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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 1374.PDF
MR TRANSPORT American alters its fleet upgrade plans BY GUY NORMS IN LOS ANGELES American Airlines is switch ing its fleet upgrade efforts to the Boeing 727 following its decision not to modernise its McDonnell Douglas DC-lOs. "We've got to look at the 727, which will almost certainly be in our fleet through 2000," says fleet transactions manager Ken neth Raff. "We have some 1981 and 1982 aircraft which are quite excellent, so we see a long future for them." The cost of modernising more DESTINATIONS Royal Jordanian Airlines in troduced a twice-weekly serv ice to Berlin's Schonefeld Airport on 3 June, using Air bus A310s and to Jakarta on 18 June, using Lockheed L-lOlls. US Air Express has introduced a new non-stop daily service from Charlotte to Evansville (Indianapolis), using Boeing de Havilland Dash-8s, and a twice-daily service to Shenandoah Valley (Vancouver), using British Aerospace Jetstream 31s. Yemen Airways has intro duced a twice-weekly service from Sana'a (Yemen) to As mara (Eritrea), using Boeing 737s. This is the first interna tional service to be operated to Eritrea after independence. Bouraq Airlines started the first scheduled service be tween Jakarta (Indonesia) and Davao (southern Philippines). The carrier plans further inter national flights and has four Boeing 737s on order. City Air Scandinavia operates a new service between London City Airport and Stockholm's Bromma Airport and also be tween Bromma and Malmo, using BAe 146s. Garuda Indo nesia will begin a twice- weekly service to Townsville, Queensland, as an extension of its Cairns service. than 60 727-200s is being weighed against the benefits of increased residual value, im proved performance and savings on replacement types. The DC-10-10 failed the anal ysis with a $14 million-per- aircraft cost for even the most basic upgrade involving the re placement of life-limited parts. "We will evaluate hushkits as well as re-engineing and ask ourselves whether it is worth spending money and getting the operational benefits now, or wait until later before meeting the FAA [US Federal Aviation Ad ministration] noise deadline," says Raff. The airline expects no problems in meeting the Decem ber 1999 deadline for ending the operation of all Stage II equip ment in the USA. "We [Ameri can Airlines] are lucky that way, as most of our fleet is already Stage Ill-compliant," adds Raff. American is reviewing data from Valsan, which is offering to replace the No 1 and No 3 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15As with -219s and remove the central engine's thrust reverser. Federal Express Aviation Services' hushkit is also being studied, as is the Rolls-Royce Tay engine retrofit, which "...will certainly cut our fuel burn but doesn't give us any more performance". Raff says: "We have also heard from others [CFM International and International Aero Engines] with twin-engined solutions. At the moment, however, one of the attractions of three engines is the aircraft's additional des patch reliability, particularly in the Caribbean." The airline has already started to retire some of its older 727s and has cut the fleet from 161 to 155 aircraft over the past five months. The last of 30 surviving 727-100s, which first entered service in 1964, will be paid off in December 1993. The first of the older, 1968-vintage, 727-200 fleet will be phased out in 1993. "By mid-1996, our aim is to be down to 67 of the 727- 200ADVs," explains Raff. • Olympic Aviation: on course for financial independence Olympic Aviation to be financially free BY JULIAN MOXON IN ATHENS Greek domestic carrier Olym pic 'Aviation says it will achieve financial independence from Olympic Airways by the end of this year, although it will remain strongly affiliated with the national airline. Until recently, the two carriers have maintained a near-total monopoly over Greek aviation — and retain a monopoly on scheduled flights flown by Greek-registered aircraft. They are under increas ing pressure from the European Commission to disclose how much they re ceive in Govern ment subsidies, and to allow other prospective Greek-owned air lines to compete on national and international routes. Even non- scheduled opera- Avgerinidis tions were banned in Greece until a presi- be dential decree in 1991. Olympic Aviation director- general Kyriakos Avgerinidis ac cepts that the end is nigh for what he calls the "exclusive na ture" of operations which the airline has been enjoying. "But I am optimistic that we'll still be able to offer a better service than a new entrant, because we have been serving our routes for years. We have a good safety and maintenance record, and are constantly improving passenger service," he adds. possible for a new entrant to start an airline — although there are many aspirants. The first, and so far only, serious attempt to overcome the rule is by Lambda Airlines, which has bought a pair of McDonnell Douglas MD-83s and — if it receives its operator's ticket — plans to begin charter flights in July from various European des tinations to Greece. Lambda ex pects to begin scheduled domestic services once it has been fully established. Avgerinidis says that Olympic | Aviation will begin flying re gionally to neigh bouring countries from Salonika in mid-1993. "Athens will remain our base, but we will begin training at Salonika. It will become our sec ond hub," he says. The existing fleet of Shorts SD-330s, Dormer 228s, and ATR42s and 72s will also rationalised. The optimistic future SD-330s and 228s will probably be sold, leaving four ATR42s and five ATR72s. "We need one or two more ATR72s, and we're also looking at the BAe 146, and Dornier 328," says Olympic Avi ation technical services manager Athanasios Aris. "The 328 with a STOL [short take-off and landing] kit would be ideal for us, because it is pressurised and can fly above the high winds we get in win ter." The four aircraft types would leave the airline with Greece still prohibits aircraft aircraft in the 30-, 50-, 70- and leasing, making it virtually im- 100-seat category, he adds. D 0 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 3 - 9 June, 1992
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