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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 2752.PDF
COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT OF THE WORLD The short-bodied MD-87, top, is the latest addition to the MD-80 family. McDonnell Douglas has examined various propfan-powered versions of its best-selling twin jet, below, and may even offer a retrofit on the MD-88 *£§& the MD-11, and on the other the MD-80 continues to sell well. With few development costs left to weigh it down, and with a high production rate, the MD-80 must be a highly profitable programme for MDC. Furthermore, in the 140-180-seat market the company is well placed to react quickly to swings in priorities. Only MDC has a 150-seat jet in production with a rear-engined layout which could readily accept a propfan/UDF conversion. If fuel prices stay low, it can continue with the derivative technology MD-80 family, using keen pricing to fend off the A320 and 737-400. If fuel prices rise modestly, it can go ahead with a propfan/UDF version of the MD-80. If prices move sharply upwards it can launch the proposed, all new MD-94X. The company has carried out a lot of preparatory work on the propfan/UDF concept, albeit with less fanfare than Boeing, and can move ahead rapidly should market conditions demand. To take advantage of the CFM56 or V.2500, one more stretch of the MD-80 remains on the cards. Whether by good planning, or good fortune, MDC must therefore feel more secure about its medium-term future than it has done for some time. DC-9/MD-80. McDonnell Douglas continued to make solid progress with MD-80 sales, having in the last year added about 200 exam ples to its total for orders and options. Among the most important were a lease deal with GPA, a major sale to Delta, and a competitive win against the Fokker 100 at SAS. Arrangements were finalised in April covering a $225 million facility for Irish Aero space, the leasing company jointly owned by GPA and MDC. This will cover the acquisition of an initial batch of 12 MD-83s. In June a deal covering up to 80 MD-88s worth $2 billion was signed with Delta. Deliv eries will begin next year. This new model is essentially an MD-82 with an advanced "glass" cockpit and a system for windshear protection. As part of the deal with Delta, MDC will study the possibility of re-engining the MD-88 with propfans. Another significant sale was of 14 MD-80s to SAS. This $400 million sale was important, not for its size, but because it included ten MD-87s, chosen in preference to the smaller and lighter Fokker 100. The MD-87 now has orders from Austrian (4), Finnair (8), and Toa Domestic (4), in addition to the SAS sale. The launch of the MD-87 came in early 1985. First flight is planned for December, and certi fication for September next year. Despite being the smallest version of the MD-80 family it is significantly bigger, heavier, and has consid erably more range than the Fokker 100 and BAe 146. It is also heavier than the 737-300. Although the 737-300 has about ten fewer seats than the MD-87, the MD-87 is significantly cheaper to buy. The development of the MD-80 family provides a case study of the way new tech nology can be applied retrospectively to an existing design. The basic DC-9 made its maiden flight in February 1965. The DC-9-80 (renamed the MD-80) entered service in 1980. All the MD-80 family use the same wing and are available with any of the P&W JT8D-200 series of engines. The MD-87 fuselage is 17-4ft (5-3m) shorter than those of other MD-80s. MDC used keen pricing and a series of "sweetheart" leases during the depth of the recent economic recession to establish the type as the front-running 150-seater. It is now generally agreed that MDC has been well rewarded for the bold moves it made in leasing aircraft to American and TWA. A series of deals with American now cover 100 aircraft and 100 options. MDC is still considering one final stretch of the airframe. An increase in length of 152in (3-86m) and the use of the CFM56 or IAE V.2500 in place of the P&W JT8D-200 series would produce the MD-90X. The fate of this 173-seater very much depends on the future of propfan/unducted fan technology—and A320 sales. Propfan/UDF derivatives of the MD-80 could include the small 100-110 seat MD-91X or the 150-seat MD-92X. The company has also studied an all-new propfan/UDF follow-on to the MD-80, dubbed the MD-94X. Programme Status: Sales of DC-9 series, excluding MD-80s, 976, all delivered, including 45 military C-9s. MD-80: Orders and options 756, including some 250 conditional orders and options. Delivered, 317. Orders and options include those for lease and include 25 examples to be co-produced in China. Production rate approximately six per month. DC-10/MD-11. DC-10-30 production slots are all but sold out until March 1988, when the company hopes and expects to switch over to the MD-11. Sales of two DC-10-30ERs were recently announced to Thai Airways Inter national, for delivery in December 1987, and MDC says it holds orders for an additional five examples. It also holds commitments from three airlines for seven MD-lls, and may well give the go-ahead by the end of this month. The first flight is timed for early 1989. The McDonnell Douglas trijet programme received two major boosts in July 1985. Hard on the heels of the news that Federal Express had ordered three DC-10-30Fs came an announcement that the MDC board had authorised its sales force to make firm offers to airlines of the up-dated MD-11. The order from Federal Express, combined with continued deliveries of KC-10 military tanker/cargo aircraft to the USAF, kept the production line relatively busy and allowed MDC to authorise continued production of civil DC-10-30s into 1988. It should also allow the MD-11 to be introduced in an economic manner. MDC is talking seriously to some 30 airlines about a family of MD-lls covering four models: the baseline 320-passenger MD-11 with a range of 6,800 run., the 277-seat MD-11ER with a range of 7,500 n.m., a freighter with a 90-ton uplift, and a combi capable of taking ten pallets on the main deck. Some way in the future is the 655,0001b, 380-seat, 7,400 n.m. MD-llAdv. The baseline MD-11, with a fuselage 18ft. 6in longer than that of the DC-10-30, will have a two-man cockpit, a revised wing with winglets, a smaller tailplane, and new engines. It will weigh in at some 500,0001b. If MDC's plans go ahead it could enter service in the first quarter of 1990, with the ER model following a year later. The launch costs of the initial four models would be "below $700 million", and the first cost "around $80 million each". Programme Status: DC-10, all civil models: Orders, 379. Delivered, 372, KC-10A: Author ised, 60. Delivered 46. Combined production rate, 12 per year. MDC is believed to hold orders for five more DC-10-30s, with one more delivery position available, before civil pro duction will end with aircraft number 385 in March 1988. 54 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 11 October 1986
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