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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 0001.PDF
EDITORIAL Crossing the Pacific Week ending 4 January, 1986 Numb;r 3992, Volume 129 ISSN )01 5-3710 Wo Id News 2 Air Transport 3 Defence 7 General Aviation 14 Avionics 18 Spaceflight 20 ASIAN AEROSPACE PREVIEW 23 Introducing our special Asian Aerospace show issue. WRESTLING WITH REGULATION 24 Chris Birkett reports on a shake-up in Japan's domestic air transport industry. BUYING ASIAN AIRLINES 38 P. T. Bangsberg assesses the flotation of two Asian airlines. CHINA: INCENTIVE AND OPPORTUNITY 48 Massive airline growth promises success for China. Peter Middleton explains why. REGULATION WHICH WILL NOT DIE 58 Stanley Brogden examines the way in which Australia handles its airline industry. OLD F-5S NEVER DIE 70 Avionics retrofits can greatly extend the Northrop F-5's life. Graham Warwick reports. BREAKING FREE 78 The problems and prospects of Australian aerospace are reviewed by Simon Beavis. Simulation 82 Industry 5 Letters 93 Published by Transport Press; a division of Business Press International Ltd, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS. England World's first and only complete aeronautical weekly I 2) Copyright Business Press International Ltd. 1986 | ounded 1909 I econd-class postage paid at New York, NY, and additional entries. litor David Mason lisociate Editor Peter Middleton /isistant Editor Tom Hamill Air Transport Editor David Learmount /Air Transport editorial Chris Birkett Defence Editor Mike Gaines Defence editorial Simon Beavis, Karen Walker Technical Editor Graham Warwick, BSc Technical editorial Julian Moxon BSc General Aviation editorial Ian Goold Photographer Janice Lowe Production Editor Philip Jarrett Sub-editor Graham Cowell Art Editor Colin Paine Layout Rita Molineux Technical Artists Ira Epton, Tim Hall, John Marsden Paris correspondent Gilbert Sedbon 825 5261 US West Coast correspondent Norman Lynn 1213) 377 8485 'ublishing Director James Weymouth ".ditor-in-Chief J M Ramsden Group Advertisement Manager Trevor Barratt Assistant Advertisement Manager Carol Eaton Senior Advertisement Sales Executive Robert Hancock Advertisement Sales Executive Mike Spray Advertisement Production Howard Mason Advertisement Sales—France Pierre Mussard, 18,20 Place de la Made leine, Paris 75008, France Telephone Paris 2655014 Telex: 215334F BISPRSF Advertisement Sales—USA (East Coast) Clive Richardson, Classified Advertisement Sales—USA, Business Press International Ltd, 205 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 Telephone: (212) 068 2080. Telex: 238327 Advertisement Sales—USA (Mid-West) & Canada Gene Glendinning, • Business Press International (USA), Cahners Piaza, 135 East Touhy Avenue, PO Box 5080, Des Plaines. Illinois 60018 Advertisement Sales—USA (West Coast John Tidy, Business Press ' International (USA), 4300 Campus Drive. Suite 204, Newport Beach. CA 1 92660. Telephone: (714) 756 1057. Telex: 238327 Subscriptions Manager A. Walden Telephone England (04441 459188 (UK and overseas subscription rates [ and agents can be found in this issue) I Telephone 01-661 3315 (Display Advertisement Sales) i 01-661 3805 (Classified Supervisor) 1 01-661 3267 (Advertisement Production) [ 01-661 3321 (Editorial) Telegram/Telex 892084 BISPRS G Access code: |TRP) Facsimile (Group Ill/ID on request. Telephone 01-661 3321 j ,'ABCI Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations Front cover: Aircraft of Japan's "big three" domestic carriers are captured at Tokyo Haneda Airport by Flight photographer Janice Lowe. Our feature on the battle for the skies over Japan ! begins on page 24. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 4 January 1986 The growth of the Asian Aerospace Exhibition, from its 1981 begin nings with a small number of exhibitors to pre-eminence in 1986 as the largest air show in the region, with more than 600 exhibitors, parallels and illus trates the development of Asia-Pacific's industrial and economic strength. Discounting the present problems in Singapore, which may well be temporary and in any case are a slowing of growth rate, not the beginnings of a decline, the region, however it is defined, continues to generate a tidal wave of development which could swamp the rest of the world if left unchecked and unchallenged by competitors. The leader is still Japan, the world's second biggest producer, which during the past four decades has built an unprece dented industrial empire. But Japan is not alone. Korea now threatens to take over as the growth leader, and China offers the biggest workforce of all, as well as the world's greatest market. If the Chinese Government adheres to its declared aims with skill and tenacity, China could soon head the growth tables, and form a more aggressive and effective producer than any of its neighbours. The involvement in aerospace manu facturing of all those countries, along with India, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Phil ippines, together with the development of national carriers insistent on participat ing in the international air transport net works, brings continuing change to the aviation scene, and consistently reduces the dominance of the American and European manufacturers and airlines. Among all the developing regions of the world, the newly industrialised countries of the Pacific rim, excluding the estab lished economies of Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, have the fastest growing gross domestic products, the fastest growth rates in both imports and exports, the lowest ratios of overseas debt to exports, and the only significantly grow ing share of international scheduled passenger traffic. This growth is being achieved despite generally sluggish domestic economies, so is necessarily export led. The region's air transport activity is 69 per cent inter national, and incidentally has a strong orientation to cargo, through the carriage of high-technology and perishable goods. It is almost inevitable that the newly industrialised countries will keep growing, and the trend of world manufacturing and trading in favour of the region over the coming 10 to 15 years can now be clearly seen. For aviation, the years beyond that immediately predictable period demand attention. The countries of the Asia- Pacific region have the growth economies. But as a self-contained trading block they are ineffectual. They need access to over seas markets, particuarly in the United States. Market analysts have recently defined a new trading block, in which those countries are linked with the west ern seaboard of the United States and Canada. That is the genuine meaning of the Pacific basin concept, and as an indus trial and trading block it is formidable, if not frightening, for the rest of the world. If the resources of the western Americas, in aerospace and other technologies, are allied to the skills, labour, and natural resources of the Asia-Pacific countries and Australia and New Zealand, then even a unified Europe will remain a modest industrial entity, and the other leading significant trading block, in which Europe is linked to the eastern United States and Canada, will remain only the second-best player in the game. The development of that trans-Pacific trade does of course suffer from one significant disadvantage. There is a great deal of water, covering virtually a hemi sphere, between the eastern and western Pacific coastal areas. Crossing that water demands a long and tedious journey, over which any improvement would be welcome. Air France and British Airways are about to celebrate ten years of Concorde service. Concorde, regrettably, has been reduced by market forces to operating schedules on the North Atlantic alone, and if ever there were a case for supersonic or hypersonic air transport, it is over the Pacific, not on comparatively short Atlan tic routes. The manufacturers have the technological resources, but before such a new programme can be launched, pressure is needed from the airlines. The problem is that the market at its best can only support a run of production smaller than is conventionally considered viable. A supersonic transport programme will need government support, from governments which are convinced that aviation is not an indulgence, but a vital force in sustain ing their economic growth. Today that is not a popular view. Bringing such a programme into being, with the fundamental shift from orthodox thinking that will be required, ought to be a dominant topic at Asian Aerospace '86.
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