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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 0296.PDF
4 AIR TRANSPORT Highland and Prestwick threatened LONDON ~ Embryo airline Highland Express has a second chance to re-apply for a licence to link Stansted, Birmingham, and Maastricht with Newark and Toronto via a Prestwick hub. But this time it will have to provide letters of intent from bankers, Flight understands. Last week the UK Civil Aviation Authority said that it would not grant the licence because it was not satisfied that "financial arrangements were adequate". But it added: "The decision leaves the door open for the air line's chairman, lawyer Randolph Fields, to seek approval again if he can raise the money." Government sources have indicated that Highland will get the green light if it can put money up front. The Civil Aviation Author ity says that the objections given by competitors British Midland Airways and Virgin Atlantic did not influence the decision, stating that High land would have helped Prestwick Airport, which is currently losing £3 million a year. The CAA's attitude has angered Randolph Fields. Fields stresses that for the past two weeks he has been organising a financial pack age. "We have invested £100,000 on aircraft already; why should we invest millions in equipment if our licence is to be turned down?" he tells Flight. Fields claims that there were certain conditions to the financial structuring which the CAA did not like, for example, a £2 million loan from the Industry Depart ment of Scotland. It was concerned to ensure that the amount could be repaid. Fields says that Virgin Atlantic did not have to present a financial package to the CAA, and it was awarded its licence two weeks before it received the aircraft. He ques tions why the airline could not have been awarded a licence "subject to satisfactory financing" as was the case when the Authority awarded British Caledonian BA's A320 metal mockup Airbus Industrie has installed the first section of the new A320 full-scale metal mockup at Aerospatiale's Toulouse plant. The structural work and wiring were carried out at Aerospatiale St Nazaire, from where it was flown by Super Guppy Saudi Arabian routes. "We are not dead yet. Our financial advisors are still with us and we will try again," Fields says. UTA stretches 747top PARIS ~ French international operator UTA has decided to retrofit its two 747-200s with stretched upper decks, effectively turning them into -300s. The retrofit programme will start in January 1986 at the Boeing plant in Everett. Average aircraft downtime will be nine weeks. This structural modi fication will allow UTA to carry a payload of 42 tonnes (11 palettes on the main deck and six in the lower holds) against 32 tonnes (seven palettes on main deck and six on lower holds) at present. The upper deck will offer increased capacity for 40 economy passengers. Liberalisation pre-empted? LONDON British Airways has suc cessfully negotiated with its counterparts in Austria, Belgium, and Spain for lower air fares between the UK and destinations in those countries. The airline-to-airline nego tiations are not aimed at the business market. Although reductions and the conditions applying vary quite widely according to the destination, fare cuts are as large as 45 per cent in some cases. Many of the flights have basic apex conditions, some apply to particular departures only, and almost all require a Saturday night stay out of the country of departure. Britain's Department of Transport (DoT) is cautious in its reaction to these successful negotiations. While welcoming lower fares in any form, the DoT is worried that European nations which are cautious about "real" liberalisation agreements (such as the country-of-origin approval deals between the UK and the Netherlands, and the UK and West Germany), may see limited airline-to- airline agreements of this type as their contribution, then stop there. China increases A310 order TOULOUSE ~ China has ordered five Airbus - Industrie A310-200s. The Chinese had indicated in December, their intention to purchase three of the widebodied aircraft, but offi cials say that they have subsequently increased their order to five. Two of the A310s are expected to be delivered to Beijing this year and the remaining three in 1986. China's order follows a visit to Beijing by French transport minister Jean Auroux and a current visit to Toulouse by a Chinese Government dele gation. The order is now signed and official, where original reports had stated that contracts had not been finalised. FLIGHT International, 2 February 198(
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