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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 1095.PDF
FLIGHT mTBtMATtOHAI. NEXT WEEK Robin Blech discovers how Jim Raisbeck's modifica tions to the Beech Super King Air B200 improve both its performance and its fuel efficiency. Air India has recovered from last summer's dis aster but, with a decline in its traditional markets, the carrier's problems are not over, Julia Hayley reveals Who is winning in the battle between Pratt & Whitney's PW2037 and Rolls-Royce'sRB.211-535? What are the prospects for very-high-bypass turbo- fans for future 747s? Julian Moxon reports. Flight's annual review of military flight safety lists all of the known military aircraft accidents for calendar year 1985. Pan Am faces Chernobyl and fear NEW YORK While the relaunching of Pan American's new service to Moscow may have been less than perfectly timed, the carrier says it is not feeling any traffic effect as yet from the Soviet nuclear accident. Pan American spokesman Merle Richman told Flight that any negative effect on the Soviet route air traffic is likely to be experienced this summer, when tour groups would normally be booking trips to the Soviet Union. The same considerations apply to the negative impact of terrorist activities in Europe. Business travel has been relatively unaffected to date on US airlines, although widespread reports that travellers are at greater risk on US carriers continue to worry marketing officials at both Pan Am and TWA. Tour groups are the most likely to cancel or change destinations as a result of terrorist-induced nervous ness, and the effect of these actions will be most noticeable during the summer seasons. This starts in the USA next month, when schools close for the long vacation. In the meantime, American air travellers' choice for flights to Europe this summer should not be foreign-flag airlines rather than US carri ers, says Capt Henry Duffy, president of the Air Line Pilots' Association. He says that US airlines are just as safe against terrorist attacks as foreign carriers. "The trav elling public does not realise the great strides that have been made in combating terrorism since the TWA hijacking in Athens." As a result of that terror strike, according to Duffy, Congress has freed money for research on how best to detect the sophisticated explosives and the state-of-the-art deto nators now being used by terrorist groups. In addition, Congress has given both the State and the Transportation Departments effective countermeasures to apply pressure on countries that, until recently, were less than diligent about airport security. As a result, Capt Duffy says, whereas only a year ago he could name half-dozen or more overseas airports where security procedures were lax, his pilots are now concerned only about one or two. He did not name the one or two. Whether the tourists will believe Duffy has yet to be seen. But Pan Am looks in a sad state. It announces severe first quarter losses just as it has sold the Pacific (where the tourists are going) to United, and is now highly dependent on the Atlantic (from which tourists are fleeing) which is hit by a weak dollar, the spectre of terrorism, and Chernobyl. The airline itself declared pre-tax first quarter losses of $122 • 1 million against the $143-7 million loss in the same period in 1985. AIR TRANSPORT US airmail reacts to spur WASHINGTON The US Postal Service is to start a new international bulk airmail service early in June to Britain and most other overseas countries. The new service is intended to counter the rapidly growing competitive delivery of inter national mail by bulk re- mailers who are cutting into the Post Office's business. At one point the postal service considered taking legal action against re-mailers in an effort to shut this com petitive service down, but has now set out to improve its own international airmail service in an effort to re-capture some of the business lost. Albert Casey, postmaster general, said that the new international priority mail service is intended for use mostly by bulk mailers, except for those using parcel post. Rates for the new service will be $6-80 per pound. This works out close to 42-5 cents per ounce, very much the same as the 44 cents per ounce charged for overseas airmail now. The principal advantage of the new service will be faster delivery, Casey said. The service to New York, Boston, Washington, and Chicago "indicate the delivery will be faster than regular and mailed by at least one day". International priority air mail will be run on a pre arranged collection service to 30 major cities in the USA. Aeroflot has resumed its Moscow-US runs from the opposite end to Pan Am. Perhaps interesting to note, British Airways has been radiation-testing all its aircraft which fly through and over the USSR and is giving up because the figures are so low -—- : iu .». *~»l^illpliiiillp FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 17 May 1986
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