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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0118.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT STAe will expand leasing business PAUL LEWIS/SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Technologies Aerospace (STAe) plans to acquire a leasing fleet of up to 20 aircraft over the next five years as part of a wider effort to expand the commercial side of its business. STAe, together with its parent holding company Singapore Tech nologies, has already established a joint-venture leasing company, ST Aviation Resources (STAR). Ac cording to STAe deputy president Gary Yeo, the value of STAR's air craft portfolio is expected to grow to $500 million. It plans to purchase and lease new aircraft to airlines and to pro vide lease financing for existing jet airliners already on order. As an ini tial step, STAR has already taken a 15% interest in the lease of a Boeing 747-400F to Asiana Airlines by a consortium led by Singapore Aircraft Leasing En terprise (SALE). Yeo says that STAR is intended to complement, rather than com pete head-on with, the Singapore Airlines/Boullion Aviation Ser vices joint venture. "Where there are areas we can get together [with SALE], we will," he adds. STAR will focus mainly on leas ing narrowbody aircraft, such as die Airbus A320 and the next-gen eration Boeing 737-600/700/800, as well as "selected widebody jets". The company is particularly inter ested in the Boeing 767-300 and has already entered into discus sions with the manufacturer. STAe hopes to use STAR to pro vide additional work for its other commercial-aviation operations, such as ST Aviation Services (SASCO) and UK-based Airline Rotables. "Its not just aircraft leas ing, but a total package we're look ing at...with this kind of business we can add to our core capabili ties," explains Yeo. STAR represents part of STAe's wider corporate goal of reducing over the next three years its depen dence on defence activities, which now account for some 60% of its business. "The plan is to move towards a 70:30 mix between com mercial and military," says Yeo. To increase its commercial capacity, STAe recently converted an existing military hangar at Paya Lebar AB to give SASCO a third 747-sized maintenance bay in Singapore. It is now looking to expand further its US-based main tenance and overhaul subsidiary company, Mobile Aerospace En gineering (MAe). STAe is considering whether to build a new hangar in Mobile to add to the four bays now in MAe use ".. .or acquire a new site in the USA", says Yeo. With recent large 747 heavy-maintenance contracts from United .Airlines and North west Airlines, both SASCO and .MAE are now at full capacity. • NEWS IN BRIEF • VALUJET PROGRESS Valujet Airlines is again serv ing West Palm Beach and will resume flights to Fort Myers, Florida, on 16 January. The low-fare Atlanta, Georgia- based airline continues to rebuild its route structure under the watchful eye of die US Federal Aviation Admin istration which has now given permission for Valujet to add three additional McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s to the air line's existing fleet, which consists of 15 aircraft. • 737 RUDDER PROCEDURES An emergency airworthiness directive requires US Boeing 737 operators to adopt new procedures to improve pilots' control following sudden uncommanded rudder move ments. The new procedures, to be included in the 737 flight manual, also outline actions to deal with a jammed or restricted rudder. Pilots are advised to lower the nose to increase airspeed, discon nect the autopilot and auto- throttle, and to give priority to assuring control of the air craft rather than to maintain ing an assigned altitude. Europe seeks reversal of Air Pacific Boeing order EUROPEAN governments are putting pressure on Fiji to reverse an Air Pacific order for three Boeing 737-7O0s with an option on a fourth, and order Airbus aircraft instead. The Fijian flag carrier ordered the aircraft in 1996 to add to its all-Boeing fleet of 737s, a 747 and one 767. In a joint statement, the Euro pean Union (EU), French and UK diplomatic missions in Suva con firm that the issue has been dis cussed with Fijian prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka. The statement says that Rabuka's attention has been drawn to the merits of Airbus Industrie aircraft by diplomats, who ".. .consider it of great impor- Aviazur modernises tance that tiie selection of aircraft by Air Pacific be fair, open and transparent, and that the purchas ing decision be based on commer cial terms and technical merit". The diplomats say that EU aid to Fiji has totalled 188.4 million European currency units ($250 million) in road, agriculture and rural development. They add diat the country is protected by an EU protocol covering about 45% of its sugar exports worth an annual $72 million; it has preferences in Europe for tuna and manufactured garments; and it runs a trade sur plus with the EU. Air Pacific chairman Gerald Barrack insists that the fleet deci sion is part of a long-range corpo rate planning study using in dependent consultants, who iden tify the 737-700 as die most suit able type for Air Pacific's future requirements. "This recommen dation was based on commercial considerations and technical merit. As a launch customer in the South Pacific for the new 737-700, Air Pacific has been able to negotiate a competitive price and has secured a wide range of training, spares and other support packages," he says. Air Pacific has signed a legally binding contract for the purchase of three aircraft and an option for a fourth. The first aircraft will be delivered in July 1998. • Islander fleet AVIAZUR HAS REPLACED its age ing Pilatus Britten-Norman BN2Apis- ton-engined Islander with a new BN2T turboprop Islander. The New Cale donia-based air-taxi operator required the new aircraft to enable it to operate 460km (250nm) missions with a full payload of nine passengers in a "hot- and-high" environment from short runways. The Islander, one of around 60 BN2Ts in operation worldwide, has already been deliv ered, and die airline is using a lease package arranged by Paris-based Fipromer, which specialises in financing projects in the French overseas territories. 12 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 January 1997
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