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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 2053.PDF
OPERATIONS: AIR TRANSPORT Sabena opposes monopoly ruling • • • • » The Brussels Commercial Court has ruled that Sabena World Airways (SWA) has no exclusive right to the monopoly of international services from Brussels 'of its parent company Sabena. Sabena says that it will appeal against the judgement. The case against SWA was brought by the Belgian charter company, Trans European Air ways (TEA), which wanted to start international scheduled ser vices from Brussels. This move was blocked, how ever, when the Belgian Govern ment did not oppose the transfer of Sabena's monopoly on inter national services from the airport when SWA was formed with British Airways and KLM each putting up 20% of the equity. Pending the result of the appeal SWA will be blocked from increasing its slot allocation at Brussels. The court announced that if the SWA monopoly is withdrawn then slots would be made available to other airlines. Commenting on the court ruling, TEA chairman Georges Gutelman says: "This is the first of a series of measures necessary to make sure that TEA and other airlines will be able to compete with SWA from the Brussels hub on an equitable basis." Gutelman adds that the judgement "... strengthens the Commis sion's legal grounds for insisting on changes in the SWA! deal". The European Commissioner for Competition, Sir Leon Brittan, is considering whether SWA's monopoly constitutes a violation of EEC competition rules. The position is complicated by the Commissioner for Transport, Karel Van Miert, supporting monopoly positions for national flag carriers. n UK cool on Manchester-USA routes Virgin Atlantic and Air Europe are the only British airlines planning to apply for the two North Atlantic routes re cently created by the new UK/ USA bilateral agreement. In con trast US carriers are clamouring to apply for the additional routes, particularly to Manchester. Virgin has applied to operate a Manchester-Newark service and is considering a bid for Manches ter-Orlando. Before the bilateral agreement. Virgin had already been given permission to operate from Gatwick to Boston as a quid-pro- quo for American Airlines' Chicago-Manchester service. The British airline has signed a letter of intent for its seventh and eighth Boeing 747-200s and is considering a ninth. These would operate on new trans atlantic routes and fly to Singa pore and Australia if licences have been granted for these services. Air Europe has an existing application for the Manchester- Newark route as part of its strat egy to develop three long-haul scheduled networks. Eventually Air Europe hopes to fly from Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow to Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, Honolulu and Auckland. Air New Zealand engineers are currently working on Air Europe aircraft at Gatwick to . gain experience with the company's procedures in readiness for AE's New Zealand route. Air Europe also plans to serve Bermuda, Nassau, Mexico City, Cancun and Acapulco. However, long-haul expansion will have to await the delivery of more Boeing 757 extended range versions and the initial order of six McDonnell Douglas MDlls, scheduled for delivery in 1993. British Airways, which op posed the bilateral agreement, will not bid for the new routes. Up to eight applications for the two UK routes available are expected from US carriers. Delta has already filed for an Atlanta- Manchester route while United Airlines has applied to serve Manchester from Washington and Northwest Airlines from Detroit. Other US carriers have also expressed an interest in flying to Manchester. American West, for instance, is considering a service from Los Angeles, US Air connecting from Pittsburgh and Continental from Newark. • NEWS IN BRIEF INDONESIA BUILDS Indonesia is to build a new international terminal build ing at Polonia Airport, Medan. Condor,. the charter arm of Lufthansa expects to open a new route from Frankfurt to Medan subject to a satisfactory assessment of the tourist po tential of North Sumatra. The private Indonesian airline, Sempati, also hopes to open a Medan-Jakarta route later this month. The Dutch flag-carrier, KLM, already operates a pool ing agreement with Garuda Indonesia on a weekly service to Amsterdam. Meanwhile, Juanda airport at Surabaya in Indonesia has been cleared for international operations. Canadian 747s sold to American American Airlines has bought iVtwo Boeing 747-400s, scheduled for delivery in 1991 from Canadian Airlines Inter national, leaving the Canadian carrier with an apparent 35% profit—worth about $86 million. Canadian's board agreed to the $330 million sale on 18 July after an unsolicited offer from Ameri can, which needs the aircraft for its planned service to Tokyo from Chicago. A route decision, upon which the sale depends, is expected in early August. The aircraft will be delivered to American in February and May 1991. The deal includes the purchase of General Electric CF6-80C2B1F engines and- spares. Should it go ahead, the sale to American will give Canadian an unexpected profit without affect ing its North Pacific plans, which call for six 747-400 flights a week from Vancouver to Tokyo in May 1991. Canadian is projecting a $9.4 millionprofit this year. Operations with McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s on the Hong Kong route may continue for longer than had been intended, with 747-400s not being in troduced until mid-1992. Can adian accepts -that if traffic is high on this route it might need to lease capacity. The airline has ordered a seventh 747-400 and taken options on an additional two 767-300ERs. 0 American Airlines' parent company, AMR, has seen its second-quarter profits fall to $129 million, compared with $177 million 12 months ago. Turnover for the three months was 9.5% up at $2.97 billion against $2.72 billion a year go. The reduced earnings are blamed on rising fuel, maintenance and rental charges. • Loganair signs interline deal with Lufthansa Iufthansa has signed an inter--r line agreement with Scottish carrier Loganair. The German airline's flights via Manchester will be co-ordinated with Loganair's onward flights to Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Lufthansa is committed to developing Manchester as a hub for the north west of the UK. The airline operates more than 30 flights a week from Manchester to Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and since April of this year Hamburg. A new service to Cologne is planned from October. •
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