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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 1312.PDF
S'B'^S^S tiB&^W£BW* Regional jets were in the spotlight at the US Regional Airlines Association convention in Orlando, Florida, on 20-22 May, but turboprop manufacturers proved that they still see plenty of potential in the market. Karen Walker and Graham Warwick report. Fairchild considers a 'stand-up' Metro FAIRCHILD AIRCRAFT will decide by late July whether to launch a version of its Metro 2 3 19- seat regional airliner with a "stand- up" cabin. The aircraft would be available 24 months after launch, says chairman Carl Albert. The cabin would be stretched vertically, to give the same 1.8m aisle height as that of the competing Raytheon Beech 1900D. Other wise the aircraft would be unchanged. The drag increase would be minimal, he says, reduc ing cruise speed by just 3kt (1.6km/h). Fairchild hopes that the revised cabin will revive flagging sales of the Metro. The new aircraft would be produced alongside the current Metro 2 3 and Albert expects it to be a bigger seller than the existing air craft "in the long term". Raytheon Aircraft, meanwhile, is looking at improving the 1900D, now the best-selling 19-seater — the 65 delivered in 1995 represent ed 90% of the market. Changes wouldbeaimedat reducing operat ing cost, says vice-president for air line sales Mike Scheidt. "The 19-seat market is pretty vibrant," he says, with activity on sales leads ".. .as high as it has ever been". The market is shifting away from the USA, Scheidt acknowl edges, citing "numerous emerging markets", including those of Latin America, the Pacific Rim and the CIS. • AI(R) aims for launch of regional-jet in 1997 AERO INTERNATIONAL (Regional) (AI(R)) says that development of a 58- to 85-seat regional-jet family is its "main goal", with a market study already under way and a launch pencilled in for the Paris air show in June 1997. The plan is to work towards an in-service entry "at the turn of the century", says Henri-Paul Puel, outgoing president of the Aerospatiale/Alenia/British Aero space joint venture. The pro gramme would cost the partners an estimated $1.1 billion. The baseline AI(R) 70 is a 70- seater, using the ATR 72 fuselage cross-section, a new, swept, wing and tail-mounted 62kN(14,0001b)- thrust-class turbofans. At a maxi mum take-off weight of 29,250kg, the aircraft would have a range of 1,850km (l,000nm) and a cruise speed of Mach 0.75. Airlines are also being offered stretched 84-seat and "shrunk" 58-seat variants. Target cost ranges from $ 15 million for the AI(R) 58 to $18 million for theAI(R)84. Puel says that AI(R) sees a market for 2,000 aircraft on the 60- to 90- seat sector over the next 20 years. The AI(R) 70 has been optimised for the US market, where many <£. FLIGHT © Reed Business Publishing The 70-seat AI(R) 70 will be the first of a family of regional jets regional airlines are restricted to operating aircraft with 70 seats or fewer, while the AI(R) 84 is more likely to appeal to European opera tors and the AI(R) 58 to markets with capacity constraints. Although the fuselage is based on that of the ATR 72, elimination of the heavy frames required to carry the turboprop's high-mounted wing will allow the internal cabin- diameter to be increased, AI(R) says. The aircraft will be 2t lighter than the Fokker 70, Puel says. The joint venture wants a single- engine type to power all three vari ants, and is evaluating four candidates: the Allison AE3012, BMW Rolls-Royce BR700, General Electric CF34-8C and the proposed Snecma/Pratt & Whitney Canada SPW14. AI(R) favours the all-new SPW14, but says that a major element of the market survey will be to determine which engine potential customers prefer. AI(R) began operations on 1 January as a joint marketing ven ture between ATR and British Aerospace. Puel says that manufac ture of the regional jet will be split equally between the three partner companies, Aerospatiale, Alenia (ATR) and BAe. No decisions have been taken on workshare, or on where the aircraft will be assem bled, he says. If necessary, Puel says, AI(R) will develop a stretched, re-engined version of the ATR 72, powered by the uprated Pratt & Whitney PW150 turboprop, but this aircraft is not being promoted to airlines.Q GE makes progress on new applications for CT7 GENERAL ELECTRIC says that the engines for the second CT7-powered Let L-610G 40-seat regional turboprop have been delivered to the Czech aircraft- manufacturer. Some 350h have been accumu lated on the first L-610G, says Lou Bevilacqua, general manager, turboshaft and turboprop engines, and the second aircraft should join the flight-test programme in Sep tember. US certification of the L-610G is scheduled for Nov ember 1997, he says. Engines for the first CT7-pow ered Sukhoi S-80 26-passenger/- utility aircraft will be delivered to the Komsomolsk on Amur manu facturing plant, in Siberia, in Sep tember and a first flight is expected in early 1997, Bevilacqua says. US certification of the S-80 is due in the fourth quarter of 1998, he adds. Both the L-610G and S-80 are powered byversions of the existing CT7-9 which powers the Saab 340. GE will certificate the CT7-9+, providing 4% more power, in the fourth quarter of 1996. The CT7- 11, producing 10% more power, is planned for certification in 1999. Both engines are being offered to CASA/IPTN and Saab for pro posed growth versions of the CN- 235 and 340, respectively. • 8 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 29 May - 4 June 1996
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