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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 1822.PDF
Daewoo to build Mi-17s in South Korea South Koreans tie up il helicopter deal BY JOHN BAILEY IN SINGAPORE Daewoo Heavy Industries (DHI) has signed a prelim inary agreement to build Rus sian Mil Mi-8T and Mi-17 helicopters under licence in South Korea. The agreement is the first since the end of the Cold War in which a Russian-designed aircraft will be built overseas. A memorandum of understand ing was signed on 29 June between DHI and the Mil de sign bureau, the Kazan heli copter plant (which builds the Mil machines) and powerplant manufacturer Klimov. Daewoo's Kang-Bock Lee, general manager for the Mil project, says that a firm con tract should be in place by the end of October, with assembly of the first Mi-8T starting by July 1994. He says: "This is a purely commercial programme. DHI has a long association with rotary-wing projects, mak ing rotor hubs and transmis sions for Sikorsky, and helping Korean Air with licence pro duction of the UH-60P Black Hawk for the Korean army. It also makes nose modules, lower-fuselage sections and side structures for Westland, and rotor hubs for Bell. Lee says that DHI will assem ble helicopters from kits sup plied by Kazan and Klimov-in the early stages, but that local content will increase gradually. Lee adds: "We want to extend our manufacturing to dynamic parts like the rotor hub and the transmission gears, but it de pends on economic feasibility." DHI has not specified how many helicopters will be built in South Korea, although Lee says that the total could ap proach around 100 machines. The twin-engined Mi-8T, Nato code name Hip-C, is the civilian version of the military- transport helicopter produced at Kazan since the early 1960s. Lee says that DHI intends to market the Mi-8T, and its suc cessor, the updated Mi-17, for "passenger transportation" in Korea and South-East Asia. As sembly of the Mi-17 will re place that of the Mi-8 in 1996. The Mi-17, code name Hip- H, entered production in 1980 and is operated in various con figurations worldwide, primar ily as a cargo helicopter. • UK favours research The UK Government has announced that it is willing to develop a strategic plan for civil-aerospace re search, following warnings that the long-term future of its industry could be under threat. The announcement came the day before publica tion of a Parliamentary re port on 21 July, which is critical of the "inadequate" level of UK state support for aerospace. The Ministry of Defence is also understood to be considering recom mendations in the report. • See News Analysis, P26. US commission urges financial help The US federal commission studying the nation's air- ine industry is proposing measures to ease directly the financial burden on carriers, but it rejects any notion of re-regulation. Its draft report recommends raising the limit on foreign holdings of voting stock in US carriers, from 25% to 49%; exempting airlines from the proposed transportation fuel tax; rolling back passenger- ticket and cargo-waybill taxes; and creating an investment-tax credit for hushkitting, replac ing or re-engineing Stage 2 aircraft. The final report of the National Commission to En sure a Strong Competitive Air line Industry is scheduled for 19 August. Other draft proposals in the report include a toughening of the US stance on bilateral air- service agreements and the appointment of an ambassador- at-large as a negotiator; the auctioning of limited interna tional-route authorities; a re quirement for carriers entering Chapter 11 to re-organise within 12 months; and the creation of a White House- appointed, non-partisan airline financial-advisory committee. The development of satellite- based air traffic control (ATC) would be continued, but a new organisation would be created to perform the existing US Federal Aviation Administra tion function of managing and funding ATC modernisation. The draft report also con tains a provision which elimi nates the liability of small- aircraft manufacturers for de sign defects after the product life of the aircraft, or 15 years, whichever is less. It also sanc tions increasing US Export- Import Bank support for small- aircraft sales. Under the proposals to in crease foreign ownership, a lib eral bilateral aviation agree ment would have to be in place with the investor's home gov ernment and the investor could not be government-owned. Meanwhile, no restrictions should be placed on US inves tors wishing to make a similar investment in an airline of the foreign investor's country. Fi nally, the foreign stake in the US carrier should violate nei ther public interest nor na tional-defence requirements. The Commission believes, however, that the existing con cept of bilateral aviation agree ments is "no longer conceptu ally sound nor sufficiently growth-oriented in the global trade environment". • Airline recovery 'disappointing7 T he US airline industry showed signs of begin ning a recovery in the second quarter, with American Airlines, USAir and Delta Air Lines post ing profits. Despite reversing 1992's massive losses, the carriers warn that their perfor mance remains disappointing. "In the absence of either stronger levels of demand or higher yields, present trends will not result in satisfactory earnings," cautions Bob Cran- dall, chairman of American parent AMR. His remarks come despite net earnings by American of $46 million, which contrast with 1992's second-quarter loss of $183 million. Delta had a net profit of $57 million for the quarter. For its full year to the end of June, Delta reported a $415 million loss, before a charge for the changes in accounting for retiree benefits, down from a $506 million deficit in 1992. USAir showed only a mod est $5.8 million profit for the quarter against the second quarter of 1992, when the group lost $131 million. • Crandall: still not happy FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 28 July - 3 August, 1993
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