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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0156.PDF
HEADLINES NEWS IN BRIEF • TRAINING CENTRED Crossair and General Electric Capital Aviation Training have set up a dedicated training centre for regional airline aircrews and technical personnel. Based at Basel's EuroAirport in Switzerland, the joint venture company, called Crosscat, will specialise initially in Embraer and Saab airliners, including the ERJ-170 and 190 models, due to enter service with Crossair from next year. Meanwhile, Brazil's flag car rier, Varig, has signed a three year agreement with CAE to train its BoeingMD-11 flight crews at its new Sao Paulo training centre. The contract will begin in March. • NEW SAS CLASS Scandinavian Airlines will launch a new class on its long haul flights in September. Economy Plus will be target ed at frequent flyers who are willing to pay slightly more for increased comfort and better in-flight facilities, including in-seat power sup ply for laptop computers. The move will coincide with the service entry of the carrier's first Airbus A340- 300, with Economy Plus accounting for 24 of the 261 seats. A further nine aircraft - A34O-3O0s or A330-300s - are on order. • CONCORDE RETURNS Concorde could return to the air as early as 18 January as the UK and French manu facturers, along with Air France and British Airways, prepare for a series of ground tests to be undertaken at the Istres flight test centre in southern France. Air France is scheduled to reveal the details of the planned modification and testing programme the previous day and, subject to approval, an Air France aircraft will depart to Istres 24 hours later (Friday). Government loan may help Bombardier win $3bn order BRIAN DUNN/MONTREAL THE CANADIAN Govern ment is to provide Bombardier with C$2 billion ($1.35 billion) in low-interest loans to help it beat rival Embraer to a $3 billion reg ional jet order from Air Wisconsin. Air Wisconsin says a selection of either the Bombardier CRJ200 or Embraer ERJ-145XR is "immi nent", with the United Express feederplanningtoorder75 50-seat jets with options on another 75. Deliveries would start within six months and continue to 2004. Bombardier originally asked Ottawa to guarantee loans of C$450 million to compete for the Air Wisconsin purchase. It claims the loans, worth about $2 million per aircraft, would equal Embraer's offer.The Quebec government is reported to be offering a further C$226 million guarantee. A senior airline source says the difference in price "has become a significant point", adding that while the adjustment "is only a matter of a few percentage points, it makes a substantial difference to the cost of an $ 18-2 0 million aircraft". Canada and Brazil have been fighting over aircraft subsidies for years, with the latter recendy repri manded by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for illegally subsidising Embraer. The WTO in December granted Ottawa the right to impose C$2.4 billion worth of economic sanctions against Brasilia over seven years. The CRJ200's order chances have been boosted by government help Canadian Industry Minister Brian Tobin says that it is retaliat ing against Brazil by supporting Bombardier after negotiations failed. He adds that Brazil has con- sistendy refused to comply with the WTO ruling and its only choice is to respond with an unprecedented direct export subsidy. Tobin accuses Embraer of unfairly increasing its share of the regional jet market from 35% to 53%. "Canada won the diplomatic and trade batde at the WTO, but we're losing the jobs batde. This is a way to stem the tide," he adds. Embraer says Brazil changed its Proex subsidy programme to Proex II when the original pro gramme was ruled illegal by the WTO. When Proex II was also found to be inconsistent, Brazil introduced Proex III late last year. "Under Proex III, Brazil reluctant ly agreed to OECD [Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation]-approved interest rates," says Embraer. "If Canada is matching this, it has nothing to complain about. The truth is Embraer's list price is about $2 million below Bomb ardier's, because our labour is cheaper and the aircraft less expen sive to operate," Embraer adds. • Advanced transport gets forward-swept wing BOEING'S PHANTOM Works is redesigning its Ad vanced Theatre Transport (ATT) concept with a forward-swept tilt ing wing to improve the aircraft's centre of gravity (CG) position, while it decides between a short wide fuselage or a more slender conventional configuration. Following a recent "non-advo cate" review of the super short take-off/landing ATT programme by Boeing engineers, it was decided to drop the conventionally-swept 39m (128ft) span wing in favour of the 7-9° forward sweep. "This addresses CG stabilisation and gives a much bigger sweep spot when loading," says Lorin Bliss, ATT marketing manager. The new ATT wing will also pivot from the front, tilting downwards to the rear. The original design called for the wing, which would be wet and fully blown, to pivot from the rear up to 42° using two screwjack actuators. The new design will reduce the weight of actuation systems and remove the need for a large upper fuselage/wing fairing forward of the leading edge. The objective remains to land on a 228m (750ft) rough strip in hot and high condi tions - 4,000ft at 3 5°C (95°F)- and deliver a 27t (60,0001b) load. Added attention is also being paid to lifting loads from short unim proved airstrips. Boeing is continuing trade-off studies between a shorter 'fatboy' fuselage and a narrower Boeing C-17 size fuselage barrel. Design ers are trying to strike a balance between carrying wide loads and the weight and cost advantages of producing a more slender fuselage. Boeing, which is largely funding the programme, plans to modify its 7% scaled ATT model and repeat earlier tests. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 16 - 22 January 2001
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