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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 0650.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Russians thrive as traffic falls Russian airlines' passenger traffic dropped by 35% in 1993 and cargo throughput fell by 23% compared with 1992, according to figures from the Ministry of Trans port's Department of Air Transport (DAT). The indus try recorded large profits, however, instead of losses. The DAT reports that, in 1993, registered commercial operators flew 83.2 billion passenger-kilometres, with 40 million passenger boardings, and carried 555,000t of mail and cargo. The average com mercial load-factor in 1993 was 58.6%. The department estimates that, in 1993, profits of com mercial operators will amount to 320 billion roubles (about $200 million), of which Aero- flot-Russia International Air lines is responsible for 233 billion roubles. This is a significant step forward from 1992, when losses of commer cial operators amounted to 56.3 billion roubles. There were 87 accidents in 1993, including 11 fatal crashes, in which 222 people died and 28 aircraft were writ ten off. This compares with accident figures of 123, 25 and 212, respectively, for 1992. The DAT records 634 "inci dents" because of aircraft faults. The most frequent cause was engine failure on the Tupolev Tu-154, the Ilyushin 11-62, the Antonov An-2 and the Mil Mi-8 heli copter. It notes that no design measures have been imple mented to eliminate failures of shaft bearings in the D-30KU engines of the Tu-154M and I1-62M and in the VR-8 gear boxes of the Mi-8. Four hijacks occurred in Russia in 1993, with two re sulting in flights abroad and two being aborted by security forces. During pre-flight secu rity-control procedures 1,700 fire-arms and 12,000 cold- steel weapons were confis cated, along with more than 4t of explosives and 40kg of drugs, the DAT says. • Europe moves on pilot-report plan BY DAVID LEARMOUNT The European Commission (EC) has proposed an infrastructure for a continent- wide, co-ordinated, commer cial-aviation confidential reporting system, encouraging pilots who might otherwise not record a potentially dangerous incident to do so with guaran teed anonymity. Several European Union (EU) member countries already have national systems, but the co-ordinated system, the Euro pean Confidential Aviation Safety Reporting (EUCARE) network, would have a central database with specialist soft ware capable of processing data Vietnam plans sell-off Vietnam is planning a lim ited privatisation of state- owned Vietnam Airlines, together with smaller carriers Pacific Airlines and Vietnam Air Services. The country's civil-aviation administration says that it will submit plans to the Govern ment to sell a minority share in Vietnam Airlines and Vietnam Air Services (VASCO) and to "re-organise" Pacific Airlines. Although the Government would still own majority stakes in the three carriers, either directly or through state-owned companies, shares would be traded to investors on the planned new stock exchanges. With the US export embargo against it lifted, Vietnam is in the market for aircraft pur chases or operating leases and is looking for around 15 me dium- or long-haul aircraft be tween now and the year 2000. Vietnam expects passenger traffic growth to exceed 30% a year, matching the explosive development of neighbouring China. Vietnam Airlines and VASCO will also need up to ten smaller aircraft for domes tic routes and are looking at ATR 42s and 72s, Fokker 50s and de Havilland Dash 8s. The last of five Airbus A320s, wet-leased from Air France, have now been delivered. • from national units to detect continent-wide trends. A steering group, consisting mainly of accident investigators and other safety specialists from eight of the 12 EU na tions, met in Brussels in early March to review a year's pro gress in defining and preparing for such a system, says the responsible EC commissioner, Jean Paul Henrotte. The steering group confirms that the Technical University of Berlin should operate the cen tral database. The University, previously given the task of developing a German national confidential reporting system, is already half way through a two-year contract to develop the EUCARE software. The group also recommends that national confidential- reporting systems should be operated in countries which have a large enough civil- aviation industry to ensure an onymity for those who file reports, and regional offices should cover two or more of small countries, says Henrotte. Systems such as the UK's confi dential human-factors incident reporting system (CHIRP) should continue to operate, passing data also to Berlin. Those nations or areas not covered by such systems should set them up, the steer ing group recommends. Henrotte says that the group has also initiated legal studies and considered financial provi sions. Now the embryo EUCARE has to approach all the organisations which would have to become involved, says Henrotte. There will be a fur ther year of research and defin ition, he estimates, followed by a year getting the political clearance and action, then an other 12 months to set up the defined organisation. As a result, EUCARE is not expected to be fully operational until 1997. D USAir demands union help for cost cuts USAir is asking its workforce for sweeping savings on wages as the loss- making carrier comes under intense pressure to cut back on cost levels which are among the highest of any US airlines. The carrier has called its four major unions to begin "sub stantive talks" on cost reduc tions and productivity im provements. US newspaper re ports suggest that union lead ers are likely to be asked for US airline costs per available seat mile Southwest* Continental American United Delta" Northwest USAir** * Excludes Morris 1993 07.20 07.91 08.81 09.33 09.41 09.58 011.09 1992 Change 07.03 2.4% 07.68 3.0% 08.93 (1.3)% 09.62 (3.0% 09.44 (0.3)% 09.49 0.9% 010.82 2.5% Air ** Before re-structuring costs wage concessions worth $500 million in each of the next three years, when they met with the carrier's management on 15 March. Chairman Seth Schofield warns that USAir must cut costs, if it is to "...remain viable in a low-fare competitive envi ronment". The airline has al ready slashed many business fares by up to 50% as it battles to match the prices being of fered by low-wage carriers such as Southwest Air lines or the new CALite service being offered by Conti nental Airlines. USAir has warned that its losses are likely to worsen this year, adding to a deficit of more than $2 billion racked up over the past five years. Losses in 1993 stood at $383 million after charges were made. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 16 - 22 March, 1994
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