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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 1533.PDF
Shuttle war gathers pace RAMON LOPEZ/WASHINGTON DC THE AIR WAR over Washington DC has escalat ed with US Airways announcing plans to introduce new Airbus A320s. The move comes as it expands its lucrative shuttle opera tion in competition with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. US Airways will replace 12 Boeing 727-200s operated by US Airways Shuttle with single-class 154-seat A320s from October. US Airways says it hopes the new air craft, "with its wider cabin and more space between rows", will attract additional passengers. The expansion of the shuttle ser vices and the A3 20 introduction follows US Airways' tentative pilot deal to merge the US Airways mainline and Shuttle seniority rankings. It enables the noisy, inef ficient 72 7s to be phased out before the end of the year deadline. US Airways holds commitments for 400 A3 20 family aircraft, in cluding 120 firm orders. Eleven A319s and A320s have been deliv ered to the airline so far and anoth er 27 are due this year. The carrier says it has not yet decided how many A320s will be dedicated to the expanding Shuttle operation. The US Airways Shuttle flies 15 round trips daily between Wash ington Reagan National Airport and New York LaGuardia, and 17 round trips between LaGuardia and Boston Logan. From July, the hourly US Airways service between Boston and Reagan National will become part of the Shuttle system. Before the end of the year, US Airways' current hourly services between Washington Dulles and Boston Logan and LaGuardia will also become part of the US Airways Shuttle. The US Airways Shuttle oper ates on the hour, while Delta flies every half-hour, also using 727- 2 00s. Delta says no plans have been announced to change aircraft. Meanwhile, Delta plans to use Comair's 50-seat Canadair Re gional Jets (CRJs) on its new Boston-Washington shuttle from June, unless prohibited by a court injunction. In May, United and its regional affiliate, Atlantic Coast Airlines, began offering Dulles- LaGuardia shuttle service, also using 50-seat CRJs. • Airbus Trent 500 prepared for first test runs ROLLS-ROYCE'S Trent 500 turbofan for the Airbus Industrie A340-500/600 was expected to begin runs at the com pany's test site at Derby, UK, as Flight International went to press. The run marks the start of a test and certification programme involving seven test engines, which is due to be completed in December 2000. To ensure a smooth introduc tion into service and high reliabili ty, Rolls-Royce plans to run 2,000 simulated extended range twin engined operations (ETOPS) cycles. The tests are still being con ducted, despite the fact that the A3 40 is a four-engined application, and therefore does not require ETOPS qualification. "We are doing it because the Trent 800 has been doing really well in terms of disruptive reliabil ity related delays," says Trent 500 head of marketing Robert Nuttall. The engine has a 2.46m (97in) diameter wide-chord fan and an eight-stage intermediate pressure compressor with three-dimen sional (3D) aerodynamic design. It also incorporates a six-stage high- pressure (HP) compressor with 3 D design, an annular tiled combustor R-R is a big fan of ETOPS testing, despite the four-engined application and a single-stage HP turbine. The Trent 500 features a five-stage low- pressure turbine section. The fan combines aerodynamic refinements of both the Trent 700 and 800 designs, but does not fea ture the Trent 8104's swept blade design. The compressor system is a 20% scaled version of the Trent 892, while the combustor is scaled for the airflow of the Trent 500 from the 800 version. The turbines are also scaled from the Trent 800, generating an "advantage in terms of aerodynamic loading", says Nuttall, which increases overall efficiency and "gives us about a 1.5% improvement in specific fuel consumption", he adds. The engine is due to be certifi cated at a thrust rating of 60,0001b (267kN), but will enter service at 56,0001b. "Most operators will de rate from that level," says Nuttall, to increase temperature margin and life on-wing. The powerplant will be flight tested on the A340- 3 00 development aircraft next year, and will enter service on the A3 40- 600 in March 2002. • Government blocks UK safety extension THE UK Civil Aviation Authority has been given the go-ahead to conduct more spot checks of foreign airlines operating into the UK. But there are no plans to extend formally the monitoring of foreign aircraft safety. The move follows further investigation of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), which has flouted fuel safety regulations at London Heathrow Airport for years (Flight International, 19-25 May). The CAA says it has no powers to require reporting outside the mandatory occurrence reporting system, which applies to UK-regis tered aircraft only. Any such requirement would have to be initi ated by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), says the CAA. The DETR, which handles all issues concerning foreign opera tors, repeats that the safety prac tices of an airline are the responsibility of the state of regis tration, and "that's not about to change". Although the DETR has provided the CAA with the resources to carry out more spot checks on foreign airlines, it has not confirmed whether this is a tempo rary or permanent arrangement. The CAA reports any malpractices to the DETR, whose task it is to liaise with the state concerned. No reports about the MAS fuel shortage problem reached the CAA until a Confidential Human Factors Incident Report was filed in February, says its group director safety regulation, Richard Profit. But British Airways, MAS' London Heathrow engineering service provider, claims to have given the CAA at least six reports detailing MAS Boeing 747-400 arrivals with dangerously low fuel levels. It was from BAs engineering records that the CAA was able to uncover the extent of the MAS fuel policy mal practice. Malaysian transport minister Seri Ling Liong has admitted through the state news agency tfiat the confidentially reported inci dent was accurate, but insists that the 3.6t fuel remaining met International Civil Aviation Organisation minimum require ments, if not UK CAA ones. ^1 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 2 - 8 June 1999 9
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