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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 2949.PDF
BA evaluates widebody twinjets LONDON Lord King of British Airways wants his technical staff to look closely at an Airbus A300-600R or A310-200 with Rolls-Royce RB.211-524D4D engines. Such an airframe/ engine mix is simply not available, so it is an inter esting request. The airline is evaluating the big twinjets, including the Boeing 767, and is also looking at the MD-11 as a TriStar replacement. Pressures on British Air ways' departure slots at Heathrow, Glasgow, Paris and other busy traffic centres, plus the ageing TriStar fleet, are leading the airline's planners towards Airbus or Boeing widebody twins. The easy decision is to order more 757s, and in fact BA has taken option on ten more at the original discount price, which is much less than the current $37 million per aircraft. Also to be announced soon is an order for one more 757 to follow the 25th due for delivery this spring. The 757 is producing for BA what one of its engineers calls "unbelievable reliability". The airline is extremely pleased with the aircraft and its Rolls- Royce 535C engines. BA bought 535Cs from Eastern when it converted to E4s, and refurbished them for installa tion in some of its new 757s, further reducing cost. While the 757 is a perfect "rush-hour 737", it 'is not a widebody and this could become a disadvantage as competition offers greater passenger cabin comfort. The 757 is also limited as a cargo aircraft, at any rate while carrying passengers. It can be converted for side-by- side LD3s in its main passen ger cabin. Airbus can also carry side-by-side LD3s below deck, which the narrower- body Boeing 767 cannot do. The 757 can also be flown as an extended-range (ER) aircraft. Full payload-range is 3,000 n.m. or more, but this falls considerably short of the Boeing 767-300ER's 6,000 n.m. with 260 passengers. The A300-600R, with its smaller wing, is about 1,000 n.m. short of that. The Boeing 767, with its flight deck and systems common with the 757, would be an obvious candidate. Airbus recently flew BA chairman Lord King and a senior technical team from Heathrow to Bordeaux for lunch and a presentation of the Airbus family, including the A320. The European lead in fly-by-wire was also pre sented. Lord King is im pressed with the technology and market advances which Airbus has been achieving. The question of RB.211 engines for the Airbus has always met a cool response from Toulouse, and Rolls- Royce has not been able to face the whole of the certifica tion cost of £100 million. British Airways sees twinjet ER operations as a problem of reliability and punctuality. Transatlantic scheduling is reminiscent of Stratocruiser and Constellation flight planning, with departures depending on the availability of Rekjavik, Keflavik, Goose Bay, Gander, and so on. The debate is one of the most complex the airline's technical staff can remember. Government may sell more SIA shares SINGAPORE The Singapore Government may sell more of its national airline, Singapore Inter national Airways (SIA), to the public, reports Phillip Bangsberg. The state hold ing company Temasek retained 63 per cent of the shares when SIA was part denationalised last year. This could be cut to 50 per cent or less, says chairman J. Y. Pillay. The carrier recently re ported interim pre-tax profits of Sing$222 million (US$100 million), up 24 per cent on the same period last year. Reve nues rose from S$l-61 billion to S$l-67 billion without the aid of aircraft sales which have often buoyed up past results. Traffic increased 7-5 per cent to 1-68 billion tonne kilometres with a marginally better overall load factor of 72-7 per cent. There is no interim dividend, SIA says, because it is taking a cautious view of the second half. If more shares are sold, there will be some dispute over ownership. Pillay says that overseas interests now control 20 per cent of the airline, with SIA staff holding another 13 per cent and other Singaporeans 5 per cent. The Government intended that the majority of shares should be held domestically, but the airline has been pushing for a higher proportion of foreign ownership. When it neared the current limit of 20 per cent SIA unsuccessfully sought an increase to 25 per cent. Kenya Airways has just taken delivery of a second Airbus A310-300. British Airways is now considering buying widebody twinjets AIR TRANSPORT NEWS SCAN The Maltese Government says it is drawing up plans to build an airstrip on Malta's tiny sister island, Gozo, to enable the two to have a fixed-wing airlink. Such plans have been con sidered before, but nothing came of them. A closely- fought election is due in February, so there is local speculation that the embryo plans may be posturing. "Near misses" in the Italian skies are reducing in number: 38 in 1983, 34 in 1984, and 28 in 1985. These figures were revealed by Antonia Mura, the president of AAAV, Ital ian air traffic control. The lata Statistical Infor mation System (Isis) is now fully operational. The on-line data base, providing informa tion to the air transport industry on traffic, capacity revenue cost, and consumer trends in historical, current, and forecast terms is pres ently being used by 13 member airlines. It is now open to a wider audience. Air Tanzania plans to start flights to Europe and India by next year, the Government- owned daily newspaper has announced. Gulf Air's net profit declined by 28 per cent to BD13-73 million ($35-5 million) in 1985 from BD19-19 million in 1984. The depression in oil- related business has not helped the airline and the earlier rise in the price of fuel has hit net profits. Midway Airlines has announced that it will begin service from Chicago Midway to Denver on January 5, 1987. The three non-stop flights a day will become part of its westward expansion plans. Air Zaire and the Belgian carrier Sabena have signed a new bilateral agreement for the Brussels-Kinshasa route. Both airlines will operate five-weekly return flights with only two of these being operated in a pool. The other three will benefit only the serving airline. The agreement also covers the balanced spreading of overheads that are pooled. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 8 November 1986
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