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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 0625.PDF
Boeing's Chinese orders menaced PAUL LEWIS/SINGAPORE GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES CHINA HAS CANCELLED the planned visit of a high- level trade delegation to the USA, throwing into doubt an estimated $3 billion-worth of new-aircraft orders for Boeing. The Chinese delegation, headed by foreign-trade and economic-co operation minister Madame Wu Yi, was expected to announce orders for up 30 Boeing jet-powered air liners during a scheduled 31 March visit to Seattle. Wu had been scheduled to make an earlier visit to McDonnell Douglas (MDC) at Long Beach, California, on 22 March. She was to have signed a finalised contract for the first 20 MD-90-30 TrunkLiners for China Eastern and China Northern Airlines. China had made the trip condi tional on Wu meeting US President Bill Clinton and on the US Government delaying the im position of sanctions in the long- running software-trade dispute between the two countries. Wash ington has apparently agreed to neitJier condition. Sino-US relations have been further soured by the recent esca lation in tension with Taiwan and nearby large-scale Chinese mili tary and live-missile-firing exer cises. The US Government in response despatched two US Navy aircraft carriers to the area, an act which China has labelled as "interference". While the visit has not been rescheduled for a later date, indus try officials hope that it may now go ahead nearer to June when China's most-favoured-nation (MFN) trading status is up for renewal. "Congress has a limited Political row delays new 111 operators joining China Southern memory and a trip now is too early to have an impact on the MFN debate," says a source. The cancellation of Wu's visit is not expected to have any impact on MDC's previously announced $1 billion TrunkLiner deal. The first of 11 MD-90s for China Northern is in final assembly and is due for delivery in July, while work has already started at Shanghai Aviation Industrial in China on a follow-on batch of 20 licence-built twinjets. Boeing had hoped to use Wu's visit to cement a long-awaited deal for ten General Electric-powered 777s, together with five Pratt & Whitney PW4056-powered 747- 400s and about 15 737-600s/-700s or -800s. It now fears losing some business to Airbus Industrie, which Chinese Premier Li Peng is due to visit during a planned 11-14 April trip to France. According to industry sources, the European consortium is fight ing to secure a China Aviation Supplies (CASC) package order for up to 50 aircraft. The prospective deal is tipped to include 25 A320s/321s for China Southern Airlines, up to 20 similar aircraft for Air China and three previously ordered CASC A340s for China Eastern. • Airbus sets up a new division for A3XX GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES A IRBUS INDUSTRIE IS TO set up a new division to devel op its proposed A3XX, with the aircraft now expected to go into service as early as 2002. The division will bring together personnel from the partner com panies, and Airbus Industrie itself, under the leadership of an A3XX programme director, says Airbus strategic-planning vice-president Adam Brown. The new A3XX division will also "...work closely witli key potential customers to define the aircraft", says Brown in a statement handed to Flight International at the Speednews Aviation Industries Sup pliers conference, in Los Angeles, California, on 12-13 March. Boeing took a similar approach on its successful development of die 777, using die new programme to bring in new design, manufac turing and marketing techniques which have since filtered down to other programmes. The Airbus partners have already made it clear tliat they will take a fresh look at die consortium's struc ture with the launch of the A3XX. Reforms are likely to include new financing options and die inclusion of new partners, possibly from Italy and Asia, as well as greater integra tion of design and customer-sup port functions widiin Airbus. There are also suggestions that die A3XX's planned entry-into-ser- vice date has been brought forward to 2002. The move would help to reduce Boeing's timescale advan tage with its proposed launches of two new 747-400 derivatives, in the form of the stretched -600 and longer-range -500. David Bradley, Airbus projects and policies staff director, speaking at the conference, said that the A3XX, "...is now entering a very serious pre-analysis phase. The 747's lonely position will be chal lenged." The plans are for an aircraft family starting at 500-650 seats and with a range of more than 13,700km (7,400nm), but with "considerable potential for further development", says Adam Brown, Airbus strategic-planning director. He adds that the'aircraft will also offer direct operating costs "at least" 15% better tlian those of the 747 family. • Boeing is expected to announce the final external configuration of the 747-500X and -600X at a meeting with its airline advisory group on 18 April. The company says that the out line design is "significantly differ ent" from all published renditions appearing to date, and adds diat die revised configuration is now undergoing a second phase of windtunnel testing. • MDC rolls out its upgraded DC-XA THE DC-XA, AN upgraded version of McDonnell Doug las' (MDC's) original Delta Clipper- Experimental (DC-X) re-useable launch vehicle was rolled out at die company's Huntington Beach site in California on 15 March. The improved single-stage verti cal- take-off-and-landing rocket will be used to evaluate re-useable- launch-vehicle technologies "in an operational flight environment," says MDC, which is teamed with Boeing on die X-33 Space Shuttle replacement effort. Upgrades to die rocket include an aluminium-lidiium liquid-oxy gen tank, a composite liquid-hy drogen tank and intertank struc ture, integrated auxiliary-propul sion system and a modified auxiliary power unit. The DC-XA will go to the US Army White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, for flight tests starting as early as May. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 March 1996 5
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