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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 0573.PDF
OPERATIONS: AIR TRANSPORT Soviets face soaring fares An average 80% increase in Soviet air fares has been announced by Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov in a speech to the country's Supreme Council. The increase is one of several government reforms aimed at stabilising the disintegrating So viet economy. Civil aviation minister Boris Panyukov has told Soviet news paper Izvestiya that the move is inevitable because of a doubling in the cost of aircraft delivered by the Ministry of Aircraft In dustry. Fuel costs are increasing by a factor of 2.7 and spares and other supplies and services are becoming more expensive. In 1990 Aeroflot made "prof its" of 10 billion roubles ($18 million) — now it is losing money at a rate of 8 million roubles daily. Price rises will vary in differ ent regions. The Far East and Polar North, heavily dependent on air transport, will suffer less than central regions with ade quate railway and highway networks. A Moscow-Leningrad fare will rise from 18 to 43 roubles; Moscow to Yakutsk, deep in Siberia, from 134 to 184 rou bles; Moscow-Simferopol, serv ing popular Crimean resorts, from 28 to 63 roubles. The policy would not affect Aeroflot international routes. Deputy Minister Kurilo has mentioned a possibility of cheaper services offered by new domestic Soviet airlines, totally independent of Aeroflot. The latter, still currently enjoying a monopoly, has been criticised severely in recent press reports for poor services. NEWS IN BRIEF FRENCH DELIVERY Air France has taken delivery of its first Boeing 747-400. The carrier has 19 of the aircraft, powered by General Electric CF6-80C2-B1F, still to be delivered. Boeing has so far won 399 orders from 31 customers for the latest vari ant of its 747. & %8 M3IM ""IjB^B^^^v^B jdSP%^ •* •% T ™~-'th% •fnfl sxm <; -MR •# iMfi J—i—. (m Wryf&S ' *m i.m ..e'-m t. • Profits nosedive as cold chill of economic reform hits Aeroflot •Aeroflot passengers and air port police were injured in scuf fles at Chelyabinsk, the indus trial centre of the Urals region, on 27 February after the cancel lation of all flights when fuel ran out at the airport. Aeroflot officials approached the nearby Soviet Air Force Navigators School for help and the military supplied 200t of fuel — only a fraction of the requirement. Eventually passen gers boarded partially fueled air craft which stopped at nearby airfields to refuel before pro ceeding to planned destinations. Although the Soviet Union is a leading crude oil exporter, jet fuel shortages at airports have recently become common. • USAir withdraws BAe 146 criticism BY KIERAN DALY IN WASHINGTON USAir has admitted that the closure of most of its Cali- fornian network was due to market conditions in the area and not, as it had alleged, the "high operating costs" of the British Aerospace 146 fleet it was using(Flight International 6- 12 February). The statement fol lows angry protests from British Aerospace (BAe). USAir is selling its 18 146s because it has no routes to run them on, and now says: "It is not the aircraft's fault. It is the marketing conditions which are behind our decision. You have got-low fare carriers who are determined to beat each others' brains out." The airline says it was "...not run out of California. Our mar ket share was very strong and load factors were good. Under normal conditions we would have been OK. We decided to cut our losses." It says the 146s, inherited as part of its purchase of PSA, became less economic after seat ing capacity was reduced to 81 —partly to give passengers more room following com plaints and partly to introduce a small first-class section. BAe says USAir's earlier criti cism has already hurt its mar keting effort in the fiercely com petitive US regional airliner market. Senior officials in its US subsidiary have accused fi nancially burdened USAir of making the 146 a "scapegoat" for the failed Californian opera tion. Figures filed with the US Department of Transportation show USAir losing market share in California, forcing down fares to an exceptionally low level. Yields were substantially lower than the rest of its net work and break-even load fac tors almost twice as high. The carrier's engine mainte nance costs for its Pratt & Whitney JT8Ds on Boeing 737s as well as the Lycoming ALF- 502s in the 146s, are consis tently much higher than indus try averages —up to four times the costs of other major US carriers. USAir engine mainte nance is carried out by its wholly-owned subsidiary PSA Airmotive. • ANZ adds Boeing 767300s to fleet Air New Zealand has con firmed orders forN an addi tional four Boeing 767-300ERs and a 747-400. Deliveries- are staggered from 1994 to 1997. The carrier has options on five 767-300s and two 747-400.S. Six 737s ordered late last year will be delivered by the end of 1993 — the carrier has until the end of this year to decide on which 737 variant to specify. Jim Scott, the airline's chief executive, says a "leaner" Air New Zealand was ready for con tinued expansion following a fleet capacity increase of about 15% in the last 12 months. He is forecasting an annual 6-10% increase for the next ten years on the back of rising tourism demands. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 13 - 19 March, 1991 II
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