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Aviation History
2000
2000 - 1010.PDF
il£ADUNM5 Delta signs massive CRJ deal GRAHAM WARWICK/WASHINGTON DC DELTA AIR LINES has signed a $10 billion, SOO-aircraft, regional jet deal with Bombardier which will provide Delta Con nection carriers with 40-, 44- and 50-seat versions of the Canadair RegionalJet(CRJ) 200, and 70-seat CRJ700s. The vet-to-be launched 90-seat CRJ900 is not included. Delta Connection carriers Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) and Comair have signed letters of intent to order 94 CRJs for delivery between the first quarter of next year and the end of 2004. When finalised, this will take the number of CRJs purchased by ASA and ()omair to 281,125 of which have been delivered. The deal includes options on 406 CRJ200sand 700s, for delivery by 2010. "This order will allow ful filment of long-term fleet growth plans at ASA and Comair," says Delta Connection president David Seibenburgen. Key to the deal is Bombardier's commitment to supply 40- and 44- NEWS IN BRIEF • QANTAS UPGRADE Qantas is investing $400 mil lion ($242 million) in new passenger entertainment systems, catering and airport lounge improvements, the bulk of which - $3 00 million - is to be spent on Rockwell Collins' interactive in-flight entertainment hardware. Rockwell's Total Entertain ment System, to be installed in all three classes of the Boeing 747-400 fleet from April next year to mid-2002, will offer 12 video and 18 audio channels, intranet access, computer games, a satellite text news/weather service and telephones. Qantas is keen to offer in flight e-mail, and is dis cussing a partnership with the Rockwell-News Corp oration joint venture for live broadcast satellite service. Model 40-seater 44-seater 50-seater 70-seater Total •JWiVh'li Model 50-seater 70-seater Total Existing orders 110 20 130 Existing orders 45 12 57 GRAND TOTAL 187 New orders 25 20 7 52 New orders 24 18 42 94 Total orders 25 20 110 27 182 Total orders 69 30 99 281 seat versions of the 50-seat CRJ200 to meet the carriers' requirements for small regional jets. All three versions are identical - except for the number of seats - but the deal is structured so that the 40- and 44- seat aircraft cost less than the 50- seater. This allows the CRJ to be competitive with other 40-44-seat regional jets, Bombardier says. Bombardier president Bob Brown says the ability to deliver 40- and 44-seat versions of the CRJ with competitive economics is a result of agreements with suppli ers, production efficiencies and the commonality and flexibility that a family of 40-70-seat aircraft offers Delta Connection. Because their viability is linked to the economies of scale afforded by the large Delta order, the manu facturer is not offering the 40- and 44-seat CRJs to all customers. "We are being selective in our discus sions," says Brown. "The focus is on larger customers." The deal will allow ASA and Comair to begin replacing their remaining turboprops with regional jets. "The 40- and 44-seat jets are primarily for turboprop replacement," Seibenburgen says. Replacing ASA's large fleet of 30- seat Embraer Brasilias is a "high priority", he says diat could begin as early as June. Comair also plans to phase out its Brasilias. The CRJ deal is the first fleet purchase for Delta Connection, formed last year after ASA and Comair became wholly owned subsidiaries of Delta. The 94 firm orders, valued at S2 billion, consist of twenty-five 40-seaters and twen ty 44-seaters, all for Comair; twen ty-four 50-seaters, for ASA and twenty-five 70-seaters-18 for ASA and seven for Comair. The 406 options can be exercised as a mix of 40-, 44-, 50- and 70-seaters. Delta's pilot scope clause limits Connection operations to aircraft with 70 seats or fewer. Bombardier says there is no provision in the deal to exercise any options as 90-seat CRJ900s. "They would have to renegoti ate to add CRJ900s," says Brown. Bombardier is "working hard" to launch the 90-seater in the second quarter, he says. • Europe proceeds with hushkit ban JULIAN MOXON/PARIS THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is on a collision course with the USA over noise regula tions after the European Parlia ment voted on 30 March for a proposed ban to go ahead on limit ing the operation of hushkitted aircraft. Last-minute talks between senior European and US officials failed to reach a new compromise, resulting in the Parliament endors ing the European Council's April 1999 ruling banning hushkitted aircraft from being imported on to the register of European Union (EU) member states from 4 May. Hushkitted aircraft registered in non-EU countries will be allowed into the EU up to April 2002 -but only if they were already operating into the area at 4 May, 2000. A further suspension of the ban, which was put on hold for a year pending discussions with the USA on new Stage 4 regulations, would be "totally unacceptable", says the Parliament. In its resolution, the Parliament said it would consider a "limited review" of its ruling on hushkitted aircraft registered in third coun tries, which are to be banned from April 2002. This, however, is only "on condition that the US Administration makes a written, binding commitment, including a timetable not exceeding the end of 2001, to attain worldwide [noise- reduction] standards similar to or more stringent than those laid down in the [original] ruling". The USA has instituted an arbi tration procedure with the Inter national Civil Aviation Organ isation (ICAO) questioning the legal basis for EU action. The European Parliament has asked it to withdraw this "pending a global agreement". It says it wants the USA to take a "constructive approach" to negotiating a new noise standard. The European proposals have drawn the threat from US Congress of a ban of British Air ways and Air France Concorde ser vices to the USA. Washington claims the plan does little to reduce noise and is aimed at damaging the US hushkitting industry and the value of older airliners. The Parliament says that the ICAO Stage 3 noise standards have not been updated since 1977, adding that "it seems unlikely that the progress made so far will, in the foreseeable funire, lead to a global agreement at international level" on tougher noise standards. So the hushkit ban is "the only means to prevent a deterioration in the over all noise situation in the EU". • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 April 2000
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