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Aviation History
1995
1995 - 1044.PDF
Boeing drives 777 ahead but loses Gulf Air orders BOEING IS continuing its intensive effort to push the 777 into service on time after confirming that it has lost Gulf Air's order for six aircraft, with six options. The Bahrain-based carrier dropped its commitment to the General Electric GE90-powered aircraft after deciding that it would end up with excess capacity. Separately, however, Virgin Atlantic has confirmed that it has placed a $1 million deposit with Boeing to secure six 777 delivery positions for aircraft, with engine choice still to be decided. Virgin commercial executive director Paul Griffiths says that the airline is primarily interested in larger and longer-range ver sions of the 777. There is not yet a clear delivery schedule. Virgin's UK rival, British Airways, expects meanwhile that its first aircraft will pass through London Heathrow in its colours on 20 April, although delivery is not due for some time. The sec ond GE90-powered 777 — for British Airways — is expected to be flown this month. United Airlines began its month-long, service-ready vali dation of the Boeing 777 on 1 April. United aircrew, mechanics and ground crew will work alongside Boeing personnel dur- Trent tests on 747 testbed complete the engine set ing the 90-cycle programme. Boeing pilots retain command authority, but United staff actual ly fly and service die aircraft. The flights are required by the US Federal Aviation Admin istration as part of the 1,000- cycle validation programme to achieve 180min extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) at entry into service. FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification Tony Broderick says that "...it is almost eerie how well the pro gramme is going". The aircraft should be type- certificated by mid-April, but Broderick says that it will take "another month or so" for the FAA to complete its analysis of the ETOPS data. A senior BA source says that the UK is pre pared to grant 120min ETOPS type-approval. United hopes that its ETOPS approval will coincide with, or closely follow, entry into service. It wants initially to operate the 777 between London and Washington DC and Frankfurt and Chicago, first delivery is due on 17 May and first revenue flight is scheduled for 7 June. • Rolls-Royce has delivered the first Trent 800 to Boeing for installation on a 777, with the first flight scheduled for late May. Flight testing on Boeing's 747 testbed is complete. J SIA and Tata want revised bids in aircraft contest SINGAPORE AIRLINES (SIA) and its Indian joint-ven ture partner Tata Industries have told airframe and engine manu factures to resubmit tenders for a 150-seat aircraft order. The contract is for up to 16 air craft to equip a proposed start-up domestic airline. A decision had been expected by the end of March. Indian sources say, however, that the submitted tender pack ages proved too diverse for a selection to be made. The requirements have been refined and the six bidders told to resub mit their proposals by mid-April. Aircraft in the competition include the Boeing 737-300/400, the Airbus A3 20 and the McDon nell Douglas (MDC) MD80/90. Proposed engines are the CFM56 (for the 737 and A320), the International Aero Engines V2500 (for the A320 and MD-90) and the Pratt and Whitney JT8D-200(for theMD-80). New considerations include an Indian offset-package proposed by MDC chief executive Harry Stonecipher. This would include the manufacture of parts for the MD-80/90 and MD-11. Another is India's decision to temper run away growth in the country's domestic-airline industry. New Delhi sources suggest that approval might now initially cover a smaller batch of aircraft intro duced over a longer period. • Alitalia to select 70-seater shortly ALITALIA WILL decide imminendy whether to select British Aerospace's Avroliner or Fokker's Jedine family as its new 70- to 100-seat regional aircraft. The airline initially favoured Fokker to fulfil its 15-aircraft requirement, but its board declined to make a final decision at a 5 April meeting after Avro presented renewed industrial off set proposals. Avro's offer now includes 200,000 man-hours of work for Alenia via the planned ATR/Jetstream/Avro regional-air liner venture, together with an offer of AlliedSignal engine-main tenance work to troubled Piaggio. Sources close to Alitalia say that the board's decision-making has been muddied by pressure to try to trade-off a Fokker deal against a Dutch military purchase of Agusta helicopters. Military observers, however, regard the latter contest as a race between McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems AH-64 Apache and the Eurocopter Tiger. J US airlines dispute timetable and costs for flight-data recorders THE US AIRLINE Trans port Association (ATA) says that a US National Trans portation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendation to require more sophisticated flight-data recorders on older Part 121 pas senger aircraft is too expensive and unattainable within the timescale proposed. The NTSB says that each installation would cost between $20,000 and $70,000, but the ATA believes that the overall task could cost $658 million, with an average cost per aircraft of $158,000. The ATA says that it supports the NTSB's work, but it adds that "...the recommendations raise extraordinary complicated engineering, manufacturing, and operational issues, each of which is exacerbated by the size and design of the fleets that would be affected". • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 April 1995
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