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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 0014.PDF
OPERATIONS: AIR TRANSPORT Pilots criticise UK fatigue rules UK airline pilots are accusing the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of caving in to pressure from airlines when drawing up its latest regulations for avoiding aircrew fatigue. The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) says the CAA "... decided to accept arguments based on commercial interests which prejudice the safety of pilots and passengers". The new rules, contained in the third edition of Civil Air Publica tion 371 and effective from May 1990, include these changes: 0 Minimum of seven days off in any four weeks (previously six days); 0 Duty hours limited to 55 in any one week, 95 in two weeks and 190 (previously 200) in any month for fixed-wing; # Not more than three consec utive night flights, with a com pulsory extended rest period before the first flight; # Not more than four early starts or late finishes (01.00 to 06.59) in any seven days; 9 Five time-band day (pre viously four) introduced to limit early-evening/late-afternoon de partures; # Minimum day-off rest time New rules for "ops" are condemned by BALPA increased to 34 hours (fixed- wing aircraft) and 36 hours (helicopters). The CAA is particularly con cerned about disturbed sleep pat terns; roster disruption, which it accepts is often caused by air traffic control delays; and the practice of working strenuous weeks or fortnights followed by a rest period. Capt John Mimpriss Air Inter wins Airbus A320 award Air Inter, the major French xVdomestic airline expanding into intra-European Community services, has won Airbus In dustrie's award for achieving A320 operational efficiency. With nine A3 20s in service since receiving the first aircraft in June 1988, the airline had achieved a technical reliability of 99.3% at the end of August. The average technical reliability rate for the previous six months was 98.8%. The award was given to Air Inter during the first A320 tech nical symposium held in Nice, France, recently and attended by 180 representatives from 17 na tional and international A3 20 customers, including future operators. By the end of September a total of 59 A320s were in commercial service with nine carriers. Air Inter still leads in operational reliability, showing 99.2% for September; British Airways is second with 99.0%; and Adria Airways third with 98.5%. The A320's fleet-wide operational reliability is 98.1%. Air Inter operates a dense domestic network of short one- hour hauls with rapid turn around. Average daily A320 use is 6h lmin, with average flight duration running at lh 13min. The highest daily use of 9h 32min, gained in four flights a day, was achieved by Braniff. By the end of September the A320 fleet worldwide had logged 53,180 revenue flight hours, while the number of revenue flights stood at 47,435. The A320 has won and "E" (exempt) rating from John Wayne Airport, in Orange County, near Los Angeles, which is the world's toughest airport for noise rules. • of CAA flight operations quotes examples of a number of pilots working a 60-hour duty week including 40 hours flying, and one pilot having 69% of his planned duty periods being al tered during the authority's study of operators. BALPA describes the new rules as being "full of loopholes" and claims the potential exemp tions "virtually cancel out their effectiveness". It believes that concessions granted by the CAA following limited circulation of draft proposals earlier this year went too far. Several airlines are known to have strongly resisted parts of the new document during the preparation period, although none has publicly criti cised the final version. Neverthe less, most operators, especially in the inclusive-tour sector, will have to reconsider their rostering practices. Air Europe says that it will have to hire 5-10% more pilots in order to comply. CAA group director for safety regulations, Ron Ashford, says: "I think you will find that pilots will feel that we have not gone far enough, and operators will say we have gone too far, which suggests to me that we got it about right". Night freight specialists have to operate to the same rules, and some are having to make radical rostering changes. • Fringe carriers form new CRS A consortium of 19 mainly third-world and Eastern Bloc airlines has formed a new computer reservation system (CRS) based on the SITA Bagriel network and christened Gabriel extended travel system (GETS). SITA is providing computing capability and information ser vices for GETS, which incor porates all normal CRS functions including the provision of marketing data. The 19 member carriers—seven African, eight Latin American, plus Aeroflot, LOT, LTU and Malev—have equal equity shares in the GETS management company but even tually will have different degrees of influence depending on how widely they use the system. Solly Dwek of SITA says the system is intended primarily for agents in the carriers' own countries so that the airlines can protect their home markets. Joseph Nyagah, managing director of Kenya Airways, which played a leading role in GETS' formation, says: "We felt we would be disadvantaged if we went into one of the big systems. We are looking for a system that is fair to us and which will create the critical mass needed to co operate with the big systems. Other countries would pay less attention to us as small nations than if we go to them as a group of airlines." • Airborne Express turns to Japan Airborne Freight, which trades XXas US all-cargo carrier Air borne Express, is to form a joint venture with Mitsui and Tonami Transportation of Japan and will benefit from their investment. Airborne is to combine its Japanese operations with Pan ther Express International— owned by Mitsui and Tonami. The venture will be owned 40% by Airborne, 40% by Mitsui and 20% by Tonami. The Japanese companies will invest $40 mil lion in Airborne. Mitsui will also provide a commitment for up to $100 million in aircraft financing over five years. •
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