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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 3338.PDF
0 PERATI ONS: A IR T R A N S P 0 R T Aeroflot/Metro Air project eyes P&W power Swiss cargo operator Metro Air Cargo is to link with the Siberian division of Aeroflot to form a new joint-venture air line. The company has also ap proached Pratt & Whitney about the possible re-engining of its Ilyushin Il-76s. The airline, called Metro Air in the West and Metro Air Moscow in the USSR, will begin joint freight operations in the next three or four weeks and will eventually run passenger services, says Lugano-based Metro's strategy manager, Rein- hard Heyer. "We are having talks with the Tyumen [Siberia] Civil Aviation Group. Aeroflot is composed of several regional divisions which want to divide from Aeroflot; with 30,000 aircraft it's just too big," he says Berlin return boos Lufthansa has accompanied its re-introduction of sched uled services to Berlin with re newed optimism for control of the former East German state carrier, Interflug. Lufthansa deputy chairman Jurgen Weber says the latest proposal for his company to assume control of Interflug (Flight International, 3f Octo- ber-6 November) has a "good" chance of succeeding. "We feel it is not a big problem, as we have the same shareholder [the German Government]," he says. "We expect approval within the next four weeks." He does not expect the Ger man cartel office or the Eu ropean Commission to oppose Reunified Germany holds no barriers Tyumen is an ideal location, says Heyer, "just about in the centre of the USSR", and Metro aims to set up a Far East/Europe route via Vladivostok. The Sibe rians want to build a new inter national-standard airport at Tyumen and we will assist them in locating a major Western contractor able to handle the project, and help them set up the running of the airport to cater for through traffic on the east/west route," he says. The airline plans to run freight initially, inside and out side the USSR. It already has one Bulgarian-registered Ilyushin 11-76 in service and on 8 November, will pick up four more Soviet-registered Il-76s, two from Moscow and two from Tashkent. "With the Soviet engines the ts Lufthansa's bid the move. "We have had no indication of that up till now," he says. Weber's enthusiasm is re flected by Lufthansa chairman Heinz Ruhnau, who says Inter- flug's future can "...best be solved by a German carrier". Lufthansa last flew to Berlin in April 1945: since then all services into West Berlin have been in the hands of Air France, British Airways and Pan Ameri can. Services to East Berlin were run by Interflug and Warsaw Pact airlines. Lufthansa serves Berlin's Tegel Airport in the former Western sector from Cologne, Frankfurt and London-Gatwick, among others, and runs trans- 'or Lufthansa P&W power would extend reach of 11-76 has 3,600km [l,945nm] range with a full load but we have approached Pratt & Whit ney to see if they can re-engine it to give us 10,000km," says the Metro strategy manager. Atlantic services to Newark from Schoenefeld in the former East German sector. In the next few months it expects to begin weekly services to Moscow and Tokyo, the latter from Schoenefeld, as Tegel's run way cannot accommodate a fully-laden Boeing 747. In addition to the twelve daily flights to Berlin which Lufthansa runs with its own aircraft, it operates seven wet-leased Pan Am aircraft on services from Stuttgart, Munich and Nurem berg. This is part of a $150 million deal which gave Lufthansa Pan Am's route rights and gates at Tegel. Two Pan Am aircraft will be replaced by Lufthansa aircraft next month and the remainder by mid-1991. Interflug now operates 18 air craft — down from 38 a year ago — but its airline staff still num bers 3,500. Weber has also renewed Lufthansa's call for better access to the British market. Under present arrangements, British Airways retains some 80 internal flights a day in Germany and some 30 daily services from Brit ain. Lufthansa has about 30 serv ices from Britain to Germany including two Tegel-Gatwick. • itro Air Cargo's ll-76s Metro, whose money origi nally came from banking and re-financing, also wants to di versify into the specialised pas senger market. The company is reviewing the Yakovlev Yak-40, which is "...ideal for hub by passing", says Heyer. "If the present seating is ripped out and the aircraft Westernised it would make a good fast business-class jet seat ing about 20 people. In the configuration we envisage it would have a range of about 1,800 km," he says. • Regional comeback for Indian A320s Indian Airlines has restarted Airbus A320 operations on its international routes in the first phase of a programme to rein troduce the aircraft into com mercial service. The first A320 flight was on 28 October on the Delhi- Kathmandu-Delhi sector. Serv ices to Karachi, Male, Bangkok and Lahore will be added shortly. The airline has not yet finalised a date for restarting domestic flights with the A320s. Indian Airlines' fleet of A320s has been grounded since one of them crashed on approach to Bangalore earlier this year. Fol lowing the Ramdas report into the operation of the Airbus A320 in India, eight of the aircraft have been used to evac uate Indian nationals from the Gulf region. • for Interflug 10 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 - 13 November, 1990
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