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Aviation History
1995
1995 - 0499.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Aerof lot looks West for its fleet renewal PAUL DUFFY/MOSCOW AEROFLOT-RUSSIAN Inter national Airlines (ARIA) has confirmed plans to lease further Western aircraft until upgraded Russian aircraft become available. Replacement of ARIA's 116- strong fleet of ageing and fuel- inefficient aircraft is a priority, acknowledges airline chief execu tive Vladimir Tikhonov, giving his report on the airline's perfor mance in 1994. ARIA aims eventually to re place its medium-range fleet with new Tupolev Tu-204 narrowbod- ies, but is concerned about the inefficiency of their Aviad- vigatel PS-90A engines. The alternatives are to wait for either the upgraded PS-90P version of the engine, being worked upon by Aviadvigatel in partnership with Pratt & Whitney, or for certifica tion of die Bravia Tu-204, powered by Rolls-Royce RB.211- 535Hs. NEWS IN BRIEF • JOINING THE CLUB Allison Engines has become a commercial-turbofan manu facturer for the first time with the certification of its AE 3007C by the US Federal Aviation Administration. The 33.5kN (7,500Ib)-thrust tur- bofan is produced in two slightly de-rated versions for the Cessna Citation X busi ness jet at 28.5kN, and just over 32kN for the Embraer EMB-145 regional jet. • BELFAST AIR STARTS A new airline, connecting Belfast with London-Stan- sted, started on 1 March, linking the two airports five times daily in each direction. Air Belfast is flying two BAC One-Elevens in a low-cost operation which aims to undercut fares charged by rivals British Airways and British Midland. In the interim, ARIA plans to lease five-to-seven Western air craft in the 160-seat class. The Airbus A320 and Boeing 737-400 are the leading contenders. Sources involved in the negoti ations suggest that the 737 is becoming the favourite, noting that ARIA has shown little interest in A320s, which are immediately available from lessor Orix or from Airbus. Talks on the 737 continue, although the required number of 737-400s would have to be obtained from several sources. ARIA has also joined with Ilyushin and the Voronezh pro duction plant, to help fund the test-flight programme for the P& W-powered version of the II- 96, for which it has 20 orders. Meanwhile, it has taken deliver)' of the first four Ilyushin 11-96- 300s powered by the PS-90A. The carrier says that it is pushing the Ilyushin and Tupolev design bureaux to achieve greater systems- communality between the 11-96 and Tu-204. Areas being investigat ed include systems control, area navigation and data recorders. Other discussions are under way over desired upgrades to the 11-96-300 design. These include improving engine performance and maintainability. ARIA is also joining a pro gramme to upgrade the 11-86 with CI-W1 International CFM56-5 powerplants and new interiors. The carrier is looking at upgrades for 14 of its 11-86 fleet, but Tik honov says that the total could be raised to at least 40 aircraft if other Russian airlines join the pro gramme. If these numbers are achieved, the total programme cost is being put at around $870 million. New interiors on the 11-86 and U-96 are due to be produced local ly in co-operation with US com pany United Interiors, reports Gennady Anikaev, ARIA's director of technical operations. ARIA has also launched a pro gramme with Ilyushin to replace the Aviadvigatel D30-KUs on its 19 Il-76swithPS-90As. Q See Business, P26. ANZ 737s are beginning to return to service Air New Zealand starts returning grounded 737s to service AIR NEW ZEALAND (ANZ) expects to be back to full capacity by 12 March, following the grounding often Boeing 737- 200s with Nordam hushkits (Flight International, 22-27 February). The aircraft were grounded fol lowing a series of turbine failures on the Nordam-hushkitted Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15A in a six- month period. Three aircraft in the 737 domestic fleet were unaf fected by grounding. Extra capacity is now being pro vided on part-time wet lease by a Polynesian Airlines 737-300; an .Air Nauru 737-400; and an Air Pacific 737-500, all of which are flown throughout New Zealand regular ly A Britannia Boeing 757 has also been wet-leased and Boeing 767 capacity from the carrier's own international fleet has been added. Five of the 73 7-200s are now in service, having had previously overhauled blades (believed to have been the cause of the prob lem) replaced with new ones. Aircraft are expected to be returned to line at the rate of one every four to five days, with the entire fleet now expected to be reinstated, and normal schedules restored, by about mid-April. ANZ believes that the reason Lufthansa has not experienced the same problem on its Nordam- hushkitted 737-200 fleet is that the German carrier uses a lower- thrust engine variant. ^ Midway plans to lease A320s to operate from Raleigh-Durham arrive in June, allowing Midway almost to double the number of daily hub departures, from 22 to 42. A further six East Coast des tinations will be served by Midway from June. In addition, Midway will pur chase four V2500-A5-powered A320s, with an option to pur chase a further four A320s or A319s. Deliveries of the pur chased aircraft will begin in December 1998. The total incremental value of the Midway order is said to be worth $100 million to the engine maker, which has now received orders for 1,520 engines worth around S9 billion. • MIDWAY AIRLINES is to operate a fleet of Airbus Industrie A320s from its new hub operation at Raleigh- Durham Airport, North Caro lina, recently acquired from American Airlines. The Chicago-based carrier is initially leasing four Inter national Aero Engines (IAE) V2 500-A1-powered A3 20s from Orix. The first two A320s will arrive in May, to join some of Midway's eight Fokker 100s which it begain operating on ser vices from the hub on 2 March to seven East Coast and Mid-West destinations. The next pair of A3 20s will FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 March 1995
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