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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 2451.PDF
USA urges Asian partners to liberalise regional services AIR TRANSPORT Antonov An-140 takes to the air ALEXANDER VELOVICH/MOSCOW PAUL LEWIS/SINGAPORE THE US GOVERNMENT is urging its new "open-skies" partner nations in Asia and the Pacific Rim to adopt similar liberal air-service agreements with one another, to open up regional traffic and allow airlines to exercise effec tively new beyond-rights to third countries. In the past five months, Wash ington has negotiated open-skies- type agreements with Brunei, Malaysia. New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan and is hoping to add South Korea shortly. Similar intra- Asian agreements, however, are still needed to make new fifth, sixth and seventh freedoms a reality. "The next step is to encourage these countries to have agreements between themselves," says US Department of Transportation (DoT) deputy assistant secretary Mark Gerchick. "A bilateral right to fly beyond a partner country to a third country is meaningless with out the third country's acquies cence," he adds. Brunei and Singapore, both open-skies proponents, are so far the only two countries in the region to reach such an accommodation. Their agreement allows for desig nated carriers to operate beyond- services, third-country code- sharing and the establishment of seventh-freedom cargo hubs. Other countries are showing signs of following, includingMalay- sia and Taiwan. There is also talk of a possible tripartite deal and of lib eralising air services among the eight members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations. According to Gerchick, Washington is assisting in this process by making available pub licly its open-skies model for refer ence. Its "template" provisions include open routes and designa tions, unrestricted capacity and frequencies and open codesharing. The DoT, in the meantime, is pushing to liberalise further recent agreements with Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines as well as to expand links with China and Vietnam. 3 Royal Brunei has already sold a Boeing 151 and is looking to replace the remainder of the fleet Airbus and Boeing battle for Royal Brunei order AIRBUS INDUSTRIE and Boeing have submitted final proposals to Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) to supply a new family of narrowbody passenger aircraft to replace its fleet of Boeing 75 7-200s and Fokker 100 twinjets. RBAs board is close to a decision on a replacement type and hopes to be able to finalise a deal by the end of the year. The narrowbody order is initially for four aircraft, but is expected to have a major influence on the carrier's choice of a new long-range airliner. Boeing is offering the new-gen eration 737-600 and larger -700, while Airbus is proposing the A319 and A320. The new aircraft will replace RBAls two remaining 757s, now used on thinner capacity regional routes, and two Fokker 100s operated to East Malaysian destinations in neighbouring Sabah and Sarawak. The airline has already sold a 757 to the Kazakhstan Govern ment and wants to replace the other two with smaller-capacity airliners. The two Fokkers were only recently acquired as interim replacements for two Fokker 50 turboprops. In the longer-term, the airline requires a new long-haul aircraft partially to replace nine Boeing 767-300ERs and allow the carrier to open up routes to the USA. Competing for the order are Boeing, offering its 777, and Airbus which is offering its A340, at least three examples of which are already in VIP service with the Sultan of Brunei and his family. In addition to its 757s and Fokker 100s, the carrier is already trying to sell two General Electric CF6-80C2-powered 767s (Flight International, 3-9 September). RBA is also expected to decide shortly on whether to continue with its leased Dornier 228 opera tions, following the 6 September crash of an aircraft at Miri, which killed ten passengers and crew. The aircraft was operated and main tained by Merpati Intan Air. Until a decision is taken, the sec ond Dornier 228 remains ground ed at Miri, and RBA services from Brunei to Mulu, Labuan and Bintulu in East Malaysia have been suspended. • AXTONOV'S An-140 twin-turboprop regional transport had its first flight on 17 September from Svyatoshino airfield in Kiev to the nearby Gostomel flight-test centre. The flight lasted 1.5h. The first effort to fly the aircraft six days before was unsuccessful because of the failure of a Klimov TV3-117VMA turboprop. Immediately after the flight, Ukrainian Airlines president Ser gey Milyutin signed a letter of intent to buy up to 40 An-140s by 2010. The contract for the first batch is due to be signed before the end of this year. Series production has started at die Kharkov plant in Ukraine, and an assembly line is being prepared at the Samara plant in Russia. Both say that they will complete the first production aircraft in 1998. Antonov says that a further proto type will join the flight-test pro gramme before the end of this year, followed by another in 1998, plus one airframe for static structural- load testing. The An-140 is intended to replace several hundred Antonov An-24 transports in the CIS. Sakha Avia, an airline from Yakutia, may become the launch customer. In passenger layout, the An-140 can carry 46-52 people over 2,100- 2,650km (l,135-l,430nm), cruis ing at 280-3 lOkt (520-575km/h). The aircraft's TV3-117VMA turboprops are each rated at l,840kW (2,470hp) and are pro duced in Ukraine by Motor-Sich of Zaporozhye. The l,800kW Pratt & Whitney PW127A is offered as an alternative engine option. J NEWS IN BRIEF • ON FINALS A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 747 made an inaugural land ing at Kuala Lumpur's new Sepang Airport on 15 September. The landing, on runway 32R, marked the start of operational and pro cedural testing of the $3 bil lion airport's equipment. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24 - 30 September 1997
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