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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 0144.PDF
OPERATIONS: AIR TRANSPORT UTA take-over makes Air France Europe's second-favourite airline BY GILBERT SEDBON IN PARIS Air France and the Paris-based /"Vholding company Chargeurs have agreed terms for the take over of a majority stake in the rival UTA and domestic carriers Air Inter and TAT. The state- owned carrier will become Eu rope's second-largest carrier behind British Airways. The move has already pro voked protests from European Commission anti-trust regu lators in Brussels as well as a robust response from the Commission as it seeks to stem the trend of mergers and co operation accords between Euro pean airlines. European competition com missioner Sir Leon Brittan is in vestigating what he feels is a breach of competition rules by the French Government by deny ing European routes to UTA. Altali realises 25-year ambition Last October, the Commission ruled that a co-operative agree ment between Air France and Air Inter was anti-competitive be cause it called for sharing rev enue, profits and losses. The Commission might con clude that the new accord with UTA aims to circumvent that BA plans new engineering base British Airways is considering Cardiff-Wales Airport and Liverpool Airport as possible sites for a proposed £60 million aircraft maintenance base. BA chief executive Sir Colin Marshall says that a decision on whether to go ahead with the project, which would be opera tional within three years and would employ around 1,500 people, will be taken in the middle of 1990. British Airways is already having to send aircraft abroad for heavy maintenance work be cause of under-capacity at Heathrow. The new unit would have capacity for handling three Boeing 747s. • China plans aircraft purchase China's state-controlled avi ation agency plans to buy 19 passenger aircraft this year, down from the 29 acquired in 1989. Hu Yizhou, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), says that the purchases will include 747s, MD-82s and Chinese Yun-7s. He did not specify quantities ordered. Last year CAAC acquired one 747-400, one 767, two 757-200s, six MD-82s, three Airbus A300- 600s and 11 Yun-7s; the rest were short-haul aircraft. Under CAAC's umbrella, regionally based carriers operate 170 aircraft on 360 routes, 50 of them international, says Hu. All long-distance domestic and international routes are flown by foreign-built aircraft. McDonnell Douglas builds some of its MD-80 range in a joint venture in Shanghai, but most of the parts and technology are imported. Negotiations are taking place to extend this arrangement to in clude further MD-80s. • decision. It does, however, give Air France the same hold over its foreign and domestic market that a number of other European flag- carriers enjoy. The Commission is also in vestigating several other airline tie-ups, the most recent of which is the acquisition by British Air ways and KLM of a large stake in Belgian carrier Sabena. The Air France/UTA deal is the latest in moves by European airlines to grow through merg ers, cross-shareholding pur chases and marketing alliances, linking with giants such as American and United in the USA, and Asian carriers like Thai International, Singapore Airlines and Japan Air Lines. The take-over agreed allows Bernard Attali—chairman of Air France, international financier and twin brother of Jacques Attali (President Francois Mitterrand's chief counsellor)— to pull off a deal coveted by Air France and successive French governments for 25 years. Air France will buy 54.58% of UTA for Fr3.8 billion ($662 mil lion) from Chargeurs, which owns 82.9% of UTA. LTTA gains new masters but main tains its identity In buying UTA, Air France will acquire control of Air Inter, of which UTA owns 35.8%. Added to Air France's 37% stake, this gives the state carrier control of the airline which was already Europe's largest domestic carrier. Air France also has virtual control of TAT (Transport Aerien Transregional), a com pany specialising in "third-level" traffic and the fourth-largest car rier in France. The link has come as a blow to UTA chairman and chief exec utive officer Rene Lapautre, who has struggled to wiri new routes from successive French govern ments which systematically fa voured Air France and Air Inter at UTA's expense. He has cham pioned UTA's independence as well as the right to compete with Air France worldwide. Lapautre BINTER SIGNS FOR CN-235 Iberia subsidiary Binter Mediterranea, due to launch in Julv 1990, has ordered five CASA CN-235-100s in a deal worth $64 million. The type is already operated by the new airline's sister company, Binter Canarias, as shown above. The new company will operate Spanish regional routes in the Balearics, Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia and Murcia, and some services in France and Italy. 10 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24-30 January 1990
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