delay acquisition of Super 80s must be the fact that the airline has found itself in the front line of opposition to SCIMITAR AIRLINES' application for cargo charter licences is being vigorously opposed by other operators, including founder Maurice Guinane's old employers, Hritish Caledonian. The Civil Aviation Authority is now considering evidence, given at a public hearing, for and against Scimitar's application. Guinane has been involved in dis cussions about the formation of a new airline for the past three years or so, and he now wants to get Scimitar operational by September. Scimitar's current application to the CAA covers a Class 5 licence to operate substitute charters on behalf of other airlines, and a Class 6 for cargo charters. The airline's application for an Air Operator's Certificate, filed in January, is still being considered. Scimitar originally intended to operate passenger charters from this year—there is a current shortage of capacity in the UK-originating market—but negotiations with poten tial shareholders have been so pro tracted that there has been no time to tie up tour-operating contracts des pite the strength of the market. Scimitar is not actively marketing its passenger capacity for 1979, and will not do so until its cargo opera tions, mainly to Dubai and Nigeria, have settled down. Guinane declined to disclose his the US Air Line Pilots' Association's insistence that the Super 80 must be flown with a three-pilot crew. US- operated 737s are flown by three crew, while earlier DC-9s, used by Southern and most other regional carriers, have only two. Southern is less well equipped than a large trunk airline to take a stand on the crewing issue, not only because of its smaller size but also because regional airlines have no equivalent to the trunks' Mutual Aid Pact, under which carriers' revenue losses in a strike are reimbursed by their com petitors. Southern's position on crew ing would have been easier if any of the US trunks had bought the air craft, but so far Eastern, the main prospect, seems to have shown more interest in the Boeing 757. The larger aircraft can better support the costs of a three-man crew. The rock-bottom price tag on the possible sources of aircraft at the CAA hearing. Scimitar has not yet committed itself to aircraft because it had not received its operating licences; it would be "folly" to com mit shareholders' money without such an assurance. Guinane prefers the convertible 707-320C to the all-freight -320F, also listed on the Scimitar licence applica tion. He indicates that the airline will probably have to acquire wide-body aircraft within two years in order to remain competitive. In the long term Scimitar will involve itself in any activity which it considers to be profit able, including scheduled passenger services. B.CAL licensing manager Rodney Bench reminded the CAA panel of the Authority's policy decision last year to retain control of cargo-charter capacity and of the Government's policy guidance to the CAA, which requires the Authority to control the entry of new airlines "to avoid undue fragmentation of effort." "You are being faced with a sub stantial increase in capacity within a short time at a time when all the existing operators say that markets are declining," Bench told the panel. All-cargo carriers Transmeridian Air Cargo and Tradewinds Airways share these views, and are also objecting to the Scimitar licence. 757—a three-crew aircraft—is no doubt one reason for the slow sales of the Super 80, and Boeing is believed to be offering generous buy-back terms on 727s to encourage airlines to wait for the as-yet-unlaunched narrow- body twinjet. Southern's cancellation is the first movement in the Super 80 order book since the programme was launched. Swissair (15 + 5) and Austrian (8 + 4) remain firm customers, but LAV Aero- postal has not confirmed a letter of intent, although it ordered more DC-9-50s earlier this year. Alitalia has indicated an interest in the Super 80, though North Central Airlines and Aeromexico are at present the best prospects. These carriers are both established MDC customers, and in both cases the Super 80 is in competition with the 727 and 757 to meet an expanding traffic requirement. Jet equipment for Air Anglia and British Island Airways TWO British independent airlines have placed their first firm orders for jet aircraft. Air Anglia is acquiring two new Fokker-VFW Mk 4000s, and as Flight closes for press British Island Airways is expected to an nounce the purchase of three British Aerospace One-Eleven 400s from Gulf Air. Air Anglia will introduce the F.28s on its European scheduled network in May and August next year. When the Mk 4000s are delivered the airline's first F.28, a leased Mk 1000 due for delivery in the autumn, will return to the manufacturer. The airline expects to achieve utilisation of 2,800hr- 3,000hr a year. BIA intends to use its One-Elevens on inclusive - tour flights to the Mediterranean area, and general manager Peter Villa confirms to Flight that the airline is still interested in the F.28 as a means of expanding and developing its scheduled network. The airline's last application for more scheduled rights from London Gat- wick to European destinations was however rejected by the Civil Aviation Authority last autumn, and an appeal is now being considered by the Department of Trade. Scimitar defends licence applications
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