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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 0003.PDF
FAA reacts to engine clanger WASHINGTON D.C. Doubts about the standards of engine maintenance, and concern that poor main tenance may have been a factor in serious accidents last year, have prompted the US Federal Aviation Adminis tration to embark on an "unusually broad" inspection of the engine repair facilities of all the USA's major airlines. It intends also to inspect facilities not owned by the airlines themselves. Inspections begin this month, and no airline will be warned of the specific date of arrival of the FAA engineers. The decision to carry out these checks was taken in November, and was prompted particularly by "two accidents involving Pratt & Whitney engines", according to an FAA spokesman. It seems likely that the two accidents referred to are the British Airways Manchester runway disaster in August last year, and the Midwest Express DC-9 accident at Milwaukee in September. In both cases P& W JT8D engines "blew up". Pratt & Whitney engines are not to be the only types checked, though; it is the quality of maintenance rather than a particular engine which is under investigation. BA profits climb LONDON ~ British Airways' first half- year pre-tax profits look impressive at £201 million, up £12 million from the 1984/85 figure for the same period. But then the first half-year is the profitable half, and the carrier's operating surplus is actually down £31 million to £205 million. Part of this situ ation arises from falling inter est costs, part from currency price movements. Other cost increases came from higher lease charges for Boeing 737s and 757s to replace old Tridents as they leave the fleet, from coping with the needs arising from the grounding of 737s follow ing the Manchester accident, and the loss for some time of the Airtours TriStar which overran the Leeds runway. Rich rewards from the high- yield Saudi Arabian routes have also been lost, following the swap of the latter for British Caledonian's South American network. One problem which BA shares with other non-US carriers at present is the rising cost of aviation fuel (despite the slack price of crude oil). BA chairman Lord King says that he expects the airline's fuel costs, if they continue to rise at the predicted rate, to increase by £50 million a year. "The fact that we can produce profits of this level even in difficult and excep tional circumstances shows conclusively the fundamental strength of the airline," Lord King maintains. The net worth of the airline, the half-year figures say, is now £499 million in share capital and reserves, compared with £297 million 12 months ago. A320in Australian dogfight SYDNEY The Airbus Industrie A3 20 will be the key weapon in the battle for the skies over Australia, following an order from Trans Australian Air lines (TAA) for nine of the type. Last month TAA's main domestic rival, Ansett, con firmed its order for eight A320s for delivery in late 1988 plus nine options. But although TAA and Ansett will be flying the same airframes across the Outback, the two available engines for the type will be in head-to- head competition. TAA has specified the International Aero Engines (IAE) V.2500 for its aircraft, while Ansett has opted for rival CFM56-5 power. The CFM56-5 gives Ansett the edge in delivery dates (TAA will receive its A320s between April 1989 and June 1990), but TAA says that its three-month engine evalu ation programme showed the V.2500 to be more fuel effi cient. TAA says it calculated that, over a ten-year period, the fuel costs of its V.2500 fleet will be $20-6 million lower than those of a CFM56-5 fleet. TAA will replace its 727s and DC-9s with the A320, and is seeking Government approval for the purchase. The order for the V.2500s, which includes six spare engines, is worth $100 million. The V.2500 ran at low speed for the first time on December 12, some 11 weeks ahead of schedule. The second engine is due to run at the end of February, and a third in March. Orders and options for the 150-seat A320, due to fly for the first time in spring 1987, now stand at 254. Slots sale controversy WASHINGTON D.C. ~ The US Department of Transportation, amid a flurry of criticism, has adopted a final rule which will permit airlines to buy and sell take off and landing slots at four of the nation's high-density airports. Acting after more than three years of controversy, the DoT said that the FAA will allow slots now held by airlines to be purchased, sold, traded or leased at Chicago 0'Hare,WashingtonNational, and New York's La Guardia and Kennedy Airports, start ing April 1, 1986. Airlines which hold take-off and landing slots on this date will be able to claim ownership of them. In the past airport operators have argued they themselves are the true owners of any access slots. Others have argued that the Federal Government, which allocates the slots, is the legal owner. Efforts to compromise these diverse views have generally failed. Now the DoT says in its ruling that approxi mately 95 per cent of the slots at these four high-density airports will be allocated initially to the carriers now owning them. The other 5 per cent will be made available to new carriers and hardship cases on a lottery basis. The proposal made by the AIR TRANSPORT DoT has run into immediate criticism not only from airport operators, but also on Capitol Hill. Senator Nancy Kassebaum, a Kansas Republican who heads the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, believes that a better way to deal with access at overcrowded airports is to require airlines either to use or lose their slots. Deadlocks in the airlines' own slot allocations—which have resulted in freezing out start-up carriers—could be broken by DoT action, she believes. Legislation to over turn DoT slot decisions will be introduced in the next session of Congress, she said. Her counterpart in the House of Representatives, Norman Mineta, was also critical of the DoT slot- trading decision. He main tains that by its decision the DoT will let airlines keep all but a fraction of the operating rights that have been awarded to them by the public for nothing. USA and China talk cargo WASHINGTON D.C. ~ The USA and mainland China are negotiating for direct all-cargo flights between the two countries. According to Matthew Scocozza, US Assistant Trans portation Secretary for policy and international affairs, air cargo traffic between China and the USA has not yet reached a level which would support regular services. At first, services could be just one charter flight each week, Scocozza says, perhaps becoming daily as traffic builds up. Trade between China and the USA is about $6 billion; trade with Korea is about $16 billion. According to Scocozza, Flying Tiger Line made a strong argument in favour of exempting trans-Pacific all- cargo route rights from the recent Pan Am/United route transfer. Negotiations are continu ing, but are progressing slowly mainly because the Chinese aviation officials are not as interested as the USA in seeing such a service begin, particularly now that United Airlines will shortly replace Pan American in the Pacific. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 4 January 1986
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