FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1994
1994 - 1341.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Airlines ponder future of DC-9 Airbus CF6 given ETOPS approval General Electric's CF6-80E1 and the electronically con trolled -80C2 have received extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) approval from the European Joint Airworthiness Authorities on the Airbus A330 and A300-600 Freighter, respectively. The -80E1 was granted 120min approval, instead of the 90min originally planned. The approval will be required first by Aer Lingus for its new transatlantic services. The full-authority digital- electronic-control equipped- 80C2 was granted 180min approval. The first -80C2 pow ered A300-600F is operated by Federal Express, which took delivery in April. • Germany and USA sign bilateral G ermany and the USA have signed a bilateral air-ser vices agreement after five years of negotiations, in time for the alliance between United Airlines and Lufthansa to go ahead on 1 June. The bilateral is limited prin cipally to a code-sharing accord. Delays had occurred because of disagreement over third-coun try code-sharing rights. The USA wanted full access to countries beyond Germany in return for approval of the airline alliance. This was agreed, in return for similar rights for Lufthansa, which will be able to fly to the Caribbean and South America via US cities. The agreement will allow Lufthansa to serve 12 extra US cities, using United flight num- bers.while United will have access to eight German cities.• NEWS IN BRIEF BA CAPTAIN DIES The 52-year-old captain of a British Airways Boeing 747- 400 died of a heart attack while resting in the crew bunk during a London- Tokyo flight on 25 May. Air Canada's decision to drop plans to co-operate with McDonnell Douglas in modernising its own and other DC-9s has made it harder for other carriers to proceed with that option. Finnair, which had been considered the next airline like ly to take a decision about its DC-9 fleet, says that the issue is still "wide open" ,but notes that Air Canada's switch to new Airbus A319s leaves it with a more difficult choice. Pekka Valimaki, managing director of the airline's Karair regional subsidiary, says that re-engineing is "still in the pic ture", but is not viable on its five DC-9-40s, and that Finnair "...definitely wouldn't want to go it alone" on just its own 12 DC9-50S. The evaluation team will report at the end of June when Paris Orly Airport will see traffic grow by up to 10% because of the opening of routes to London at the end of June. "But the problem is that we're saturated at peak hours in terms of aircraft movements," says Aeroports de Paris (ADP) president, Jean Fleury. ADP will, however, resolve what the French Government describes as "technical, conges tion and environmental" prob lems at the airport in time for the inauguration. Fleury says that he is enthusiastic about the arrival of British Airways, which is ADP's largest cus tomer, after Air France. The number of passengers it is possible, but unlikely, that Finnair's board might make a decision. "The real deadline is the end of the year,"he adds, "because 2002 [the Stage 2 cut off] is coming soon." Neighbouring Scandinavian Airlines System still owns nine DC-9-21s and 20 DC-9-40s and has five leased DC-9-40s. Vice-president Ulf Abra- hamsson says that the carrier has all but ruled out re-engine ing and is looking for one new type to replace the DC-9s and its 19 Fokker F28s, which are also Stage 2. Abrahamsson explains that the nine -21s and a -40 will be 25 years old by the first Stage 2 interim deadline — 1 April 1995 — and so will have to be retired. SAS will bring back some leased-out MD-80s, if required, but may be happy to lose some over-capacity. using Orly is expected to increase to around 30 million annually in the next few years, says Fleury. "But liberalisation gives us a paradox," he adds, "because it results in smaller aircraft, operating more fre quent routes." He says that it is "impera tive" that airlines use only larg er aircraft during peak hours. The two BA flights from Orly will use Boeing 767s, at 0950 and 2145. BA subsidiary, TAT, will operate Fokker 100s at 0750 and 1520. Air France is to transfer four of its London flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Orly to match the BA services. • He continues: "The next critical time is around 1998. That is when we need to have the replacement aircraft come into the system. Some aircraft will be flown all the way through to the final cut-off date [in 2002]." Abrahamsson says that SAS is now studying two options — one which would take the air craft through to their man datory phase-out dates and the other, which is an "early" retirement path. Either way, the two types would be replaced by a single modern model, but he com ments: "There is a cost reduc tion by reducing the number of types, but whether it is enough [to justify the early option], I don't know. The new aircraft are not dramati cally better when it comes to reducing costs." • Scandinavian neighbours remain undecided over wisdom of DC-9 upgrades Orly predicts 10% growth with BA SAS closes on Vietnam deal S candinavian Airlines Sys tem (SAS) says that it has signed a letter of intent with Vietnam to create a flying training school in the capital, Ho Chi Minh City, beginning in 1995. SAS Flight Academy would require a $3.25 million investment to establish the college, which would be used for basic pilot training and, possibly, cabin-staff and tech nician training. A formal agreement is due in about three months, lead ing to first pilot intake in February 1995. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 - 7 June, 1994 11
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
