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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 0074.PDF
M/R TRANSPORT ROUTES ++ KLM will begin operating between Amsterdam and Shanghai from 29 March, twice- weekly with a Boeing 747-400 Combi. ++ Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines have begun codesharing on about 850 domestic and international flights to 95 destinations despite US Justice Department anti-trust objections. ++ Luxair will start a fourtimes weekly direct scheduled service linking Luxembourg and Newark on 30 March, using a Boeing 767-300ER wet-leased from Belgian airline City Bird. The Luxair initiative follows the deci sion by Icelandair to cease oper ations between Luxembourg and New York, ending the country's link with the USA. ++ Cathay Pacific will begin offering oneworld part ner American Airlines frequent flier miles to economy-class pas sengers from February. The pro gramme is already available to first and business class passengers. ++ Sabena and El Al have signed a codesharing agreement covering flights between Brussels and Tel Aviv. Both airlines will increase fre quencies from April 2000. The deal will enable El Al passengers to be able to fly from Israel on the Jewish Sabbath. El Al has recently signed a codeshare agreement with Iberia and is now negotiating an agreement with Lufthansa. ++ United Airlines is understood to have decided to suspend its daily nonstop service from Osaka to Seoul and will halve weekly fre quencies between Tokyo and Seoul from 13 to seven from April. Meanwhile, the planned seasonal service from Chicago to Osaka is not expected to be re-introduced. ++ Cargolux is to introduce a reg ular weekly flight between Luxembourg and Shanghai by mid- 1999, using Boeing 747-400Fs. ++ The USA and Argentina will seek to conclude an open skies bilateral at meetings planned for March in Buenos Aires. Delta Air Lines says the expected pact would include atransition period to open skies, beginning in January 2000, that will allow more flights carriers for both sides. Lawyers raise MD-11 concerns PAUL LEWIS/WASHINGTON DC AVIATION lawyers are raising concerns over the Inter national Air Transport Association (IATA) Intercarrier agreement on liability in the wake of the Swissair MD-11 crash, regarded as poten tially the most expensive accident in civil aviation history. The crash of Swissair flight 111 on 2 September is the first major fatal accident involving an airline signatory to the 1996 IATA agree ment. Lawyers representing rela tives of the 229 passengers and crew killed in the crash are begin- ningto files claims, which could set major precedents for future pay outs and accident accountability. Under the revised terms of the intercarrier agreement, airlines have effectively agreed to waive the earlier Warsaw Convention limit ing liability to SDR100,000 ($135,000) per individual. Claims in the Swissair case are being con servatively projected to reach $600 million, which compares to a total compensation payout of $1.8 bil lion in 1998, the second highest year on record. Airlines reserve the right to con test claims in excess of the earlier Warsaw limit, but the onus is on defendants proving not negligent, which "is probably impossible", in the view of aviation lawyer Thomas Whalen. "At the end of the day, carriers may be held totally respon sible although they may only be marginally, if at all, at fault. I think that is unfair," he adds. While lawyers for families filing claims have generally welcomed the agreement's provision for increased compensation, there is an acknowledgment this may come at the expense of accountability. They contend the agreement could result in attention being drawn away from issues of manu facturer product liability and air lines having to instead assume a much bigger responsibility for meeting compensation claims. "If we remove fault analysis from the process, we may in the long run affect safety. Arriving at a monetary value is primarily not the issue with families, they want to ascertain fault and help prevent tragedies in the future. I don't know that this agreement is going to mollify their concerns," says Chicago-based avi ation lawyer Donald Nolan, who is representing some of the plaintiffs in the Swissair crash. MD-11 rebuild is under way Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration is fast tracking development of rule making actions to address Boeing MD-11 wiring concerns, following US National Transportation Safety Board recommendations to expedite inspections of cockpit overhead and avionics circuit breaker panels. Airlines are being asked to look for loose wire con nections, inconsistent wire rout ings and broken, chafed or cracked wires. Examination of the MD-11 wreckage has revealed evidence of an electrical fire, with considerable heat damage to the forward and aft cockpit bulkhead ceiling. • FAA sends US 727F operators $192 million bill THE US Federal Aviation Administration has finalised airworthiness directives (AD) which impose severe payload limits on Boeing 727s that were convert ed into freighters by third party maintenance organisations. The restrictions remain in effect until floor structures on 270 US- registered 727Fs are modified at an estimated cost of $ 192 million, says the US aviation agency. An addi tional 100 of the affected freighters are flying with foreign operators. At an estimated cost of $711,000 per aircraft, their voluntary com pliance would total $71 million. The ADs require operators to reduce payloads from 3,632kg (8,0001b) per shipping container to 1,360kg or adhere to operational limitations that allow higher pay- loads per container up to 2,180kg. FedEx is the hardest hit by the AD Operators have 90 days from the effective date to comply. The problem concerns aircraft which were not converted by Boeing, where there are concerns about the engineering of conver sions without Boeing's load-path data for stress analysis. Inspections have revealed that certain aircraft contain design features which do not meet FAA certification criteria and are under-strength. The ADs affect FedEx, Pemco World Air Services, Miami-based Aeronautical Engineers and Mexico's ATAZ, which were awarded four supplemental type certificates (STCs) in the mid- 1980s. The ADs affect 32 airlines, but FedEx, with 117, is the hardest hit. The express parcels carrier says that the ADs will have a "minimal" impact since it expects to meet the criteria for the 2,180kg exemption, and expects the AD to be modified when studies on the strength of the current floor structure have been completed. The FAA says the much-awaited final ADs consider industry concerns. The FAA increased the proposed compliance time from 48hto90days. • 12 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 January 1999
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