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Aviation History
1980
1980 - 0008.PDF
6 FLIGHT international, 5 January 198 No holds barred in Miami fight PRELIMINARY statements from US carriers competing for the London- Miami route have underlined the eagerness to take over one of the few remaining transatlantic routes which are actually profitable. National Airlines currently holds the Miami- London licence (British Airways is the UK-designated carrier) but will lose it when the merger with Pan Am becomes effective later this year. The US Civil Aeronautics Board, when it approved the Pan Am merger, said that it would withdraw National's Miami-London licence to prevent Pan Am from automatically taking over the route with the airline. So far 10 airlines have applied for the route, including Pan Am, Braniff, Delta, Eastern, Air Florida and West ern. The carrier to watch is Air Florida, a fast-growing regional air line which, until deregulation in late 1978, flew no services outside its home state. Air Florida is currently one of the CAB's "blue-eyed boys" and is often cited by the Board as an ex ample of the good effects of deregula tion—a small carrier expanding aggressively into the established trunks' territory and capturing traffic with low fares. The airline is mount ing a publicity campaign under the theme "join Air Florida's battle for Airliner market • Air Europe, the Gatwick-based UK charter airline, has ordered its sixth Boeing 737-200 for delivery in spring 1981. • Alia, the Jordanian flag carrier, has announced an order for five Lockheed TriStars (Flight, December 22, page 2042). A decision on the exact mix of -200s and -500s, for medium and long-haul operations, is expected soon. The Jordanian airline has also ordered one Boeing 747-200B, for delivery in March 1981, powered by General Electric CF6-50Es. • Egyptair plans to convert four options for Airbus A300s into firm orders, adding to three A300s ordered earlier this year. Egypt's flag carrier has, been cleared to buy four McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s by a committee set up to examine the deal in the wake of the Chicago crash. But the order is being delayed while financing terms are being negotiated. • Frontier Airlines has ordered two Boeing 737s for delivery in spring 1981. When these are delivered, Frontier will have a fleet of 45 737s. • The Government of Madagascar Britain" to get its name better known on both sides of the Atlantic. Air Florida proposes a normal one-way economy fare of $175 (peak season) or $143 (low season) and a $465 one-way first class fare (which compares with the current level of $803). Air Florida proposes to use DC-lOs on the route and has leased one -30 from World Airways for the coming summer season. It holds options to lease another two. These plans pro duced an extraordinary statement from Eastern Airlines' , president Frank Borman in testimony to the CAB law judge before Christmas. Borman says that "recently there appears to be renewed public concern about the DC-10, following the An tarctica crash, although that crash was apparently not related to any al leged design defects. It is not my view that the DC-10 is an unsafe airplane. In fact, we have had East ern's engineers examine the DC-10 and they found it a safe, airworthy aircraft. It does appear, however, that many passengers now are troubled about the DC-10, and even before the grounding, they strongly preferred the 747 [Eastern proposes to use 747s on Miami-London]. I am confident that the DC-10 safety issue will be resolved in the long run, but in the short run, has ordered three BAe 748 Series 2Bs for use by Air Madagascar. The first aircraft was delivered at the end of December, one more will follow this year and the last will be delivered in 1981. Worldwide sales of the 748 now stand at 345. • Malaysian Airline System has ordered a third McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 for delivery in early 1981. n Mexicana has ordered six more Boeing 727-200s to add to its fleet of 34 aircraft of this type. The new air craft will be delivered between October this year and June 1981. • Royal Air Maroc, the Moroccan flag carrier, has ordered one Boeing 727-200 for delivery in July 1980. • • South African Airways has made the biggest aircraft purchase in its history by ordering 12 Boeing 737 s worth $146 million. • Swissair has announced that it is to order a third Boeing 747-200 for delivery in March 1982 and place an option on a fourth for spring 1983 delivery. • Yemen Airways has ordered two de Havilland Canada Dash 7s for delivery later this year. • Ansett Airlines of New South Wales, the Ansett regional subsidiary, has taken options on four de Havilland Canada Dash 7s and intends to operate them on the Sydney-Norfolk Island route, currently flown by rival regional East-West Airlines, using F.27s. The The Australian Government has ap proved upgrading of Norfolk Island's airstrip to take jets and East-West may buy BAe 146s or Fokker F.28s. a DC-10 operator will be at a com petitive disadvantage against a carriei flying Boeing 747s." Borman's statement, highly uncon ventional even in the context of the cut-throat world of US deregulation possibly indicates how worried some of the big carriers are that Air Florida will run off with the Miami prize. Pan Am, which is applying to take on the route following the National mer ger, is playing on the fact that it is the only airline which will be allowed to operate into Heathrow, rather than Gatwick. "Another major advantage which we enjoy is our ability to serve Miami-London via Heathrow Airport, the busiest international airport in the world. Heathrow not only offers access to London itself, which is superior to that afforded by Gatwick, but offers many more connecting op portunities beyond London to Europe and the Middle East. We are the only applicant in this case who can be certain of serving Heathrow. We are National's corporate successor and will receive National's grandfather rights at Heathrow under the current UK airports policy." Air Florida would prefer to serve Heathrow, but will accept Gatwick if this is not possible. Delta and Braniff already serve Gatwick. Short hauls ... • McDonnell Douglas' DC-9 Super 80 has now passed the lOOhr mark in its flight-test programme and is perform ing up to, and in some respects be yond, expectations. A second aircraft has already joined the $36 million test programme and a third will be airborne early in 1980. Airline de liveries will start next summer. Swiss air and Austrian Airlines are the first two customers. G Pan American is to fit a new ground proximity warning system to its Boeing 747, 727 and TriStar 500 aircraft. The GPWS, manufactured by Sundstrand Data Control Inc., of Redmond, Wash ington, is the Mk 2 version of that in stalled in Pan Am aircraft in 1974. The new system gives pilots audible warning, in five modes, that terrain is in the flight path. The various modes give verbal warning of excessive rate of descent, approaching high ground, incorrect configuration during ap proach, negative rate of climb after take-off, and glideslope divergence. Q Braniff International reports that the number of passengers carried during 1979 shows a 20 per cent in crease over the previous year. Figures for international passengers show a 40 per cent rise. The first phase of Braniff's terminal expansion at Dallas/ Fort Worth is under way. The new building will be capable of handling five Boeing '747s simultaneously and processing 1,500 passengers an hour through customs and immigration.
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