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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0108.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT WORKSHOP ++ FedEx has confirmed an earlier letter of intent (LOI) with Boeing Airplane Services to convert 19 MD-11 passenger aircraft to freighters. The ex-Swissair aircraft will form part of a total fleet of 52. Boeing says the choice of a site will be made during the first quarter, with actual work beginning in the third quarter of 2002. ++ Rolls- Royce has signed a 10-year, $80 million, fleet-hour agreement with British Regional Air Lines cover ing overhaul of AE3007 engines powering the UK carrier's planned fleet of 23 Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets. R-R has also won a £600 million ($895 million) overhaul contract from British Airways to maintain the Intern ational Aero Engines V2500s that powerthe airline's A320s. ++ Gulf Aircraft Maintenance (GAMCO) has carried out a C-check on an ex-Sobelair Boeing 767-300ER owned by Ansett Worldwide Aviation Service. GAMCO also repainted the aircraft in the colours of new lessee Vietnam Airlines. ++ Lufthansa Technik has complet ed the installation of the first "entirely customised" VIP cabin for a Boeing 777-200 at its Hamburg base, some five weeks ahead of schedule. ++ United Airlines has completed negotia tions with local authorities on a $160 million expansion of US Airways' Pittsburgh maintenance base. The deal, contingent on approval of the two airlines' merg er, would add two hangars with four maintenance bays and refurbish four existing US Airways hangars. Meanwhile, the airline's United Services arm has concluded a deal with Boeing and the US Air Force to continue to provide joint maintenance with Pratt & Whitney on the F117-PW-100 engine used on C-17 airlifters through to 2005. ++ Boeing Airplane Services has expanded its landing gear alliance with BFGoodrich to cover the Next Generation 737. Underthe 17-year agreement, customers will be able to exchange landing gear for over hauled units from a pool owned by BFGoodrich. Terminal 5 too late for initial Heathrow A380 operations DAVID LEARMOUNT/LONDON LONDON Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, will have to wait until at least 2007 before the first passengers use the new Terminal Five (T5) - at least a year after the Airbus A3 80 ultra-large aircraft enters service. The date assumes the UK Government, having just received the results of a four-year planning inquiry into the £2 billion ($2.9 billion) terminal, gives it the go-ahead when the decision is announced in six to nine months, as analysts believe it will. According to the latest Airbus market forecast, Heathrow, which is chronically short of aircraft stands already, will be second only to Japan's Tokyo Narita in the number of A3 80s which will use it through to 2019. Major Heathrow user and A3 80 launch customer, Singapore Airlines (SLA), will be the first airline to receive the new aircraft, in March 2006. Virgin Atlantic Airways will begin basing its first of six A3 80s at die London airport in 2006. Emirates and Qantas are among odier early A3 80 operators also planning to operate the type into Heathrow in its first production year. Heathrow operator BAA is investingEl 50 million ahead of the A380's introduction to prepare for the new aircraft. The existing long haul Terminals 3 and 4 will be modified with the former gaining two new piers, while runway Heathrow is a major 747 hub, and will be very popular with A380 operators verges and some taxiway exits will need widening. BAA says that Heathrow will ini tially be able to handle seven A3 80s simultaneously. According to Airbus, T4 would have six stands which could accommodate an A3 80, while Terminal 3 could take nine. T5, on the other hand, will be able to handle up to 24 A3 80s. If the government's T5 decision is positive, as expected, airport owner BAA says that construction will begin in 2002. The main operator at T5 is expected to be British Airways, which has not ordered any A3 80s although part ner Qantas has. BA says: "The government has die Terminal Five report. It is vital for Heathrow and the UK that a decision is made soon." • UK Aviation Minister Chris Mullin has announced lower departure noise limits and updated noise monitoring arrangements for the three major London airports - Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. He has also varied the approach pattern of die small number of movements between midnight and 06:00 local time, spreading the noise nuisance more equitably between those who live under the easterly and westerly approaches - subject to weather limitations. J DFS puts new AIS pilot briefing system online GERMAN AIR traffic services provider DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung has put into opera tion its new Thales (formerly Thomson-CSF) Information Systems-developed aeronautical information services (AIS) pilot briefing system. The agency says the Frankfurt Airport-based DFS Integrated AIS System (DIAS) offers airspace users "significantly improved service" with its ability to store 35,000 worldwide notices to airmen (NOTAMs) which are continuously updated. "This new system provides route- and altitude-related pre- flight information service on the basis of the filed flight plan," says DFS. "A briefing as precise as this one was not possible with the old system since the briefing officer had first to convert the flight plan into individual route elements." The 17 pilot briefing offices at German airports, plus some exter nal customers, will have access to five regional database servers using their own terminals, and DFS plans eventually to provide pilots with "self-briefing" terminals with access to DIAS. DFS's next step is to provide pilots with access to the AIS data base at home via the internet. DIAS is operated by new DFS business unit Aeronautical Data Management, and will be used as the basis of the Aeronautical Information Service Center (AIS- C). It is due to become fully opera tional by 2004, providing pre-flight information services to airspace users. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9 - 15 January 2001
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