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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0578.PDF
MIR TRANSPORT MARKETPLACE ++ Thai domestic start-up Air Andaman plans to expand its net work with the arrival of its second British Aerospace J31 turboprop in April. The airline is to expand to a five-aircraft Jetstream fleet within three years. ++ British Airways franchise airline GB Airways has placed orders for one Airbus A320 and one A321. The International Aero Engines V2500-powered air craft will be delivered in 2003. ++ Qatar Airways has acquired an 11-year-old, ex-Korean Air Airbus A300-600R equipped with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines. The deal boosts its A300-600R fleet to six aircraft. ++ Ecuadorian airline TAME has ordered two Raisbeck Stage 3 modification kits and taken options on three more, for its fleet of Boeing 727- 200Advs, in a contract worth over $6 million. Under a Stage 3 phase- in agreement reached with the Ecuador Government, TAME will modify two aircraft in 2001, two in 2002 and the fifth in 2003. ++JetBlue has added an orderfor one IAE V2500-powered A320, for delivery later this year. ++ Air Nostrum has taken delivery of the first of 29 Bombardier Dash 8 Q300s it has on order. ++ Miami Air International has signed a lease agreement with CIT Aerospace for two new Boeing 737-800s which will be delivered in April and May. ++ Australian Air Express has signed a lease exten sion deal with BAE Systems on three BAe 146QT freighters - one Series 100 and two Series 300s. ++ Asiana Airlines has taken delivery of its first Boeing 777- 200ER, on lease from Inter national Lease Finance (ILFC). The Pratt & Whitney PW4090-pow- ered aircraft is one of eight 777- 200ERs that the airline is due to receive, three of which will come through ILFC. One 777-300 order is also held. ++ United Airlines retired its last McDonnell Douglas DC-10 this month after 30 years of operating the type. The last flight was operated between Honolulu and Chicago and the aircraft will follow the airline's other DC-lOs by joining FedEx as a freighter. Iraqi Airways joins road to Damascus GERALD BUTT/NICOSIA IRAQI AIRWAYS announced on 12 February that it was to restart regular flights from Baghdad to Damascus and on the same day flew a Boeing 747SP to die Syrian capital. Among the seven passen gers was Iraqi trade minister Ahmad Murtada Ahmad, who says that a return service would be operated twice weekly. The 747 SP later returned to Saddam International Airport with passengers from Syria. While Iraq insists that the service - in clear breach of UN sanctions against it - will be regular, die Syrian Govern ment is distancing itself from this suggestion. "There is no time table," says a senior aviation official in Damascus, "and no schedule". The recent arrival in Damascus of the 747 SP, which was donated to Iraq by Sheikh Hamad bin Ali al- Thani, head of Sharjah-based Air Gulf Falcon (and not by Qatar as suggested in Flight International, 16-22 January, P12), was a further attempt by the Baghdad govern ment to challenge UN sanctions. Last November, Iraqi Airways restarted internal services, and while a handful of flights have been operated to Saudi Arabia, carrying Muslim pilgrims, this is the first time since sanctions were imposed in 1990 that the Iraqi carrier has operated what appears to be a commercial service abroad. Any expansion of the limited ser vices offered by the Iraqi carrier will be restricted by its aircraft shortage. The airline's operational fleet consists of nine aircraft - one Ilyushin 11-76, one Antonov An-2 6 and seven helicopters, the latter being withdrawn from flying pas senger services on internal routes due to safety reasons. J China Southern signs ERJ-145 deal CHINA Southern Airlines has signed a memorandum of agreement with Embraer for the purchase of up to 30 ERJ-145 regional jets, reports Flight International sister on-line service Air Transport Intelligence. The carrier, China's largest, is looking to take 20 of the 50-seaters on firm order and options on 10 more, although a final contract is subject to government approval. The acquisition would be in line with calls by Beijing for Chinese airlines to expand their regional jet operations. China Eastern Airlines has already negotiated a similar deal with Bombardier, covering 3 0 CRJs, which is also awaiting government clearance. Embraer has sold five ERJ-145s to Sichuan Airlines, while Bombardier has placed CRJs with Shandong Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and Yunnan Airlines. Fairchild Dornier has secured the biggest single order in China so far, from Hainan Airlines for 19 328JETs, plus 20 options. • CanJet seeks more 737s after US Airways rebuff with other companies, adding that talks with US Airways are "dead". The seventh aircraft was needed to launch non-stop Halifax-Toronto services, while plans for the eighth and ninth aircraft have not been finalised. As a result, the carrier is reducing frequencies between Toronto and Winnipeg to allow it to launch Toronto-Halifax services with its present fleet. Meanwhile, CanJet has cut fares on routes in eastern Canada in response to discounting by Air Canada. Winders says the airline is seeking an extension to a ruling by Canada's Competition Bureau that temporarily prohibited Air Canada from offering similar discount fares on routes flown by CanJet. The ruling ended on 31 December. Skyservice spin-off Roots Air, which launches next month, is also accusing Air Canada of using "questionable tactics" to under mine its inauguration of services between Toronto and Calgary. • Plans for the lease of more lilsfrom US Airways are "dead" says CanJet CANADIAN DISCOUNT airline CanJet Airlines is seek ing alternative sources for addi tional Boeing 737s after talks with US Airways to lease three more of the type collapsed. Meanwhile, CanJet is introducing lower fares in response to what it sees as contin ued predatory fare action by Air Canada. The cuts come just ahead of Canada's Competition Bureau ruling on Canjet's earlier com plaints of anti-competitive pricing by the major. CanJet, launched in September, is operating six leased Boeing 737- 200s from US Airways in eastern Canada. The Halifax-based airline was in talks with US Airways over the lease of three more 737-200s, but these talks have reached an impasse. CanJet says that the US major would not agree terms for returning the aircraft off lease if they were no longer needed. Canjet's chief operating officer Mark Winders says the airline is looking at alternative leasing deals FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 February 2001
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