FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1991
1991 - 1675.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Czechoslovakia to privatise CSA Czechoslovakia plans to pri vatise state airline CSA by the mid-1990s. The carrier is finalising arrangements for the first phase of privatisation, in which foreign investors will be able to take up to 40%. CSA has been working with its financial advisor, London merchant bank J P Morgan, to complete a package of terms to submit to the Government. Ap proval is expected by the start of the third quarter of this year. In the meantime, airlines in Eu rope, North America and the Far East have been invited to con sider bidding for a share in CSA. The negotiating team would not name interested airlines. J P Morgan vice-president Nick Draper, commenting on potential suitors for CSA, says that other airlines would make the most sense as shareholders, although "...we have not ex cluded other financial partners". He adds: "The industry alliance is as important as the injection of new capital". LOT orders $350m worth of MD-80s LOT Polish Airlines has sighed a letter of intent to buy nine MD-80s from McDon nell Douglas (MDC) in a deal worth $350 million. This is the first sale of MDC commercial aircraft to Poland. The purchase is likely to com prise six MD-83s and three MD- 87s. LOT plans to use the short- to medium-range aircraft to serve European, North African and Middle Eastern routes. Deliveries to LOT are sched uled to begin in the first quarter of 1992, with the remainder being delivered during 1993. Douglas Aircraft division vice- president and general manager Russell Ray says: "We are very pleased that LOT has selected our MD-80 over aircraft offered by Airbus and Boeing. The air line will now have the makings of art outstanding fleet." Ray adds: "It was a tough competi tion. We have worked with the airline for several years." • The privatisation will be in two phases. Initially, a minority stake in the airline should be taken by the end of this year. The Government will review the privatisation process in the mid- 1990s. If it deems regulatory and economic conditions to be fa vourable by then, it may approve selling additional equity in the airline. The Czechs would not rule out further institutional and foreign investment at that stage. Meanwhile, CSA is having dis cussions with the Frankfurt air port authority on construction of a cargo terminal at Prague Airport. The airline is likely to retain responsibility for its cargo activities and maintenance base at Prague, although talks with third parties on these are also under way. In a parallel programme, the Czechs are working with the Frankfurt airport authority to plan redevelopment of the Pra gue passenger terminal. • RRL's debt may be cleared The Philippines Government may wipe out the overseas debt of flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) before privatising it. Central bank governor Jose Cuisa says this would be the "fastest and easiest way" to sell the airline. PAL has a foreign-debt load of $450m, of which $250m is owed to commercial banks and the remainder to the so-called Paris Club of 14 creditor countries. The carrier's majority sharehold ers are the Government Service Insurance System and National Development, which hold 99%. The Government says that Northwest Airlines, All Nippon Airways and British Airways have expressed interest in a share. Plans call for 35% of PAL to be allowed into foreign hands. It now appears that up to 80% of the Government's total stake will be divested in a single operation this year, rather than the stage-by-stage privatisation earlier planned. The ultimate plan will be revealed to prospec tive purchasers once a Govern ment buyback of debt is settled, according to sources in Manila. PAL had planned sale and leaseback of some of its aircraft, but shelved that when the Gulf War reduced aircraft value. The airline made a profit of 522 million pesos ($21 million) in the year to March 1990, but president Feliciano Belmonte says that its debt service and unprofitable domestic routes are a constant drain. • LADECO LEASES NEW 757s Chile's Ladeco Airlines will shortly receive the first of two Boeing 757s acquired through a lease agreement with International Lease Finance. They will be used on international routes from Santiago. The second 757 is scheduled to be delivered next year. Faster flight data retrieval is vital, says UK's NTSB The US National Transporta tion Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended methods for expediting digital flight-data re corder (DFDR) data retrieval. Accident investigation can be hampered by an inability to de cipher recorded data, owing to lack of DFDR records. Many operators do not maintain docu mentation to enable them to respond quickly after an acci dent, according to the NTSB. There is no standard format for documenting the parameters recorded by different DFDR sys tems, so information exchange is difficult. "Some operators appear unaware of the level of detail required for DFDR records," says the NTSB, explaining that operators need detailed docu mentation to perform periodic DFDR maintenance checks. Early retrieval of DFDR data helps investigators to identify possible or real malfunctions of systems or equipment and to focus on time-critical areas, says the NTSB, adding: "Inaccurate or incomplete data could result in findings which lead in the wrong direction". The NTSB cites several exam ples: significant parameters in the USAir Boeing 737 crash at New York-LaGuardia in 1989 did not come to light for five weeks; Simmons Airlines was unable to provide documenta tion following the ATR42 con trol loss at Detroit in 1986, delaying correction of "a serious operational deficiency" for sev eral days; USAir could not pro vide records when a Fokker F.28 suffered a jammed stabiliser, generating "serious safety con cerns" in 1990 near Atlanta. Leasing or sale of aircraft can aggravate the situation since some lessees have little knowl edge of DFDR parameters or operators may modify DFDR systems, invalidating original documentation, says the agency. Information provided by Boeing about a 737, leased to Philippine Airlines and which crashed fa tally in May 1990, did not tally with that for its DFDR. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 - 25 June, 1991 21
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
