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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 2179.PDF
Sabena profits but not enough to re-equip BRUSSELS Belgian flag carrier Sabena has announced its second year of profit after a 25-year spell of losses. It closed its 1984 financial year with a BFr26 • 4 million (£338,000) net profit, £51,000 more than its net result in the previous year. Revenues were up 13-6 per cent to £512 million. But Sabena president Carlos van Rafelghem says that the airline is not yet in a strong enough financial posi tion to be able to embark on a major reinvestment pro gramme involving new air craft. The next two years will see the arrival of one 747-300, paid for partly in cash plus a loan, and a third Airbus A310, Sabena's first -300 version, which will be delivered in March 1987. A total of 27 per cent of Sabena's income comes from freight, and the airline plans to convert one passenger DC-10-30 to full cargo con figuration after delivery of the 747-300 in June next year. Sabena carried 2-3 million passengers last year, com pared with 1 • 9 million the year before, and load factor increased by 5-4 points to average 73 • 7 per cent. The highest load factors were achieved on its North Atlantic routes (81-6 per cent) and to the Far East (82-9 per cent). ATR42 wins surprise Dutch order ROTTERDAM ~ Holland Aero Lines will take delivery of the first of two Aerospatiale/Aeritalia ATR42s in December this year. But this was not the aircraft that the airline origi nally set out to buy. It was the "professionalism" of the ATR42 sales team which snatched the order away from its competitors, the Dutch commuter says. Holland Aero Lines, for merly Holland Aero Leasing, had been in serious discussion with de Havilland Canada for the purchase of Dash 8s, general manager Peter Kerhoffs tells Flight. At the Paris show last month DHC said it would shortly be announcing another Euro pean order for the Dash 8; it was for HAL. But factors have conspired against DHC since then. Kerhoffs admits that, by buying French-built aircraft, the airline is certain to win French Government approval for its proposed Rotterdam- Orly route. But the question of "DHC's stability [if it was to be sold off to the private sector] raised doubts for us", he said. "We had lots of questions about the ATR42, and the Aerospatiale people immedi ately came up with the answers. They really are very professional". Kerhoffs admits to being surprised that Dutch manu facturer Fokker did not attempt to sell them the F.50. "They did not even approach us". Flight asked Fokker for its reaction to the sale. It had not heard of the Holland Aero Lines' order, and had no comment to make as to why it had not approached the airline. Interestingly, Holland Aero Lines has filed an application with the UK Civil Aviation Authority to operate into the London Docklands from 1988 with the ATR42. Kerhoffs reckons that the aircraft could be used if it had a reduced payload of no more than 39 seats. Whether the ATR42 is indeed capable of operat ing into the Stolport is the subject of a study cur rently being undertaken by the manufacturers. The result should be available Japan's first 767 Japan Air Lines' first Boeing 767-200 will be delivered this month. JAL has ordered nine 767s, three of which will be the yet-to-be-produced -300 model AIR TRANSPORT MARKET PLACE Alitalia has sold four F.27s to Scandinavian Airline System for $7-5 million, for use on its newly-established commuter network Eurolink. There are plans to acquire a further five over the next three years, which, with four ordered last year, will bring the SAS F.27 fleet to 13 by 1988. The first ex-Alitalia aircraft has already been delivered and is being retro fitted to SAS specifications by Air UK. The refit will involve configuration to 40 Euroclass seats with a 34in seat pitch. The F.27s will serve on Euro- link's routes to Hamburg, Copenhagen, and cities in southern Sweden which have small traffic bases but strong business centres. The 40-seat F.27s will allow SAS to offer three or four flights a day into cities which are too small to support more than one DC-9 service a day. Beyond 1988, says SAS's John Herbert, the airline is studying the F.50 or the ATR42. In the 100-seat market, in which SAS has a requirement for 20-30 air craft, the F.100, MD-87, and the 737 Lite are all con tenders. A decision on which one it will be will be made by the end of the year, he says. Trans-Australia Airlines tells Flight that it will make a decision within 4-6 weeks on a British Aerospace Jetstream 31 purchase for Air Queens land. TAA, which bought the majority share in AQ, ousting Ansett as a shareholder last March, says that the J.31s would replace the airline's four F.27s, providing higher frequency short-hop services in Queensland. "The F.27s are too large for this sort of service", TAA says. Piedmont Airlines has ordered three Fokker F.28-4000s to add to the 15 -1000s it already has in service, for delivery from December 1985 through to February 1986. Options on five more have also been placed. The Winston-Salem based airline, which has expanded in leaps and bounds over the past few years, will accept five more F.28-1000s later this year. The latest order boosts F.28 sales to 226 aircraft to 56 customers in 37 countries. [FLIGHT International, 6 July 1985
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