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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 1732.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT P&W delivers revised PW4098 for next 777-300 flight tests THE SECOND of two up graded Pratt & Whitney PW4098 turbofans was expected to be delivered to Boeing by late June, to allow flight tests of the 777-300 to resume in July, follow ing a two-month delay caused by the discover ' of cracked compres sor stators in April. The powerplant was originally due to be cleared for 777-300 oper ations in late June, with first deliv eries to Korean Air Lines expected to begin in September. Following the crack problem, however, the first delivery has been pushed back by almost three months, to December. The first part of the test pro gramme involved a PVV4090 on one wing and a 436kN (98,0001b)- thrust PW4098 on the other. In the delayed second phase, which is scheduled to re-start on about 21 July, test aircraft WB551 will be fitted with two PW4098s. The revised design incorporates forged compressor stators in place of the original cast parts. The delivery of the engine coin cides with the re-running of some major powerplant tests. These include maximum exhaust gas tem perature, low pressure rotor, high pressure rotor andl50h en durance, as well as large-bird ingestion tests. WB551 is the last remaining 777-300 test aircraft in the pro gramme. All of die remainder are now either in storage awaiting refurbishment, or actually under going refurbishment. " WB501, the first Rolls-Royce Trent-powered -300 is due to be delivered to Cathay Pacific Air ways in October, while WB503 was expected to be handed over to the Hong Kong carrier by the end of June. WB502 is slated for delivery in September. The first PW4090-powered 777-300, meanwhile, WB531, is in long term storage before begin ning refurbishment in September for delivery to All Nippon Airways (\\ A) in April 1999. ANA is also expected to receive two more 777-300s, in August and September 1998. • Qantas embarks on European charter routes from Heathrow IAN SHEPPARD/LONDON /"^VANTAS HAS started operat- V^nng Boeing 747-400 charter flights in Europe by leasing its air craft to other carriers during lay over at London Heathrow Airport. Qantas pilots and cabin crew will operate five trips to Barcelona and four to Istanbul, flying P&O cruise passengers to and from the Medi terranean, during the downtime when the aircraft would normally be waiting at Heathrow for up to 14h to return to Australia. Regulatory approval for die deal has been gained from the UK, Spanish and Turkish aviation authorities. The Australian carrier has wet leased the 747s to THY Turkish Airlines for the Istanbul service, while the approval of the UK and Spain services means that it can use its own flight number on the service between the two European Union nations. Qantas, which believes the lay over period is "...a unique oppor tunity to handle charters", has been seeking for some time to operate Qantas 747s will be leased to other carriers to ferry Mediterranean tourists routes out of the UK during the downtime between UK-Australia flights.The deal does not require the positioning of crews and the only additional manpower is an onboard engineer. Last year Qantas and British Airways, which has a 25% holding in the Australian carrier, failed to get UK approval to operate sched uled flights using BA pilots under die UK carrier's operating licence. The British Airline Pilots Association says that, despite the failure to gain approval for the scheduled flights last year, British Airways had reiterated earlier in June its intention to work more closely with Qantas. BA's original application, filed with the UK's Civil Aviation Authority on 2 9July last year, made it clear that it wanted free inter change of aircraft and crews. • Air Canada sells Air Alliance AIR CANADA is selling its Quebec regional airline, Air Alliance, just two weeks after Canadian Airlines International sold its Quebec feeder, Inter- Canadian, to private investors. Air Alliance has been a drain on Air Canada's finances for several years. It lost several million dollars last year because of a prolonged strike and the fact that it flies nine de Havilland Dash-8-100s in a market that requires aircraft half that size to be profitable, according to Air Canada. The Air Canada Connector airline also operates five Beech 1900Ds. Air Alliance has annual revenue of about CS50 million ($35 mil lion), 350 employees, 11 aircraft and 15 desrinarions, including ser vices to Newark and Hartford in the USA from its bases in Quebec and Montreal. J Jersey European adds five 146300s to fleet JERSEY European Airways has added five British Aerospace 146-300s to its regional jet fleet fol lowing a deal to lease aircraft previ ously operated by Thai Airways International. The Exeter, UK-based airline is planning to use the aircraft on new routes, such as the service from London Luton to Belfast, starting in August, and the Paris-Brussels route it operates on behalf of Air France. All the 146s are due to be delivered by mid-July. The aircraft are leased from Walker Aviation Finance. -J Air Wisconsin adds to fleet with CRJs AIR WISCONSIN has placed a firm order for four 50-seat Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets (CRJs), worth S84 million. The US regional will fly the air craft under the United Express banner from Denver, Colorado, from the first quarter of 1999. Air Wisconsin says that the CRJ allows service to high-altitude air ports without loss of payload. The CRJ also extends the market reach to 2,250km (l,200nm) - beyond the 1,600km possible with the 88- seat BAe 146, which it operates. The 50-seat aircraft fills the gap between the 146 and the 3 2-seat Domier 328 turboprop operated by Air Wisconsin subsidiary, Mountain Air Express. Air Wis consin operates 18 146s, while Mountain Air has 10 328s. • 14 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 - 7 July 1998
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