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Aviation History
1982
1982 - 2274.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT More cutbacks at Pan Am NEW YORK Pan American has announced that it will cut 5,000 more staff from its 30,000-strong workforce in a bid to get the carrier back to its once- healthy financial position. The staff reductions, which Pan Am says will be made mostly through attrition and voluntary redundancies, are linked to the airline's plan to restructure its routes and make operations more effi cient and profitable by the end of next year. A cost-cut ting measure implemented in July was the phasing-out of its 12 TriStar 500s. The carrier has now phased out all but four of these aircraft, but says all its TriStars will be out of service by the end of October. Pan American reported a $183-5 million loss for the first half of the year, $56-2 million of which was lost in the second quarter. These figures compare with a $233 loss for the first half of the previous year and a $112 million loss in the second quarter. But in June 1982 Pan Am looked as if it could recover when it announced a $2 million profit for the month — its first in 22 months, the airline says. Pan Am maintains that "trends are improving" and the car rier "expects to achieve a third quarter profit". But Merrill Lynch, the world's largest stockbrokers, has revised its estimate of what it expects Pan Am's losses will total this year. Two months ago the US bro kers predicted the airline would lose $89 million. Now it forecasts losses of $220 million. Pan Am says this announcement is not a worry ing one. It says Merrill Lynch has simply "reduced its earn ing estimates, as it has done with many other US car riers". Another cost-cutting meas ure, although at the moment "temporary", is Pan Am's de cision to cease operating the New Delhi - Bangkok - Hong Kong sector of its exclusive round-the-world air service on October 31. The airline's present service originates in New York and flies to Lon don - Frankfurt - Istanbul - Dubai - Karachi - New Delhi - Bangkok-Hong Kong-Tokyo and Los Angeles, plus an op tion to travel on to Houston and Dallas and then back to New York. Pan Am says the Delhi- Hong Kong sector has been unprofitable for a number of years largely because of com petition and lack of traffic. In future Pan Am's East- bound flights from the USA via London will turn round in New Delhi, while west bound flights from the USA will fly via Tokyo to Hong Kong and turn round there. Under international air agreements, when Pan Am cuts its flights to Bangkok it will be able to increase its frequency on the profitable San Francisco-Hong Kong- Singapore route. • There is speculation in the United States that Sir Freddie Laker could make a return to the air charter and package holiday business in partnership with Pan Am. Asked whether there was any truth in the rumour Pan American in New York and in London stood firm with "no comment". Hong Kong services are developing Aviation developments in Hong Kong are pushing ahead with the announce ment of a new agreement be tween Malaysian Airline Sys tem and Cathay Pacific to operate jointly twice-weekly services between Kota Kina- balu and Hong Kong. Under the agreement MAS and Cathay will take it in turns to provide the aircraft each year. Initially the service will be operated by MAS wide- bodied aircraft which will provide 531 seats. British Caledonian is to open a downtown check-in desk at the Hilton Hotel on October 24. The check-in will be available to the air line's first-class and execu tive-class passengers as well as members of BCal's Chief tain Club. BCal's general manager for the Far East Ranald Noel-Paton says that he is pleased with the car rier's performance on the Hong Kong service: "Propor tionally our load factors are the highest on the route, over 90 per cent." Hong Kong's Carrian (travel) Group has been talk ing to officials at the Port of Oakland about setting up charter flights from Hong Kong to North Carolina. The group is keen to have a new travel service into the USA by the end of the year either by chartering its own aircraft or buying blocks of seats from existing carriers. It is likely that Garrian will fly into Oakland International Airport rather than San Francisco Airport if it fol lows the advice of Herbert Eng, president of the Port of Oakland Commissioners. He says that it is quicker and more convenient to get from Oakland Airport to the centre of San Francisco than from San Francisco's own "overcrowded" airport. Meanwhile nearby, main land China's airline CAAC and West German flag car rier Lufthansa are consider ing increasing frequencies on the Peking-Frankfurt route. Presently both carriers operate a weekly service on the route, CAAC with a Boeing 747SP and Lufthansa with a DC-10. Frank Beck- mann, senior vice-president for Lufthansa, said that dur ing the summer both car riers were operating at full capacity. These Fokker F.28s will be delivered to Linjeflyg in December and January 970 FLIGHT International, 2 October 1982
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