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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 2751.PDF
•7 Volga-Dnepr leases Tu-204Cs ALEXANDER VELOVICH/MOSCOW VOLGA-DNEPR is to take two.TupolevTu-204C-120 freighters equipped with Rolls- Royce RB211 -53 5E4B engines on lease in a deal about to be signed with the leasing company Sirocco Aerospace International. The Rus sian cargo airline is also spending nearly S30 million upgrading its Antonov An-124 fleet. Volga-Dnepr president Alexei Isaikin says that the deal is".. .close to being signed". He expects the company, one of Russia's leading air-cargo carriers, to take delivery of the aircraft early in 1998. Volga-Dnepr will be the third declared customer for Sirocco, a subsidiary of Egyptian-based Kato Aromatic. Earlier this year, Kras Air of Krasnoyarsk announced that it was taking ten aircraft in passenger and ' cafgo configurations, and Egyptian start-up Air Cairo is taking a mix of passenger and freight ver sions in a lease deal lor five aircraft. Isaikin says that, while Volga Dnepr has a letter of intent to pur chase four Ilyushin I1-96T freighters, it is not clear when they will be available, while the Tu-204s are virtually ready for delivery. In addition to acquiring new- capacity, the airline is also planning to invest about S4 million on start ing to hushkit the Zaporozhye D-18T engines on its fleet of seven An-124- 100s. One of the aircraft has been hushkitted to comply with Chaptrer 3 noise regulations. The carrier is also working on improving the durability of the engines, whose liftime, even after recent refinements, does not exceed 4,000h. The airline maintains an opera tional stock of 46 powerplants for its seven four-engined aircraft.In addition, it is spending $20-2 5 mil lion to install western avionics to comply with various new interna tional requirements. For the future, Isaikin says that Volga Dnepr is enthusiastic about the potential for the new Antonov An-70 "It's a brilliant machine,but there is a long way to go from pro totype to series production. If it reaches that stage, we will be one of the first customers,"he says. • Volga Dnepr is one of three major airlines which have formed the (Russian) Association of Air Cargo operators. Along with Atran (formerly AVIATRANS) and Atlant Soyuz, Volga Dnepr set up the association to promote air- cargo regulation and operations and to negotiate with authorities on relevant matters. Other cargo operators, including Aeroflot-Russian International, are in discussions to join the as sociation. Some 30% of commer cial aircraft operational in Russia and die CIS are freighters. • Storm may be to blame for Austral DC-9 crash STORMY WEATHER appears to have been a factor in an Argentinian McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 accident in which all 74 people on board were killed. The 28-year-old Austral Lineas Aereas aircraft (LV-WEG) hit the ground in a 70° nose-down attitude in a marshy area near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, according to the safety officer of die country's main pilot union. The 10 October crash occurred during a flight from Posadas, northern Argentina, to the Ar gentine capital, Buenos Aires. Both flight-recorders have been found and sent for downloading to the US National Transportation Safety Board. There were electrical storms in the area, say Argentine air-traffic- control (ATC) reports, and it was while rerouting, ostensibly to avoid an area of severe turbulence, that the aircraft appears to have gone out of control. ATC officials have suggested that the aircraft may have hit a storm-centre, although they confirm that the aircraft was equipped with weather radar. Pilots in the area allege that the Austral pilot had requested clear ance to a lower level, but received no response, says die pilots' union. • A Scenic Airlines Cessna 208 Caravan (XI2022) has crashed in Colorado, killingall nine people on board. Flown by an experienced professional pilot, the aircraft was chartered by the US Bureau of Reclamation to cam7 eight of its employees from Montrose, Colorado, to Page, Arizona, on 8 October. The aircraft came down in woods on a Colorado plateau. There was no emergency call when it disappeared from the Salt Lake City Centre radar. The weather is believed to have been good, although not necessarily visual meteorological conditions. • China Eastern Airlines adds first MD-90 to its fleet SHANGHAI-BASED CHINA Eastern Airlines has taken delivery of the first two of nine 157-seat BoeingMD-90s on order under China's 40-aircraft TrunkLiner programme, 20 of which are being built at the Douglas Products Division in Long Beach. The remaining 20 are being produced by the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory. Unions side with Boeing in Sabena order battle HERMAN DE WULF/BRUSSELS UNIONS AT SABENA have intervened in the fight be tween Boeing and Airbus to secure a contract to replace the carrier's Boeing 737-200 with a threat of industrial action if the airline de cides in favour of the Airbus A319. The Belgian flag carrier is due to make a decision in December on replacing its 13-strong 737-200 fleet. The airline, 49.5% owned by Swissair, with the remainder held by the Belgian Government, is known to favour Airbus. The unions, however, fearful of losing 1,000 jobs at the airline's mainte nance arm, Sabena Technics, are supporting the Next Generation 737 family to operate alongside the 13 Boeing 737-300/400/500s be ing1 maintained in service after the year'2000. The issue has even been raised in the Belgian Parliament. The unions, whose traditionally huge influence on decisions at Sabena is waning under the Swis sair management, say that selection of the A319 would result in maintenance work on the aircraft going to Swissair- which is already a big Airbus operator. In addition the 2,200 workforce at Technics also faces a threat from dwindling third part)'maintenance, which ac counts for about 75% of its work, as its customers re-equip. Airbus has reserved slots on the Hamburg production line for the Sabena aircraft and, to deliver the first four in 1999 as required by the airline - followed by nine in 2000 - it is pushing for a decision in November rather than December. It is possible that Aero Internat ional (Regional) may secure some orders with its Avro RJ100 - already in the Sabena inventor)'. Concern over the Sabena union's influence has resulted in local Airbus components supplier Belairbus weighing in on die side of the A319. Belairbus partners - Sonaca, Asco, Eurair and Sabaca - argue that with some 1,250 people directly employed, and a further 7,500 indirectly, more jobs are at risk long term nationally if the deci sion goes in favour of the 737. J FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 - 28 October 1997 11
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