FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1997
1997 - 2533.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Condor prepares for low-cost subsidiary ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI/MUNICH CONDOR FLUGDIENST, the charter subsidiary of Lufthansa, is expected to found a Berlin-based subsidiary airline within weeks. According to Condor, plans are being finalised for a low-cost air line, to be called Condor Berlin, which will compete against rivals such as Aero Lloyd and Air Berlin. The company will still fly in regular Condor colours, and the capacity offered will be fully integrated into Condor's regular network. The new airline is to take deliv er)' of its first three Airbus A3 20- 200s in April 1998, with three more coming in the third quarter. One of the first A320s is likely to be oper ated from Stuttgart, says Condor. The airline has options on six more aircraft, with a further 12 under consideration, says Condor chairman Franz Schoiber. Pilots will be transferred from Lufthansa, but cabin staff are likely to be hired. The airline says that it is form ing the subsidiary because it wants r. - i-jjj^£- Antonov An-140 heads into flight-test ASECOND PROTOTYPE ANTONOV An-140 isdue to join the f following the maiden flight of the first aircraft on 17 September Fligi ber). The first aircraft is being flown from Svyatoshino airfield in K undertaken at the Kharkov plant in Ukraine, with a second line b R-R offers local investment tc A SECON is du flight-test programme this year Flight International, 24-30 Septem . Kiev. Series production is being t t i , being set up in Samara, Russia. o win SAA deal SOUTH AFRICAN Airways' (SAA) order for seven Boeing 777s, which has been in limbo for nearly two years, is back in the spotlight following an offer by Rolls-Royce to invest in a repair centre in return for a firm deal to power the aircraft. The move comes as SAA is being prepared for the first steps toward privatisation. SAA announced that Boeing had won the competition in No vember 1995, with a deal in prospect for seven 777-200IGWs and two 747-400s. Deliveries were due to start earlier this year and run through to 1999. An engine selec tion was expected shortly after wards, pending satisfactory offset negotiations and state approvals. Neitherthe777 aircraft order or the engine order has been finalised, however, although it is widely known that the R-R Trent 800 has been selected in the internal engine-selection process. R-R has now offered to invest in a centre in the East London district of the Cape as part of an offset package, in an attempt to kick-start the stalled engine decision. The plant would be a joint venture with the Eastern Cape Black Empower ment Consortium. Sources in South Africa say that the final aircraft approval has been held up at board level within Transnet, the state-holding com pany to which SAA reports. The holding company, which has a new management structure in common with other post-apartheid state companies, is said to have spent considerable time reviewing the to compete in the 160-seat seg ment of the market, and its com petitors serving Berlin are offering prices that can only be matched sensibly by a smaller company with a lower cost base than Condor itself. The airline expects Condor Berlin's costs to be about 20% lower than its own. "Up to now, we have only served this market segment with four Boeing 737-300s leased from Germania, and these leases are run ning out," says the company. Berlin offers the ideal infrastructure, figures calculated by the airline in making its original selection. In the meantime, SAA has missed deliver ' dates on the air craft and has been forced to lease Boeing 767s and re-activate a 747SP as a stop-gap measure. Sources in South Africa put the cost to the airline at around R200 million ($42.5 million) a year, and there are also concerns that the air craft may not be available before the turn of the century. The aircraft order will have to be resolved as SAA moves towards privatisation. The airline is to be set up as a standalone company by next March, albeit under state owner ship. A minority sale of shares to a foreign partner is expected to fol low by October as the first step towards full privatisation. • including maintenance, to found such a company, says Condor. Schoiber says that the airline is phasing out its five McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s, and in future wants to operate an all-Boeing 757 and 767 fleet, with Condor Berlin operating the A3 20s. Condor, which operates nine Boeing 767-300ERs and 18 757- 200s, has arranged to sell two DC- 10s later this year, and the remaining three will be gone by 1999, when deliveries begin of 12 Boeing 757-300s now on order. 3 Spinetta takes the Air France helm JEAN-CYRIL SPINETTA has J been confirmed as the new pres ident of Air France by the airline's board of directors, and has promised to "continue the strate gy" put in place by his predecessor, Christian Blanc, who resigned over the Government's refusal to priva tise the airline Flight International, 24-30 September). Spinetta says that the Blanc- recovery plan has "shown its valid ity.. .we must avoid damaging rup tures". He adds that the fusion of Air France with its domestic sub sidiary Air Inter, of which he was formerly president, is a fact "...we must give it a chance of success". Meanwhile, European competi tion commissioner Karel Van Miert has fired a warning shot at the French Government's non-.pri- vatisation policy, asking: "Is it truly in the interest of the company? I have some doubts." • NEWS IN BRIEF I • PARIS GO-AHEAD The French Government has confirmed that two new "landing only" runways will be built at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, and has announced a "complete review" of the previous gov ernment's plans for a third airport serving the city Flight International, 24-30 September). FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 - 7 October 1997 13
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
