FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2001
2001 - 2223.PDF
PARIS FIRST NEWS The Paris air show opened its doors on 16 June, overshadowed by events taking place in Brussels and Fairfield, Connecticut, over the fate of the General Electric/Honeywell merger. But the show will go on and, despite evidence from airlines that the economic slowdown is starting to bite, the effect on manufacturers will be negligible, for now, as new orders are unveiled. PAUL LEWIS, STEWART PENNEY MAX KINGSLEY-JONES AND GRAHAM WARWICK AIRCRAFT ACQUISITIONS German lease firm tobuylOOCRJs Deutsche Structured Finance places first regional jet order German lessor Deutsche Structured Finance (DSF) is expected to conclude its first aircraft order with a $2 billion deal for up to 100 Bombardier CRJs, Flight International can reveal. According to industry sources, DSF has placed orders for 50 CRJs - a mix of SO-seat CRJ200s and 70-seat CRJ700s - and taken 50 options. The company may also be discussing a deal for similar-sized aircraft from Embraer. DSF was unavailable for comment. The Frankfurt-based company has a portfolio of around 30 aircraft which has been accumulated through sale and lease-back deals. The fleet includes Fairchild Dornier 328s, CRJIOOs and Boeing 737s and 767s. Its decision to move into direct purchasing follows a change of ownership last year when the firm was purchased by German bank DePfa Group from BfG Bank. Earlier this year, DSF's chief exec utive Paul Steinhardt told Flight International's sister on-line service, Air Transport Intelligence, that the company had made an internal selection of the class of regional aircraft that it wanted and was in negotiations with Bombardier and Embraer. "We would like to order up to 50 regional jets and we are concentrating on the 70-seater category," he said. Around half the DSF fleet is in operation with German carriers, including Deutsche BA and Lufthansa CityLine. Industry sources suggest that the company may have intended to place some of the 50-seaters it is ordering with German regional Eurowings, but plans may have changed following the airline's tie-up with Lufthansa and their recent order for 15 CRJ200S plus 30 options. FIGHTERS Saab-BAE agrees deal Saab-BAE Systems has signed a deal with Rafael to offer the Israeli company's weapons on the Gripen fighter. A first flight of a Gripen with colour cockpit dis plays has also been completed. The Rafael agreement increases the range of weapons offered as standard with the air craft. Similar deals exist with Kentron, MBDA, Raytheon and Saab-Bofors Dynamics. Initially, the agreement covers the Python 4 short-range, infrared-guided air-to-air missile, and the Spice precision guided air-to-surface munition. Both will be offered as customer options. Saab-BAE says the deal will also cover additional weapons as they become available. Rafael recently unveiled the Derby radar-guided air-to-air weapon and is developing a ver sion of its Popeye TV-guided air-to-surface missile. Colour cockpit displays are part of Saab-BAE's develop ment plan for the aircraft. AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENT First showing for An-74-300 The revamped Antonov An-74-300 made its debut at the show, fol lowing its first flight in April. The twin-engined transport differs from earlier versions of the An-72/74 by abandoning the blown-wing con figuration -with the engines on top of the wing - which provides short take-off and landing capability, in favour of a conventional underwing installation for its two Progress D-36 turbofans. The redesign provides a 20% reduction in fuel consumption and a 500- 1,000km (270-540nm) increase in range. A stretched -400 model is planned for the regional market. GOVERNMENT RELATIONS EU ministers agree three Molls European ministers were expected to sign three memoranda of under standing (MoU) at the show on the development of Europe's next gen eration beyond visual range air-to- air missile (BVRAAM), tactical transport and a joint technology acquisition programme. Industry and government sources were hopeful that MoUs for the Airbus Military Company A400M, MBDA Meteor BVRAAM and the European Technology Acquisition Plan (ETAP) would be signed on 19 June. The A400M MoU is the pre cursor to a contract, which should be signed in October or November, by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the UK. Industry sources say the signing of the deal will contain the final national aircraft numbers. Ger many's commitment for 73 A400Ms is widely viewed as signifi cantly higher than Berlin either needs or is able to fund. Meteor will be signed up to by France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK. MoU talks were completed last month, each nation pushing the programme through the national approval pro cess to ensure a Paris signing. As well as MBDA, other Meteor risk-sharing partners are Germany's LFK, Sweden's Saab Bofors Dyn amics and a joint venture between EADS Casa, Indra and Izar, known as Empresa de Missiles Espanola. The MoU has fixed the work- share, with the UK given 34.9%, Germany 21%, France 12.4%, Italy 12%, and Spain and Sweden hav ing 10% each. The UK Defence Procurement Agency will be con tracting authority for all six. ETAP is to be signed by the Meteor nations and covers areas such as advanced avionics, low observability, control systems and unmanned air vehicles. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19-25 JUNE 2001 15
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
