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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 1274.PDF
AtR TRANSPORT India/China prepare to sign air agreement INDIA AND CHINA are set to sign a new air-services agree ment (ASA), paving the way for the first direct flights by their national airlines between the two countries. The agreement is expected to be signed on 21 May during a visit to Chinese capital Beijing by an Indian delegation of senior avia tion-ministry officials. India's last ASA with China, which did not include direct flights, expired in 1988. Attempts to restart direct air links have ended in fail ure. The two countries fought a brief border war in 1962, since when relations have been strained. Ethiopian Airlines is the only inter national airline which operates direct flights with a service between Mumbai in India, and Beijing, China. The agreement will identify the carriers allowed to make direct flights, the frequency and capacity, and the possibilities of fifth/sixth- freedom passenger traffic. Indian officials say that direct flights between India and China can only be profitable if airlines are allowed to carry fifth-freedom traffic from Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok to China. Air India says that it is also looking at a plan to use Mumbai as a hub for European and US traffic to China. • NEWS IN BRIEF • NORTHWEST CLEARED The US Federal Aviation Administration has given die maintenance operations of Northwest Airlines a clean bill of healdi, following three inspections of its various maintenance centres. The move follows complaints from Japan's civil-aviation bureau of a high incidence of equipment failure and diver sions by Northwest-operated aircraft which are operated from Japan (Flight Inter national 26 March-1 April, PI2). The airline, however, has formed a task force to improve reliability at Tokyo's Narita Airport at die US Administration's suggestion. Kenya Airways introduces its first Boeing 737-300 KENYA AIRWAYS HAS INTRODUCED the first of three new Boeing 737-300s on services from its Nairobi base, as the airline develops die airport into a hub operation. The aircraft - central to the hub's regional development - are replacing two 737-200s leased from GPA. Kenya has recently begun direct daily services between Nairobi and Amsterdam, Netherlands, linking into die network of Dutch partner KLM, which took a 26%stake in die Kenyan airline in its run-up to privatisation. Japan nears liberalisation PAUL LEWIS/TOKYO JAPAN'S TRANSPORT min- J istry is examining ways to liber alise regulated domestic air fares, following the recent decision to scrap restrictions on the number of carriers vying for a single route. A team of ministry advisers is looking at scrapping supply-and- demand adjustments to domestic air fares and replacing the system with a more flexible one. Japan has already begun a partial liberalisa tion process by allowing airlines to raise or lower air fares by up to 2 5 % within a pre-set band. "Japan is going to face some drastic changes in aviation," pre dicts All Nippon Airways (ANA) senior vice-president Koji Yama- shita. "Everything is now on the table, including the abolition of zone air fares," he says. The first step may involve re moving the lower (25%) price band and allowing airlines to offer cheaper discounted air fares. Air lines expect a maximum price ceil ing to be retained in the interim. Moves to relax air-fare regula tions, along with a decision to end the system of double and triple tracking, could have major impli cations for some of Japan's more remote and uneconomical destina tions. ANA says that some two- thirds of its 100 domestic routes, served by more than 500 daily flights, are either unprofitable or breakeven. To sustain the so-called "life- support lines", Japan's domestic carriers are looking to local gov ernment to provide subsidies for uneconomical services. While ANA concedes that it has a public responsibility to serve unprofitable routes, Yamashita says that subsi dies ".. .will be a key issue". Aviation analysts suggest that, even once double tracking (which requires a minimum of 200,000 passengers a year carried by two domestic airlines) and triple track ing^ minimum of 3 50,000 passen gers carried by three) is ended, this is unlikely to have any major effect on domestic competition until air port capacity is expanded. Some 60% of Japan's 80 million domestic travellers pass through Tokyo's Haneda Airport, which is at maximum capacity. A third run way is due for completion in 1999, which will increase capacity. J Tupolev confirms Iranian production talks TUPOLEV IS holding talks with Iranian officials over manufacturing its Tu-204 and Tu- 334 twinjets in Iran, according to sources within the Russian aircraft- design bureau. According to Tupolev, however, suggestions by some Iranian officials that talks have been suc cessfully concluded are premature. They say that negotiations are still in progress. Iran has faced a political embar go on the supply of aircraft with significant US content since the late 1970s, and the country's air lines have relied increasingly on the use of models from the former Soviet Union. More than 20 Tupolev Tu-154s are leased to Iranian carriers, as well as four Yakovlev Yak-42 regional airliners. Another 12 Tu-154-100s are due to be delivered this year. One version of the Tu-204 is equipped with Russian engines and avionics, while a second has West ern equipment. The Tu-334 is a 100-seat regional jet now under development. Itwill be powered by two ZMBK D-436TI turbofans. • Certification of the Rolls-Royce RB.211-powered Tu-204, the -120, is due in July. The first pro duction aircraft (RA-64027) is undergoing flight testing. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 14 - 20 May 1997
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