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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 2299.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT AirAfrique gets new head ABIDJAN Air Afrique, Africa's ailing multinational airline, has ap pointed former Congo foreign minister Auxence Ickonga as new president and director general, in a major shake-up aimed at steering the company from near bankruptcy, reports Gilbert Sedbon. Auxence Ickonga, 48, hith erto head of the Congo state- owned oil company Hydro- congo, succeeds Aoussou Koffi of the Ivory Coast at a time when the ten-nation African airline reduced its net operating deficit to $732,000 for 1984, compared with nearly ten times that figure the previous year. The carrier also increased its turnover by 8 per cent, though it still has outstanding debts totalling more than $250 million. Koffi headed Air Afrique for 12 years. The new Air Afrique chief will have to streamline the company with tighter finan cial control and a reduction in staff numbers. The most dam aging factor in 1984 was the prolonged industrial dispute which led to the mass dismissal of flight crew. What had started out as a 72hr strike from September 11 to 14 last year (over planned cutbacks in staff and salaries) quickly escalated into a war of attrition between labour and management. A total of 117 aircrew were sacked and replaced by Yugoslav pilots and engineers. Under Koffi's tenure of office last year, some 40 Afri can pilots and mechanical engineers had already accep ted wage cuts of 45 per cent and signed new contracts. Sacked French pilots lost legal suits before African courts and sought employ ment at home. The salary cuts are part of a financial recovery plan which includes laying off 515 of the company's 5,600 total staff, and the sale of a Boeing 747 for $60 million. The outgoing head of Air Afrique has denied reports that the company is on the verge of bankruptcy and has produced evidence of a recov ery. At the general assembly l FLIGHT International, 27 July 1985 Commuter across the Atlantic This new Saab-Fairchild SF.340 is at Southend, UK, on a ferry flight to Memphis, USA, where Republic Express is based. RE's aircraft are owned and operated by Atlanta-based Phoenix Air Services as a feeder service to Republic Airlines' Memphis hub. meeting in Abidjan recently Koffi announced substan tially improved results, the end of the ten-month labour dispute, and measures to restore the company's finan ces. Rising fuel bills, some mismanagement, as well as the uncontrolled growth of competing charter flights to Abidjan and Dakar in particu lar contributed to the deficit. Air Afrique will also seek a "fairer" arrangement with UTA to reduce competition on the high-yield long-haul routes to Europe. Air Afrique, which cele brates its 25th anniversary next year, has often been portrayed as the forerunner of a Pan-African airline, partic ularly as it has long outlived several similar joint ventures, including the smaller East African Airways which was disbanded in 1976. Its member states are: Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Ivory Coast, Mauri tania, Niger, Senegal, Togo, and Burkina Faso. Gear worked AEA May figures rise BRUSSELS The Association of European Airlines (AEA) says that the 20 member airlines of the organisation have experienced a 5 • 9 per cent revenue growth for international traffic this May. From January to May revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) were up 9 • 5 per cent over the pevious year and, al though the load factor dipped by half a point for the month, the five-month period realised a gain of 2-8 points to 63-2. The best results came from the Asia/Australasia routes with a growth figure of 10 per cent. North Atlantic remained strong at + 8 per cent. The European market was a little disappointing at + 4 per cent but this is expected to improve as the airlines move into the peak summer months. Airfreight results are slightly better than the pre vious month but remain below expectations. Asia and Aus tralia contributed most to an overall upturn in freighttonne- kilometres (FTK) of 2-7 per cent for May. European and North Atlantic cargo markets failed to produce an increase. PERPIGNAN The Air Inter Airbus A300 which left the Perpignan runway on March 30 did so because of inadvertent asym metric use of the throttles on landing. Our statement in the incident table, Flight, July 13, page 28, that the gear had failed to deploy, was incorrect. *AEA airline international schedules Passenger Data Intra-European Available Seat-km (million) Revenue Passenger-km million) Passenger Load Factor (%) Intercontinental Available Seat-km million) Revenue Passenger-km (million) Passenger Load Factor % Total International Available Seat-km (million) Revenue Passenger-km (million) Passenger Load Factor % Freight Data (thousands tonne-km) Intra-European Passenger Services Freighter Services Total Intercontinental Passenger Services Freighter Services Total Total International Passenger Services Freighter Services Total May 7,874-1 4,731-9 60-1 17.213 7 11.175-3 64-9 25,087-8 15,907 2 63-4 May 70,064 15,924 85,988 655,515 193,090 848,605 725,579 209.014 934,593 change 2-8% 2-6% -0-1 pt 8-7% 7-3% -0-8pt 6-8% 59% -0-5pt change 6-5% -05% 51% 3-2% -0-1% 2-4% 3-5% -0-2% 2-7% Jan-May 35,438 5 20,5310 579 76,482-6 50,177 9 65-6 111,921-1 70,708 9 63 2 Jan-May 328,394 79,986 408,381 3,121,808 1.006,008 4,127,816 3,450,203 1,085,994 4,536,197 change 2-5% 7-2% 2-5pt 5-6% 10-5% 2-9pt 46% 95% 2-8pt change 48% 2 0% 4-3% 2-7% 7-9% 3-9% 2-9% 7-5% 40% * AEA member airlines are the following: Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, British Caledonian, Finnair, Iberia, Iceiandair, JAT, KLM, Lufthansa, Luxair, Olympic Airways, Sabena, SAS, Swissair, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines and UTA.
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