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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 1951.PDF
PARIS REVIEW Airbus flies in formation with propfan "We will actively and posi tively follow propfan devel opments now and in the future," says Airbus Industrie executive v-p and general manager Johann Schaffler, "but we see major technical problems at present, which affect feasibility, timescale, and the cost of research. "Is it a military applica tion?" Schaffler continues. "Is it a commercial application? If so, when, and what size? We think appearance in the early 1990s is extremely unlikely". Schaffler is robust in expounding Airbus' current strategy: "The firmly commit ted A320 offers an advantage over hypothetical propfans and developments of current aircraft. We are not saying this out of defensiveness". Airbus' market strategy is based on its latest assessment of sales prospects over the next 20 years, which says that "there is a need for 9,100 airliners" worth some $470,000 million. Breaking this estimate down, Airbus says there will be a demand for 4,150 short- and medium- haul 100-180 seat airliners, and the A320 is going to fill 996 of those slots, it believes. During the same period Airbus aims to sell 1,168 aircraft into the 3,560 short/medium-haul widebody market: those aircraft will be A310s, A300-600s, and TA9s (the super-big A300). In the long-range sector it will sell 208 into a 1,300 market, and the types will be from the A310 and A300-600 lines as well as the TAIL Although the future may be debatable, the present is not. At Le Bourget in the last few days Airbus has announced orders for 24 A320s (Pan Am 16, Ansett eight, with rumours of imminent further orders from Tunis Air, Lufthansa, and Vasp); 12 A310-300s (Pan Am); and five A300-600s (Korean). Korean Air Lines chairman Choong Hoon Cho described the $200-million order as a "symbol of economic co operation between Korea and Europe". KAL's aircraft will FLIGHT International, 15 June 1985 Airbus partner Aerospatiale is building the nose of the first A320 at its Toulouse factory. The A320 enters service in spring 1988 be delivered in April 1987, and the first of five further options for A300-600s should be exer cised in December 1988. Korean has selected Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4HI engines for its A300-600s, because, says Choong, they are compatible with the powerplant chosen for the airline's two 747-300s. Korean was the first non- European customer for the Airbus A300B4, of which it now owns eight. Earlier plans to roll over some of these aircraft have temporarily been shelved, Choong says, because of a strong upsurge in business and domestic traffic. The order will not be welcome to Boeing, which had hoped that KAL would wait for the stretched 767-300. The Korean order brought Airbus's Le Bourget 1985 orders to 41. Since the previous Paris Show in 1983—a quiet period, Airbus insists—there had been a total of 93 new sales to 18 custom ers, nine of which customers were new to the company. Airbus sales today stand at 457 to 62 customers. This means, says Airbus, that the consortium's prod ucts are becoming more widely accepted in a market which was almost entirely American. Airbus products are now easier to sell, not only because of the value of new orders from existing custom ers, but because Airbus is developing a range of wares. It is, in effect, following the Boeing philosophy. McDonnell Douglas describes this as an "artist's concept for a MDC short- to-medium range commercial airliner for the 1990s". It has launched into propfan studies with Aeritalia and China Chinese propfan deal with MDC Shanghai Aviation Industrial Corporation has joined a McDonnell Douglas/Aeritalia team and will participate in a three-year "technology readiness" programme on ultra high bypass (UHB) airliner propulsion systems. UHB is a generic term which in this case leaves MDC free to go for unducted fans or geared propfans. The first Douglas UHB project is a 100-seat MD-80 derivative, according to Jim Worsham, president of Douglas Aircraft Division. Target availability is the "early 1990s". Chinese engineers will join Douglas and Aeritalia person nel in an experimental shop in California. Worsham is determined to be at the forefront of UHB technology. He is planning service for an all-new 150-seater two years after the pioneering 100-seater. Worsham says that the stretched MD-80, the MD-89 with IAE V.2500 turbofans, would come in earlier than a propfan in this larger size category, and will go ahead if and when customers are found. McDonnell Douglas antici pates a 40 per cent share of a 1,000-1,200-aircraft market for UHB-powered 100- seaters. Worsham says that MDC will make "formal" offers to airlines on this type of aeroplane if GE, Boeing, and DC-9 flight-tests are successful. Choice will be made by 1990 at the latest. 0 McDonnell Douglas has hopes of launch orders for its DC-10 derivative, the MD- 11X. MDC's director of marketing (advanced tech nical products), Lou DiLeo, says that his company has contacts with "a core of Atlas and KSSU airlines" (two European engineering co operative airline groups) to which MDC "will be making offers in August". The MD- 11X is 22 • 25ft longer than the DC-10, and features a two- pilot cockpit with digital avionics and systems. Engines would be CF6-80C2S or PW4000s.
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