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Aviation History
1983
1983 - 1865.PDF
to use a complete set of aircraft- interchangeable instruments and equip ment. Only seven dial instruments on the simulator are incompatible with an aircraft in line service. Hass explains that, like the airline, CAE has had a hard time keeping up to date with modification and performance documentation as the A310 moved through the final certification process. For instance, notes Hass, the Sperry FMS could not originally handle an instantaneous aircraft position transfer. So the airline had to buy $250,000-worth of new software from Sperry to let the FMS interface properly with CAE's simu lator microprocessors. From early 1984, Lufthansa will perform all its conversion training on its kown simulator. It believes it will be able then to cut down conversion flight- training to 2shr; initially pilots received 6hr, because Aeroformation's A310 simu lator at Toulouse was not updated to full certification standard. Lufthansa now has 40 captains and 34 copilots for its six A310s. Swissair stops training at Toulouse at the end of this year. It will receive its own A310 simulator — built by Refleetone — early next year. Like Lufthansa's simu lator, its instruments will be entirely aircraft-compatible. By now Swissair should have obtained Swiss technical certification for Cat 3A automatic landings with dual-autopilot operation. The airline still needs to satisfy the operational certification require ments—e.g. pilot training and mainte nance standards. After obtaining full Swiss Cat 3A certification, which allows landing with 200m runway visual range and 20ft decision height, the airline will go for Cat 3B, with 150m RVR. Lufthansa expects Cat 3A technical certification by the German LBA next February. Changes for Swissair The introduction of the A310 into commercial service has meant more changes for Swissair than for Lufthansa. Lufthansa is essentially using the aircraft as an A300 replacement, so that it is actu ally downgrading capacity slightly on many of its European services. It is experienced with European containerised belly-hold cargo operations. But for Swissair the A310 is a brand- new commercial challenge. It has never before operated a widebody on short-haul routes, and all its European cargo operations until now have used DC-9 freighters. The challenge is increased because, as Hans Hosli of commercial planning admits, the airline bought the A310s too early (the airline could not predict the severity of the recession). "Our market has stopped growing and even declined, so we had some trouble getting the A310 into operation." Swissair was badly affected also by the intro duction of high-speed train services link ing Paris and Geneva, which used to be its most heavily travelled route. Slot problems at most of the busiest European airports — Heathrow, Rome Fiumicino, Charles de Gaulle, and Zurich itself—forced Swissair to introduce the FLIGHT International, 8 October 1983 larger aircraft to get any increase in capacity. But the capacity of the A310 was so much greater than the DC-9-80's that at the same time the airline had to cut frequencies in several markets, particu larly Geneva-Paris and Geneva- Frankfurt, to keep capacity within bounds. This was a complete reversal of Swissair's previous European service philosophy. Fortunately, says Hosli, the switch seems to be working. Passengers like the A310 —even though it is not as quiet inside as the DC-9 Super 80 it replaces on many services —and seat load factors are good on the major routes to London and Paris. Average type passenger load factor for the first three months was 59 per cent. Frankfurt loads tend to be lower, but Swissair's operation is flexible enough for a Super 80 to replace an A310 on any European route at short notice (or vice versa), assuming pool partner approval. The Swissair commercial planner notes that the A310's break-even performance depends very much on cargo loads. Here also the airline thinks it has been lucky. The replacement of a once daily DC-9-33F service to London and Paris (with a maximum load of 12-14 tonnes) by three daily A310 services, each carrying 7 tonnes and using standard airline containers, has stimulated cargo growth. The airline specified that the A310 must have the same 45-50min turnround ability as the DC-9 Super 80. Generally this has been achievable, the only ground- handling problem being that proper clean ing of the much larger aircraft has been difficult to carry out in the short period available. According to Hosli, 82-4 per cent of Swissair's A310 flights in June and July arrived within 15min of schedule. Lufthansa carried 140,000 passengers on its A310s in its first three months of commercial ops, while Swissair carried 105,000. The German carrier started flying the A310 commercially just before Swissair (which began A310 revenue flying on April 21) and put three aircraft into service right away. Swissair started service with one, building up to three. A fourth will be introduced next month. The Swiss carrier currently operates its A310s to London, Paris, and Frankfurt from both Zurich and Geneva. It also serves Istanbul, Athens, and Lisbon from Zurich. The fourth aircraft will allow the A310 network to extend to Cairo and Tel Aviv, Milan, Zagreb/Belgrade, and Madrid will be added when the fifth arrives next March. Frequencies will also be increased on most major European routes with the delivery of these aircraft; and when the sixth goes into service in 1987, Stockholm comes on to the list of A310 destinations. Swissair's four long-range A310-300s, deliveries of which start in 1985, will replace A310-200s on the Tel Aviv and Cairo routes, and will allow DC-10-30s to be withdrawn from many routes to Africa and the Near and Middle East. Lufthansa currently operates its A310s to nine international destinations: Athens, Cairo, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Salonika, and Vienna. The type is also used for domestic flights from Frankfurt to Bremen, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich, and Stuttgart. The flights from Frankfurt to Salonika and Cairo make a stop at Munich. Lufthansa operated A310s to Barcelona for two months this summer; next year the Spanish airport will feature longer as an A310 destination. Rome is likely to be the only other international destination added to Lufthansa's A310 route network next year. The carrier will receive two more A310s in 1984, but will use them mainly to increase A310 frequency to existing desti nations. After finally reaching agreement with its pilots over A310 pay scales in August, KLM began limited commercial services with one A310 to London. In November, when its winter timetable begins, it will operate three of the type on services to London, Madrid, Lisbon, Milan, and Cairo. Another A310 will be introduced during the winter, and the network will be extended to Amman and Damascus, via Athens or Beirut. In 1984 the type will be operating on all KLM's routes to Europe and North Africa. The next airline to put the type into revenue service should be Kuwait Airways, followed by Nigeria Airways and Martinair. Kuwait Airways should be the next carrier to bring the A310 into service 955
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