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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 2217.PDF
WORLD NEWS Westland chairman calms waters LONDON Westland's new chairman, Sir John Cuckney, poured some j. welcome oil on the company's troubled waters last week, saying that the company faces "no immediate cash crisis". "Nobody can deny that the company has problems ahead of it," he said, and he noted that the main problem was the orderbook and the imme diate gap in production. "My top priority is to restore confidence in the company and restore its credibility". But he stressed that Westland faces "no immediate cash or liquidity problem". Speaking only six days after becoming Westland chair man, Sir John was obviously hard-pressed to give any indi cation of a new long-term strategy for Westland. Asked if he expected a dramatic change of style in the manage ment, he said that it was "very difficult to say after only a few days". "I have said that the company is not seeking any suitors. If any suitors wish to J^snake an approach they can "wget in touch with our financing advisors," he said. Sir Basil Blackwell, former Westland chairman, launched an international, but even tually vain, search for a West- land buyer in an attempt to stave off the recent Bristow takeover bid. The Bristow bid itself collapsed eventually, coming, as Sir John puts it, to a "bizarre ending". The independent review of the company, currently under way, will be "completed and digested by late autumn", said Sir John. "There is no point in hurrying," he added. Sir John flew into London last week to attend a West- land lobby of Parliament and the Ministry of Defence. Westland is urging the MoD to reconsider the W.30-404 battlefield transport heli copter as the answer to the Royal Air Force's AST.404 requirement for a Wessex/ Puma replacement. The British Army now wants a bigger helicopter. FLIGHT International, 13 July 1985 Westland, Britain's troubled helicopter manufacturer, is now under the wing of newly-appointed chairman Sir John Cuckney Bell 212s for Sri Lanka? SINGAPORE Bell Helicopter of Singapore is understood to have sold six 212 helicopters modified for counter-insurgency to the Sri Lankan Government for a reported $15 million. It is believed that the aircraft have been shipped to the island, which has been troubled by internal unrest for more than a year. Neither Bell nor the Sri Lankan High Commission would comment on the sale. An option on a further four 212s is said to have been included in the deal. V.2500 tops $1 billion EAST HARTFORD ~ Including options, Inter national Aero Engines' order- book for V.2500 turbofans to power Airbus Industrie A320s has reached $1,000 million with $380 million-worth of engines for Lufthansa (these pages, last week). The airline has ordered 15 A320s, with options on a further 25, to be delivered starting in 1989. The deal includes 80 V.2500s plus 12 spare engines. Four airlines have placed firm orders for 40 V.2500-powered A320s, with options on a further 66. These are Pan Am, Lufthansa, Inex- Adria, and Cyprus Airways. Airbus Industrie has ordered 160 V.2500s from IAE, plus 34 spare engines, and will require a further 52 V.2500s to complete the aircraft on option. Another four airlines have ordered CFM56-powered A320s, with firm orders for 50 aircraft and options on a further 47. These are Air France, Air Inter, British Caledonian, and Ansett. This puts IAE ahead in the race to power the 150-seat A320, although Airbus has, in fact, more firm orders for the CFM-powered aircraft. Timescale has been a major factor in choosing between the two engines. Ansett, for example, wanted its engines in April 1988, a year earlier than IAE could supply the V.2500. The five-nation consortium is now working to bring the programme forward and will run the first V.2500 in December of this year, ten weeks earlier than originally planned. New heads for Gifas and SBAC PARIS AND LONDON Snecma president Jacques Benichou has been elected head of Gifas, succeeding Gen Jacques Mitterrand, whose five-year term has expired. Gifas comprises 170 French aerospace industries employ ing a total of 127,000 engineers and technicians as well as administrative staff. Total turnover last year was Ffr65,000 million (£5,400 million). Serge Dassault remains general commissioner of Le Bourget's biennial Paris Air Show, organised by Gifas. Clive Hunting, chairman of the Hunting Group, has been elected president of the Society of British Aerospace FLIGHT HfrERNtnONAl NEXT WEEK :rer in TntKTjas.ioTwu fus-iivju' foi Aerosp: Earth £ the pi survey crews In today's crowded skies. Leasing short o\ : risky business ht lessor does not know what ;- worth when he gets it back. Jeff >w this risk i!ffl be covered. Lockhe the future of Sto mised nology Testbed, which • earner r->ugh field rni]>ry tvr opsTcficnr. F.anv Mcpkms reports, Companies for 1985-86. He succeeds Sir Raymond Lygo, chief executive of British Aerospace. Ralph Robins, managing director of Rolls- Royce, is elected vice- president. Hugh Pope of Smiths Industries becomes treasurer. Clive Hunting joined the Hunting Group—founded in 1874 by his great grandfather—in 1950.
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