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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 0247.PDF
Brazil and Argentina consider formation SAO JOSE Brazil and Argentina have signed an aeronautics co operation agreement covering possible joint development of new civil and military aircraft and the subcontracting to Argentina of parts of Embraer models now in production. Details are still being hammered out, but the deal could well result in Argen tina's state-owned aerospace manufacturer Fabrica Militar de Aviones (FMA) providing components for the Brasilia's wings, tail, and fuselage. The . Argentinian Government is keen to reform its aerospace industry, and is said to be ' backing the agreement strongly. For its part, Embraer is 'seeking a toehold in the Argentinian market. It complains it has done no busi ness with Argentina since leasing out three Bandeir- . antes during the Falklands war. They were returned shortly afterwards. Argen- • tina's only home-produced fighter aircraft is the ground attack, propeller-driven ' Pucara, which is in the process of being updated. The Brazilians see a poten tial buyer for their more soph isticated Tucano in the , Argentinian Air Force, and Embraer hopes that Argen tinian regional airlines pres ently flying Cessnas and Twin Otters might be encouraged to buy the Bandeirante. A Brasilia was making a demon stration tour of Argentina last week. The Brasilia is selling well, and with 68 orders to date Embraer is happy to farm out some of the production work. Air India report backs bomb theory NEW DELHI ~ The Air India Boeing 747 crash was caused by a bomb in the front cargo hold, accord ing to five prominent Indian scientists. Evidence of fatigue due to overload was detected in a number of places, their report concludes, but damage con centrated in two areas of the front hold is consistent with that caused by a chemical explosion. Holes punched through the sheet metal were caused by shock waves and high velocity fragments, whereas holes with "petalling" were made by slower frag ments. An oxygen cylinder from the roof of the hold also clearly shows the occurrence of an explosion, they say. There is no evidence of fatigue failure, the report adds. No traces of the bomb itself were found and the type of explosive used cannot be determined. A representative of the UK Accident Invest igation Branch says there is no proof of an explosion. Eastern cuts staff and pay MIAMI ~ZTi Eastern Air Lines, another casualty of the post deregu lation fare war, is still strug gling for survival. Last week it sacked over 1,000 flight atten dants and cut salaries by 20 per cent for the remaining 6,200 after negotiations with the unions had failed. The 30-day no-strike cooling-off period ended in impasse. Senior management took pay cuts of 20 to 25 per cent in January and Eastern says that there is a similar package coming to its 17,000 contract employees. The airline's debt amounts to $2 • 5 billion and lenders are threatening action unless cost-cutting deadlines are met. They have already reduced the interest rate, but only on the understanding that salary reductions and new work rules are in place by February 28 and are ratified by the unions by March 31. Eastern's labour costs, reflecting pre-deregulation levels, are still much higher than those of its major competitors such as new comer People Express. Others of the old guard, American and United, have already had to enforce cuts. Eastern scraped into profit by $6 • 3 million in 1985 for the first time since 1979. But its fourth quarter loss was $67 • 5 million compared with a defi cit of $37-9 million for the whole of 1984. Eastern has a modern fleet, and is desperately trying to bring its employees' working practices and wage levels within post-deregulation norms. HnWHnRTi..'.. VI RfflnfiMli PI ill "i.^\ >UijijMV* 'a* •^'lilliill '-.III Jill I'llii ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^W §!•• mHHBH flillilil! .... i ** "HI j=flsjl[HliirM? •rtf'-Ti *"$ pjJiHBB jffSfr f fe^ffl ^^HS S^^^^P^S^w^ flli*^ ^m • • sg'g^pp'JaiMp5- m :i-r>r: #^ f appfB S2slfiSll i'-'ll'.'i-. B||| AIR TRANSPORT NEWS SCAN Indian carrier Vayudoot is to start up a national night cargo grid. The service will carry mail and newspapers initially between India's four major cities, and later to all the state capitals. Mid Pacific Air Corp, par ent of Hawaiian inter-island carrier Mid Pacific Air lines, has been acquired by KOA Holdings. Under a complex exchange of shares agreement, KOA now con trols 77 per cent of the voting power of Mid Pacific Air and KOA's subsidiary, Kamp- grounds of America, becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mid Pacific Air. The airline will benefit from the extra financial muscle behind it and will receive a $4 million cash infusion. People Express reports a 42 per cent increase in traffic in 1985. It carried 11-9 million passengers a total of 11 billion revenue passenger miles. Load factor over the year was 61 per cent. Frontier Air lines, now owned by People Express, showed a 0-5 per cent decrease in traffic and a 62 per cent load factor. Brock-way Air, the Bur lington, USA-based com muter carrier, has agreed to become a Piedmont Com muter providing feeder services to Piedmont Airlines' hubs from May this year. MARKET PLACE Boeing has announced five new orders totalling $140 million: Transavia Holland will take a 737-300 in March 1987; German charter air line LTS has signed for a third 757 with Rolls-Royce RB.211-535C engines for delivery in December; and Texas-based Southwest Airlines will receive the first of three 737-300s in June 1987. Boeing also announced that Lufthansa placed an order for a 747-200B Combi at the end of 1985. Scibe Airlift, the air trans port branch of Scibe Zaire, has ordered five Fokker F.27s. The aircraft will be fitted with additional avionics and used both as feeder aircraft based on Kinshasa, and on Euro pean routes. F.27 sales now stand at 784. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 1 February 1986 5
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