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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 2553.PDF
FARNB0R0UGH'98 REPORT Airbus tackles 100-seat market AIRBUS INDUSTRIE will make its long-expected move into the 100-seat market in 2002, with the introduction of the A318, powered by the Pratt & Whitney PW6000. The project has been subject to "an authority to offer" from the Airbus board, clearing the way for commitments to be taken to enable a launch by the year-end. The new aircraft, which has been referred to until now as the A319M5 (minus five fuselage frames), will in fact be 4.5 frames shorter than the A319, reducing two-class capacity from 124 to 107. The move, first revealed by Flight International earlier this year (4-11 March), extends the A320 family from 185 seats down to 100, bring ing Airbus into direct competition with Boeing's 737-600 and 717 twinjets for die first time. The new aircraft will be priced at $36 million, some S5 million less than the A319 and $2 million below die 737-600, but S3 million more than the 717. Major changes, compared to the A319/A320/A321 models, include die adoption of the 20,000- 23,0001b-thrust (90-102 kN) IMMMMIdhtoiMra Airbus A318 changes from A319 New dorsal Rear fuselage fairing shortened by 1.59m (three frames) FLIGHT GARETH BURGESS 98 Forward fuselage shortened by / 0.79m (one and * a half frames) Pratt & Whitney PW6000 engines rated at 20-23,000lb thrust Smaller cargo doors (no containerised cargo option) Overall length Wingspan Height Maximum take-off weight Option Maximum landing weight Maximum payload 31.7m 34.1m 11.8m 59t 61.5t 56t 14.lt Fuel capacity Powerplant Thrust Accomodation Range 23,860 litres Pratt & Whitney PW6000 20-23,000lb Two-class 107 (8 + 99) One-class 117 Standard 2.800km Option 3.700km PW6000 family, the removal of 1.5 frames from the forward fuselage and three frames from the aft; a small dorsal fin fairing to counter reduced moment arm; and the reduction in the width of the cargo Source Airbus Industrie doors (from 1.81m to 1.28m). There will also be some reductions in the structural weight. The new aircraft will incorporate die existing A319 wing, pylon and interface. The cargo door change has been introduced to ensure clearance with the engine nacelle during hold loading remains the same as on the A319. It does mean, however, that the A318 will not be available with the containerised cargo option. This will save weight, but the A318 will still be considerably heavier than the 717 and 737-600. Airbus claims its aircraft's more advanced aerodynamics and technology will serve to counter this. As now proposed, the A318 will only be available with the PW6000. The decision to adopt the PW6000, rather than A320 family's existinglnternational Aero Engines V2500 and CFM Inter national CFM56 breaks common ality, but Airbus is trying to balance this by emphasising the type's cock pit and systems similarity. The new model will be assem bled at either Toulouse or Ham burg. The first A318 is scheduled to be flown in the fourth quarter of 2001, with certification and sen-ice entry following in August and September 2002, respectively- Key potential launch customers include Northwest, Air Canada and International Lease Finance. 3 Raytheon lands second big Netlets contract RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT has secured a second large busi ness aircraft deal for the Netjets fractional ownership programme, following an order from Executive Jet for 20 Hawker SOOXPs and an option to supply a further 16 cor porate aircraft. The bulk of the mid-size busi ness jets will be used by the Montvale, New Jersey-based com pany's Netjets Europe operation, which it jointly owns with Switzerland's Zimex Aviation and Air Luxor of Portugal. The contract matches Executive Jets order, which it placed in May 1997 for 20 Hawker 800XPs and brings the total value of the on- order and optioned aircraft to around $670 million. Netjets' US programme already operates the world's largest Hawker 1000 fleet, with 25 aircraft "...and will manage the largest 800XP fleet when all 40 aircraft are delivered," says Raytheon. First aircraft deliveries from the 1997 order are scheduled to begin in early 1999 and will continue at a rate of five to seven deliveries a year for the next five years. The Wichita, Kansas-based manufacturer maintains there is no conflict between Netjets and its own fractional ownership pro gramme, Travel Air, for which 25 aircraft are operating. "Ot course Netjets is a competi tor, but our programme offers a range of aircraft, [Beech King Air] that Netjets does not offer," says Raytheon Aircraft president, Art Wenger. The Raytheon contract marks the second deal in as many days for Executive Jet, which announced an order for 12 Dassault Falcon 2000s for Netjets Europe and brings to 38, the total Falcon 2000s on order - with a value of $820 million. "Around 40% of our total fleet operate in Europe. We now have 40 customers in the region which we expect to grow to 200 in four years," says Richard Santulli, Executive Jets chairman. In con trast the US operation has 1,050 customers and is forecast to grow to 2,500 customers during the same time frame. "We will have a recession, but we don't expect to see a degradation in our business. Fractional ownership will become more appealing to large companies which don't want the expense of aircraft ownership," he claims. Santulli admits, however that die economic crisis in the Far East has led to a delay in launching a fractional ownership programme in the region, "We were going to announce Asia six months ago, now we will wait until 1999." • Airbus revises A3XX investment estimate THE investment required for Airbus to build its A3XX 480/650-seat airliner family has been officially pushed up to S10 billion, as a result of a change in Airbus' accounting process. Until now, the manufacturer has maintained that around S8 billion would be needed to fund die new family, despite doubts by industry observers who believed that this was a conservative estimate. Airbus managing director Noel Forgeard confirms the consortium has now- calculated that no less than S10 billion would be needed. He says that the increase could be attributed to the inclusion of all factor ' retooling costs. Airbus has also revised downwards die level of outside investment sought. It has been publicly seeking 40% of the funding externally, but now says it is targeting 30-35%. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 16 - 22 September 1998
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