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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 1640.PDF
HEADLJJ A330s and 777 share Asiana deal PAUL LEWIS/JAKARTA ASIANA AIRLINES of South Korea has signed agreements with Airbus Industrie and Boeing to order up to 58 new Airbus A3 30s, Boeing 777s, 747-400s and 767- 300s in what is likely to be the largest widebody deal to be agreed this year. The carrier has finalised its selec tion of new widebody aircraft and signed memoranda of understand ing with Airbus and Boeing. The two agreements cover a total of 38 new aircraft orders, with options for a further 20. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 1998 and will continue through to 2006. The order is divided almost evenly between the two rival manufacturers, with the Airbus share of the deal consisting of 18 A330-200/300s, with options on another ten aircraft. Boeing's share includes 15 777- 200/300s and five options, three additional 747-400 combis, plus three options, and two more 767- 300s, with options on another two. Funding for both deals is subject to 777 deal in November 1995. Asiana already operates a total of 41 Boeing 737s, 747s and 767s, and this latest order is being interpreted as a clear signal to national carrier Korean Air that it intends to step up competition on domestic and inter national routes. South Korean airline attention is now expected to focus on new, larg er, long-range aircraft. Asiana had originally intended ordering a larg er number of 747-400s, but is Boeing benefits from Asiana's new business, but Airbus gets a share too Ajnstead now registering strong pJ interest in Boeing's proposed new finalise its choice of engines and -600MD version. formally announce before the end The A3 3 0 orders will cover eight final approval from the South Korean Government. Asiana has still to select engines for the new widebody aircraft. Competing for the 777 and A330 orders, respec tively, are General Electric, with its GE90 and CF6-80, Pratt & Whitney, offering the PW4084 and PW4164, and Rolls-Royce, pro posing the Trent 800 and 700. The airline already operates a fleet of 19 CF6-80C2 -powered 747-400s and 767-300s, and it is likely that it will select the same powerplant for its five additional 747s and 767s. Asiana hopes to of July its widebody and earlier nar- rowbody-aircraft deals. The airline has already reached agreement to order 18 Inter national Aero Engine V-2500- powered A32 Is (Flight Inter national, 10-16 April). Selection of new widebody and narrowbody aircraft ends a year long airline evaluation and compe tition. The two purchases, totalling 76 aircraft, represent the largest single Asian airline order since Singapore Airlines announced its -200s and ten -300s. Deliveries of both types will start in 1999 and run through to 2005. The ten options are equally divided. Of the 15 777s on firm order, eight will be -300 stretch versions (with three options) for delivery between 1999 and 2006 and seven will be -200IGW aircraft (with two options) to be delivered between 1998 and 2005. The 767-300s are for delivery in 1998 and 1999 and the 747s in 2000,2003 and 2005. • Trent surge halts 777 ETOPS test effort NEWS IN BRIEF • FLIGHT DIRECTORIES The Flight International Directory - Part 2 Mainland Europe is now available in the USA, priced at $ 112 including postage. Orders should be faxed to +44 1707 660330, quoting a credit card number and expiry date. Also available is Part 1 UK and Ireland, which costs $93. • MONEY FOR SPACE The UK Government is adding $10.9 million to its $308 million annual space budget. The money will be used to enhance support for European Space Agency (ESA) satellite navigation and programme initiatives in technology and applications. An additional $ 5.5 million has been allocated to the global navigation satellite system. GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES THE ROLLS-ROYCE Trent 800-powered Boeing 777 extended-range twinjet-operations (ETOPS) test effort has been "...put on hold" until the engine maker completes investigations into the cause of a surge which caused a take-off of the test aircraft to be aborted on 16 June. The aircraft, WA102, was accel erating at"... between 3 0 and 60kt [55-110km/h], when the crew heard a bang and performed a rejected take-off", says Boeing. Investigations are focusing on the high-pressure compressor (HPC) which is identical to that used in the Trent 700. R-R swapped the dam aged engine for another "aged" Trent, which will be used for the remainder of the ETOPS test. The engine was returned to the manufacturer's Derby headquar ters in the UK, where it was stripped down. "Component parts have been sent to the laboratory for investigation," says R-R, which is mystified by the surge. "It was not the highest-time Trent 800 engine, so there's nothing indicative of the cause there. The HPC is also the same as that of the Trent 700, which has had 50,000 trouble-free cycles." At the time of the incident, which occurred at Williams Gateway air port in Mesa, Arizona, the R-R Trent ETOPS efforts had been "doing well", says Boeing. Some 886 cycles had been completed, representing almost 90% of the estimated 1,008 cycles required for ETOPS clearance. Despite the incident, Boeing and R-R maintain that the programme has a "good chance" of being completed by the end of July. Under Boeing's original devel opment timescale for the Trent- powered 777, ETOPS testing was due to be completed by mid-March 1996. The planned seven-month effort was delayed by modifications to the aft pylon and nacelle, follow ing the discovery of an unexpected vibration mode in the structure. Emirates, Thai International and Cathay Pacific are the only operators of Trent-powered 777s. The programme for the General Electric GE90-powered 777 ETOPS, based at Hawaii, has meanwhile amassed around 690 cycles. The GE90 is expected to receive ETOPS clearance in late August or early September, about a year later than originally scheduled. • The 400kN (90,0001b)-thrust Pratt & Whitney PW4090 for the 777-200 Increased Gross Weight (IGW) and stretched -300 versions has received US Federal Aviation Administration certification. The more powerful engine will be flight-tested on the first -200IGW (with a maximum take-off weight of 287,000kg) in September. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 3 - 9 July 1996
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