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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 2221.PDF
United plans expansion WASHINGTON D.C. Richard J. Ferris, chairman of United Airlines, says that the next job for his company is "digestion" of its recent market expansion moves. These moves include pur chase of Hertz Rent-A-Car and the signing of a deal to buy the Pacific Division of Pan American. Rebuilding the airline's schedules and operations following the recent settle ment of the pilots' strike will also take some additional effort, says Ferris. The best estimate at the moment, he says, is that United's scheduled operations will be back to 90 per cent by the end of July and fully restored to pre-strike level by mid- August. Ferris says that the acquisi tion of both Hertz and the Pacific Division of Pan Am is based on his company's belief that travel is one of the major growth industries in the United States. Through ownership of its Westin Hotel chain and the purchase of the number one car rental company in the world, the airline expects to achieve "operating synergism", mean ing that Apollo, the United computer reservations system, can be used to book rental cars and hotel rooms as well as air travel tickets. Other operating efficiencies stemming from the ownership of the three groups exist in book keeping, billing and credit, and marketing. Ferris anticipates no diffi culty meeting the combined financial demands of United's purchase of Hertz, the Pacific Division of Pan Am, and the fleet of additional aircraft which will be needed to support United's planned expansion. At the moment United is looking hard at the used aircraft market. It recently bought a fleet of 30 used Boeing jets from Frontier Airlines. But if the Department of Transporta tion approves United's acqui sition of Pan Am's Pacific Division, then Ferris is expected to go to Boeing for new equipment. KLM profit soars AMSTERDAM ~ KLM Royal Dutch Airlines surged to a record Dfl 290 million (£66 • 2 million) profit in 1984/5, up from Dfl 103 million (£25-5 million) the previous year. It was the airline's tenth consecutive year in the black. Revenue was up 12 per cent to Dfl 5,657 million (£1291 million), with operating costs increasing by 9 per cent to Dfl 5,377 million (£1,227-6 million). The major contributory factors to KLM's strong performance was its substan tial traffic growth, up 10 per cent to 2,180 million ton- miles. Yield stood up well, showing an increase of 3 per cent per ton-mile. In general KLM's perform ance confirmed worldwide trends; cargo and mail were KLM's fastest growing sectors, up by 14 per cent and 27 per cent respectively. Charter traffic slumped by 40 per cent. The overall load factor climbed by 4-6 points to 70 per cent. An-28—inside story There may be nothing about the flightdeck of the new Antonov An-28 17-seater regional airliner which is high-technology by Western standards, but the Russians point out that it is somewhat better-equipped with instruments and radio navigational aids than the An-2 which it replaces (see Flight last week, page 8). Here Commodore Pyotr Kot (left) and Capt Vyacheslav Sinyugin, of the Syktyvkar civil aviation base, test the aircraft in northern Russia's sub-Arctic conditions. AIR TRANSPORT MARKET PLACE Scandinavian Airlines System has placed a $75 million order for three McDonnell Douglas MD-SOs, boosting its orders for the type in the past nine months to 14. The latest order, for delivery in 1987, is for two 133-seat MDSls for Euro pean operations and one 156-seat MD-82 for use on its domestic network. SAS has options on 15 more MD-80s, and is also in the market for secondhand DC-9s. Finnaviation, a subsidiary of Finnair, has signed a contract for three Saab- Fairchild SF.340 twin- turboprop airliners. The first two 34-seat aircraft will be delivered in August 1986 for use on Finnaviation's domes tic services based at Helsinki- Malmi airport, and on planned new routes to Sweden. The pressurised SF.340 will gradually replace Finnaviation's fleet of three unpressurised Embraer Bandeirantes. Financing of the deal has been arranged by Saab-Fairchild Finance Cor poration as a lease-purchase agreement. Australian regional carrier Kendell has placed a repeat order for two SF.340s after just 16 weeks' service with its first of the type. The two additional aircraft will be delivered in the first and third quarters of 1986 for use on Kendell's extensive network, which serves ten destinations in four states from its central Melbourne Tullamarine Air port hub. Southwest Air Lines of Okinawa, which serves cities in the Ryukyu Islands in the North Pacific, has ordered its seventh Boeing 737-200. The $20 million aircraft, powered by Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17 engines, will be delivered in • July 1986. Lufthansa has confirmed its intention to buy Boeing 737-300s (Flight, July 6). The West German carrier has ordered ten of the type and taken options on ten more in a deal worth up to $500 million. A key factor in Lufthansa's purchase decision was the degree of cockpit common ality with 737-200s. Delivery of those aircraft on firm order will begin in August 1985. FLIGHT International, 13 July 1985
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