FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1994
1994 - 1211.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Business Express may draw back from RJ70 commitment Business Express runs into trouble T. roubled Delta Connection carrier Business Express (BEX) is to decide "within 45 days" on the future deliveries of 17 Avro RJ70s still on order. The move is part of a major re-structuring involving a 15% staff cut, a fleet rationalisation and a change to hub-and-spoke operations. Westport, Connecticut- based BEX says that it is happy with the three RJ70s in service, but adds that this small fleet number is "not economic." The company's President and chief executive, Bryan Bedford, warns that the airline "...believes it will not be able to entirely accept delivery of the remaining orders for the Saab 340 and RJ70 aircraft and is looking at reducing the number of aircraft to be delivered, as well as to re-time the delivery of the equipment." RJ70 launch customer BEX is also understood to be talking to Avro about changing to the higher-gross-weight version, which has an additional 2,700kg margin in take-off weight capability. The rapidly expanding car rier was seen as one of the suc cess stories of the US regional industry, but it is now strug gling to meet its commitments. The airline has completed the "planned return" of eight Shorts 360s. It planned to return them on 3 April, but the lessor, Short Brothers (USA), took them back at an earlier date than that. BEX refuses to discuss the circumstances, but admits that it deferred lease payments by arrangement on several types of aircraft, beginning in mid- February this year. Operating leases for the RJ70, Saab 340 and Beech 1900 are being re-structured and BEX also plans to replace its 17 Saab 340As with 340Bs over the next two yers. BEX has also changed its operations at Boston from a lin ear-based flight schedule to a "true hub-and-spoke opera tion", says Bedford. The carrier has also boosted services to its New York Kennedy hub, from 28 to 39 daily flights. D DASA opens 110-seat airliner discussions BY ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI IN MUNICH Deutsche Aerospace (DASA) has been conducting pre liminary discussions with potential partners, including Aerospatiale and British Aerospace, over the Future Advanced Small Airliner (FASA) programme. DASA Aircraft Group presi dent Hartmut Mehdorn says that a partnership should be established and that the project should be ready to go ahead "...somewhere in the second half of this decade". "The programme would be a DASA-Fokker programme, with substantial European par ticipation," says Mehdorn. DASA group member Fokker will lead the project, he adds, as the Dutch company is respon sible for all 70- to 130-seat jet- powered-airliner development within the group. The basic FASA configura tion — the FASA 1 — would be a 110-passenger aircraft, seat ing five abreast. Later variants — the FASA 2 and the FASA 3 Air Mauritius signs up Lufthansa Lufthansa and Air Mauritius have signed an agreement on closer commercial co-opera tion, including pilot training and a maintenance deal for Air Mauritius' new long-range Airbus A340 fleet. Lufthansa's maintenance division, Lufthansa Technik, is to supply a total technical-sup port package for Air Mauritius' new A340s, due for delivery from 18 May. The German flag-carrier says that its package allows customers to put new aircraft types into service without major investments in mainte nance equipment or parts inventories. It will also provide pilot training and line-service tuition for four Air Mauritius training captains, who will then handle training of their own cockpit crews. All future Air Mauritius A340 simulator training will be done at Lufthansa's Main Frankfurt base. Lufthansa also says that Air Mauritius will, in future, be able to offer European connect ing flights with Lufthansa "on favourable terms". Air Mauritius has placed ini tial firm orders for five A340- 300s and hopes to take delivery of four more, beginning in September 1999. Three of the initial batch are being pur chased from Airbus, the other two will be leased from the Los Angeles-based International Lease Financing . D Mehdorn: in Fokker talks — would be stretched and shortened versions of the air craft. While no official timetable has been fixed for the programme, DASA is expected to aim for a 2001 in-service date for the FASA 1, with the other variants following at two- year intervals. Mehdorn says that discus sions with Fokker are continu ing on whether to proceed with the planned Fokker 130 stretched version of the Fokker 100, as such an aircraft would clash with a stretched FASA. Fokker has said that it will pro ceed either with one pro gramme or the other, but not with both. DASA has already been carrying out tests on flight- control software for the FASA programme, using the VFW 614 advanced-technologies testing aircraft system (ATTAS) in-flight simulator at the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR), Braunschweig. This has been DASA's first attempt to develop a civil fly-by-wire system (Flight International, 9-15 February). DASA engine subsidiary MTU has been pushing the pro gramme as a potential applica tion for the Project Blue engine in the 53-90kN (11,900- 20,000ib)-thrust class, to be developed together with General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Snecma. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 18 -24 May, 1994
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
