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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 1332.PDF
AM TRANSPORT lime starts to run out for AeroPeru PAUL LEWIS/MIAMI TIME FOR grounded national carrier AeroPeru is fast run ning out. The airline is struggling to enlist die financial backing of a foreign carrier before a govern ment decision mis month on grant ing operating licences to would be start-up successors. "If we can establish a new strate gic partner to invest in the compa ny and capitalise it to a reasonable level then AeroPeru will fly again. Ifthis deadline is reached without a viable business plan, we'll be facing liquidation," explains AeroPeru chief executive Jaan Albrecht. The carrier recently halted all domestic and international opera tions and returned all of its leased Boeing 727 and 757 aircraft to Ansett, International Lease Fin ance and Pegasus, as its financial difficulties deepened. According to Albrecht, who was appointed by AeroPeru sharehold er Cintra in December to rescue the carrier, AeroPeru lost $62 mil lion in 1998 and was $174 million in debt. "We found die cash situation of the company was so strapped there was no possibility of doing business under the same circumstances," says Albrecht. Debt restructuring and a $20 million write-off on out standing payments by leasing com panies in return for a quick return of aircraft has since cut AeroPeru's liabilities to $85 million. AeroPeru is negotiating with local banks to convert another $20 million in debt into a 20% equity. Its major challenge, however, is finding international investors to replace Delta Air Lines and Mexico's Cintra Group, which each hold a 35% stake. The two companies have refused to inject any more funds. Albrecht confirms that discus sions are under way with Continental Airlines and "two other smaller US carriers". The former already controls 49% of Panamanian carrier COPA and has been strengthening its presence in South America in the face of mounting competition from American Airlines and United Airlines. Peru has the advantage of an existing open skies agreement with the USA. AeroPeru says it is looking for start-up capital of between $20 and $25 million and requires a further $10 million cash-in-hand. Plan ning also calls for nine to 10 Boeing 737s and 767s to restart services, which it wants to lease possibly from a partner carrier. The carrier was traditionally allocated 70% of all routes, but the only carriers operating in Peru are Aero Continente and the military run TANS. Also waiting in the wings for permission to fly domes tically and internationally is LanPeru. 3 ICAO to upgrade Warsaw Convention THE INTERNATIONAL Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is aiming to upgrade the Warsaw Convention with in creased compensation and a mod ernised legal framework by the end of this month. The 70-year-old treaty, which limits airline liability in an accident to $10,000 per passenger, is being overhauled at a three-week ICAO meeting in Montreal. In 1955 a voluntary upgrade to $20,000 was agreed and die requirements of the treaty have since been upgraded on a national basis. The liability limit in the USA, for example, is $75,000. Broad industry consensus on updating the convention was sig nalled in 1995 when the Inter national Air Transport Association adopted its Intercarrier Agreement on Passenger Liability, which 122 airlines have signed. This waives any statutory limitation of liability and commits to the law of die "domicile of the passenger". ICAO president Dr Assad Kotaite says: "Our objective should be to provide the world with a modernised legal framework that can respond to the varied needs of states, die travelling public, air car riers and the air transport industry in the diird millennium." • Yugoslav crisis delays Hungarian ATC upgrade JULIAN MOXON/PARIS THE HUNGARIAN air traf fic and airport administration LRI has been forced to delay die service entry of its new air traffic control (ATC) centre by seven months because of die conflict in Yugoslavia. Other central Euro pean administrations introducing new ATC equipment are likely to follow suit. Hungary's Matias centre, featur ing the Siemens-Plessey Eurocat system, was to begin operations at the end of April, but service entry has been put back to November to avoid capacity restrictions as the new system is introduced (Flight International, 13-19August, 1997). A source at Eurocontrol says: "It was a very difficult decision to take, but was necessary to preserve the maximum ATC capacity during the crisis in Yugoslavia." The Czech Republic has also decided to delay service entry of its new ATC system, also the Eurocat, to co-ordinate service entry with that of Hungary. "Taking into ac count the recent closure of a huge amount of airspace around Yugo slavia, we have decided to review our schedule," says the Czech Republic. "We made this decision based on careful consideration of system safety." Co-ordinating op erational start dates will also "min imise the inevitable operational consequences for the airlines". Hungary, which borders Yugoslavia, has had to bear the brunt of problems caused by the Kosovo crisis as about one-third of its airspace has been given over to NATO traffic. It has a highly developed civil/military coordina tion programme, but Eurocontrol says die early introduction of the new Matias system, developed widi its advice, "would result in a 30% increase in delays while we intro duce die new equipment". This is due to die inherent prob lems of introducing a new ATC system when a large number of flight plan corrections are being made as a result of the airspace modifications over the Yugoslavia region. 3 Air Namibia leases SAA747SP AIR NAMIBIA IS operating a Pratt & Whitney JT9D-powered Boeing 747SP leased from part ner South African Airways (SAA) on its services from Windhoek, Namibia, to Frankfurt and London. Later this year the Namibian flag carri er will take delivery of a General Electric CF6- powered 747-400 Combi from the manu facturer. Air Namibia plans to use the aircraft's 40t cargo capacity to take advantage of the sig nificant freight export market from the southern African country. The 747-400 Combi was built for South Korea's Asiana but never delivered. 12 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 - 25 May 1999
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