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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 1871.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT A320 beats 737 in Qatar fight MAX KINGSLEY-JONES/LONDON 9ATAR AIRWAYS has select ed the Airbus A320 over the Next Generation Boeing 737 for its new short-haul fleet, and concluded a deal with Airbus for up to 11 aircraft. The Gulf airline is now turning its attention to the replacement of its A3 00s. The airline operates four ageing Boeing 727-200Adv on short-haul routes from its base in Doha, which are being remarketed by Aircraft Leasing and Management and will leave the fleet early next year. The 727s will be replaced by four A320s on interim five year leases from Singapore Aircraft Leasing En terprise, before the deliver)' of the six firmly ordered A320s and five options between 2001 and 2005. The ordered aircraft will be pow ered bv the International Aero Engines V2500-A5. Although the switch to A320s will give Qatar an all-Airbus fleet- three A300-600Rs are also operat ed - it is understood that die com petition with Boeing for the order went down to the wire. The airline is now focusing attention on the replacement of the three A300s which are operated on long-haul services, with the A330-200 and Boeing 767-400 in contention. The A300s, which are leased from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Ser vices, have only been in service with Qatar for about one year and are unlikely to be replaced in the immediate future. 3 Kyrgyzstan begins fleet update with debis A320 KYRGYZSTAN Airlines has become the first CIS operator of an Airbus fly-by-wire type, with the introduction of a leased A3 20. The airline plans to take additional Western aircraft, including two A319s, as part of its fleet moderni sation programme. The four-year-old Airbus A320 has been acquired on a four-year operating lease from Amsterdam- based leasing company debis AirFinance. The International Aero Engines V2500-A1 powered aircraft was originally delivered to TransAsia Airways on lease from lessor Orix, and purchased by debis earlier this year. The A3 20 lease is part of a deal which will see two new high gross weight A319s delivered to the air line on operating lease from debis in 2002. The lessor says the new aircraft will "probably" replace, rather than supplement, the A320. Until now Kyrgyzstan Airlines, which was formerly the regional directorate of Aeroflot, has operat ed a fleet of Tupolev Tu-134s and Tu-154s and Yakovlev Yak-40s. The inaugural flight was operat ed from Frankfurt, where the A3 20 had undergone maintenance, to Bishkek. The A320 will fly to Beijing, Frankfurt, Hanover, Istanbul and Moscow. • A310 seizure forces Afrique suspension DEBT-LADEN Air Afrique has been forced to suspend its long-haul route network following die seizure of its four Airbus A310- 300s by creditors. The Abidjan, Ivory Coast-based carrier, which is owned by 11 French-speaking West African nations and the French Govern ment, has been struggling finan cially since the CFA Franc, the currency shared by the African member states, was devalued bv 50% in 1994. The airline blames the move by creditors, on delays that it has experienced in its effort to set up a special-purpose compa ny into which die A310s and their related debt were to be transferred. The four A310s, which are owned by a consortium of Euro pean banks, represent one-quarter of die West African carrier's fleet. The airline claims that it has been paying some CFA Fr300m (£300,000) each week for the past 18 months to service die debts. • The demise ofMD-11 production has saddened Lufthansa Cargo Lufthansa Cargo slams Boeing for closing down MD-11 production LUFTHANSA CARGO has criticised Boeing's decision to cease production of the MD.-ll. Speaking during the ceremony to hand over the carrier's first two tri-jet freighters at Frankfurt early this month, Lufthansa Cargo chairman Wilhelm Althen de scribed the production shutdown decision as "very regrettable". He said: "From a cargo carrier's point of view, Boeing is now a monopoly player in the heavy freighter business. This is a deplorable situation from a cus tomer's standpoint." Althen added that it would be healthy for "anoth er manufacturer" to develop an alternative heavy freighter aircraft to break Boeing's monopoly. He described the arrival of the first two of eight MD-11 Fs on firm order as "...ideally timed to coin cide widi die upturn in business we are experiencing". Lufthansa Cargo will receive tiiree more MD-11 Fs this year and at least three in 1999. • MARKETPLACE ++ A New Tahitian carrier. Air Tahiti Nui, will launch services to points on the US West Coast and Japan later this year with an ex-Air France Airbus A340-200 leased from Airbus Industrie Financial Services. ++ SAS Commuter has increased its firm orders for Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8- 400 from 15 to 17, taking the value to $395 million. The airline holds options for 18 additional Dash 8s which can be either 70/78-seat -400s or 50-seat - 300s. ++ Geneva-based long-haul start-up Swiss World Airways will launch operations in the third quarter of 1998 with a General Electric CF6-80A2-powered Boeing 767-200ER leased from Air New Zealand/Ansett Australia. The airline will initially serve New York Newark four times a week. ++ Lufthansa has placed an order for one additional A340-300, bringing its total orders for the type to 31. ++ Australian regional Macair (Mackinlay Air Charter) has acquired two ex-Regional Airlines Saab 340Bs on lease from Saab. The aircraft will be used to launch scheduled services. ++ Austrian Airlines is planning to phase out its four Pratt & Whitney PW4000- powered Airbus A310-300s by 2000, as it boosts its long-haul fleet with A330-200s and more A340s. ++ The Argentinian region al airline Kaiken Lineas Aereas is doubling its Saab 340A fleet with the lease of two aircraft from Saab, that were previously operated by another Argentinean carrier, Andesmar. ++ Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise has placed two CFM International CFM56-powered Airbus A320s with Iberia on five-year leases. Deliveries will take place in May and September 1999. ++The Congo carrier LAC has leased two ATR 42-300s, from Ethiopian Airlines. ++ debis AirFinance has purchased a new A320 from Airbus Industrie and placed the aircraft with ACES on a five year operating lease. ++ CCair plans to lease six ex-HorizonAir Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8-100s from the manufacturer later this year. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 July 1998
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