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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 1785.PDF
Russian Government unveils massive industry shake-up PAUL DUFFY/MOSCOW THE RUSSIAN Government has unveiled ambitious plans to consolidate the airframe design and manufacturing sectors into two groupings involving most of the major names in the country's aerospace industry. The plans, announced by deputy prime minister Ilya Klebanov on 12 May, call for one group to be formed, consisting of MiG, Tupolev and Kamov along with the Ulyanovsk assembly factory, Aviastar, and Aviakor, the Samara aircraft manufacturing plant. The two factories have long had close ties with Tupolev. Progress, the Kamov-associated helicopter fac tory at Arseniev in Siberia, is also included. MiG is already involved with Tupolev, having secured pro duction of the Tu-334 airliner. Kamov is a surprise, as it was previ ously part of AVPK Sukhoi. The second group is led by Sukhoi and includes Ilyushin, Beriev, Mil and Yakovlev. It also includes the Voronezh aircraft factory and the helicopter factories at Kazan and Rostov-on-Don, both builders of Mil designs, and military aircraft factories already part of the AVPK Sukhoi group. Initial reaction has been mixed. The decision to merge airliner, combat aircraft and helicopter operations is causing concern at industry level. Some observers question whether the scheme will have any more chance of success than earlier abortive attempts at restructuring. However, the gov ernment has been under pressure to act to arrest the wholesale The Tu-204 could end up being built alongside products from MiG decline of the industry. The remainder of the industry is likely to be merged into "six or seven" groups, including engine designers and manufacturers, "weapons and avionics", and other targeted groupings. Klebanov expects only three factories to continue large com mercial aircraft production - Aviastar, Voronezh and Russia's strongest producer, the Kazan Aircraft Production Association (KAPO). KAPO appears not to have been included to date, but has close ties to Tupolev. Rusaviakosmos, the Russian aerospace agency and effectively the industry's "holding company", had requested a nine year restruc turing , but die government reject ed this in favour of a 2 004 deadline. It is unclear where other promi nent organisations will fit into the structure. No mention was made of Myasishchev, the experimental air craft design bureau or TsAGI, the Central Aero and Hydrodynamics Institute, or many others of the industry's 316 companies. • Alexei Tupolev died in Moscow on May 13 th, aged 75. The son of the founder of Tupolev, he was appointed general designer of Tupolevfrom 1972until 1997. • UAL launches business jet fractional programme UNITED AIRLINES' parent company UAL has received board approval to ladhch a business jet fractional ownership subsidiary which is expected to operate some 200 aircraft by 2005. UAL has committed $250 million to launch the programme. Several North American airlines are set to follow United's lead as they try to recapture premium pas sengers lost to business jet fraction al ownership and charter operators. Air Canada has unspecified plans to enter thebusiness aviation market if its strategic partnership with Canadian charter operator Skyservice is approved. American Airlines is believed to be close to announcing its plans and Delta, if it chooses to follow suit, already has a corporate charter operation with in its Comair subsidiary. JH Europe, British Airways recently announced a link with charter operator Air Partners. ' UAL says its fractional opera tion will be funded by and linked to United, but will be a separate stand-alone business. The compa ny has been cleared to negotiate with manufacturers. It has a mem orandum of understanding with Dassault and is close to signing a similar agreement with a second manufacturer. The company plans to begin selling shares next month and to start flying early next year. UAL decided to enter the fractional mar ket after studies revealed top exec utives at firms with which United has large corporate travel deals no longer fly with the airline. Whereas existing fractionals sell mainly to individuals, United is expected to leverage its corporate travel deals to sell aircraft shares in large blocks to major companies. The company will target US customers initially. • Late certification for AS900 engine GRAHAM WARWICK/PHOENIX HONEYWELL HAS delayed certification of its AS900 tur- bofan family to early next year, to incorporate durability and main tainability improvements. The slip is not expected to delay certifica tion of the engine's two applica tions, the BAE Systems Avro RJX regional jet and Bombardier Continental business jet. Certification of the 7,0001b (31kN) thrust-class turbofan has been delayed from September to the first quarter of 2002 for the AS977 powering the RJX, and the second quarter of next year for the AS907 powering the Continental. The engines are identical apart from the nacelle, accessory gearbox and control software. The certification was originally planned for March, but was pushed back to September by delays with the integrated powerplant system supplied by GKN Aerostructures. BAE and Bombardier agreed to the further slippage to give Honeywell time to incorporate the improve ments that were identified during testing before the engine enters service. "The engine is meeting its spe cific fuel consumption and temper ature margin specifications, but we have identified a handful of areas where we need to incorporate durability and other improvements before it goes into service," says AS900 general manager Mike Redenbaugh. He says Honeywell will deliver certificated engines to its customers to meet their aircraft certification schedules. Engines incorporating the improvements will be available for the final 150h certification tests in the fourth quarter. Improvements identified during the first 4,500h of testing include: individually replaceable fan stator vanes; combustor cooling changes to increase durability; and bleed duct optimisation to reduce losses. Honeywell has completed almost 6,000h of the 10,000h planned in the AS900 programme. The RJX first flew in April and the Continental is expected to fly in mid-year. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 - 28 May 2001 5
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