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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 2845.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT PROPULSION ANDREW DOYLE / SINGAPORE AND GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES GE studies GE90-powered 777-300 But engine manufacturer shelves project to produce more powerful variant of the engine for the 777 "lite" General Electric is studying offering the GE90 as an engine option for the Boeing 777-300, building on its growing 777 market penetration with the -94B version. In a related move, the US engine-maker says it has shelved a study into a derated version of its 115,0001b- thrust (510kN) variant of the powerplant for a possible 777 "lite" airliner. The powerplant under study for the -300 variant will be a 90,000 to 95,0001b-thrust offering based on the 777-200ER's -94B, rather than a derated version of the much more powerful 115,0001b-thrust GE90- 115B under development for the 777-20OLR/3O0ER. GE adds studies for "a bit more thrust" will be undertaken if it is A lower weight, GE90-powered 777-300ER was studied for Cathay required to match the 98,0001b offered by its competitors. Until now, only Pratt & Whitney- and Rolls-Royce-powered versions of the 777-300 have been certificated. "We are starting to study a potential GE-powered 777-300 because that represents a product gap," says the company. GE says the study is in response to requests from existing 777 cus tomers, but denies that it was sparked specifically by a request from Continental Airlines. GE confirms it studied a derated -115B, but this was not pursued fol lowing previously undisclosed dis cussions with Cathay Pacific over a possible "777X lite" which would have involved certificating the GE90-powered 777-300ER at a low er operating weight. The talks were not supported by Boeing and aban doned when Cathay delayed plans to order more widebodies. GE90 programme sources say the company wants to have a 98,0001b-thrust engine available to counter offerings from P&W and R-R, although all three are excluded from deploying those engines on 777s with maximum take-off weights of between 299,600kg (660,0001b) - at which the 777- 200ER and -300 are limited - and 317,800kg, from where the 777- 200LR and -300ER are offered under the 1999 exclusive agree ment between Boeing and GE. This gap has become a sensitive issue because P&W and R-R want to offer their existing customers the option of operating 777s at higher gross weights without switching to the GE90. A key test of Boeing's and GE's strategy is loom ing as major R-R customer Singapore Airlines begins to evalu ate its requirements for higher- weight 777s. START-UP Pan Am discusses Thai airline plan A group in Thailand is in talks with Pan American Airways to establish a new carrier in Asia using the US airline's name and corporate identity. Industry sources say the group has been holding talks with Pan Am for some time and executives from the US airline have been visiting Thailand to discuss the possible joint formation of the new earlier. The plan is backed by Prayong Boonsoong and Dean Mills, president and general manager, respectively, of J B Hotel in Hat Yai, as well as other Asian investors and a Hawaii-based businessman. "We aren't in a position to make any statement other than we are in the planning stages for an airline that will be based here in Thailand," says Mills. Pan Am executive vice-president John Nadolny confirms the carrier has met the Thai group but says the talks were "conceptual in nature". The group wants to focus on carry ing tourists from the USA to Thailand's resort destinations and will concen trate on flights within Asia. AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT Lockheed Martin offers ATM for northern Russia Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Man agement (LMATM) has proposed to Russian authorities an advanced air traffic management (ATM) system to provide control for the first time in large areas of northern Russia currently not covered by radar. This comes as the US manufacturer establishes an office in Moscow in an effort tS win airspace moderni sation business from Russia and other CIS states. LMATM is proposing that its advanced system for non-radar controlled airspace management be deployed at two to four centres in northern Russia, which would provide ATM for cross-polar flights from North America. The system would be similar to the Advanced Technologies and Oceanic Procedures (ATOP) system which LMATM is providing to the US Federal Aviation Administration. The next-generation, satellite-based transoceanic ATM system, which is being installed at three US air route traffic control centres, integrates flight data processing, radar data processing, controller-pilot data link communications, automatic dependent surveillance, interfacil- ity data communications and elec tronic flight data capabilities. Lockheed Martin already has a 15-year agreement to modernise the Republic of Georgia's aviation infrastructure and a memorandum of agreement with the Ukraine on an aviation modernisation pro gramme, and hopes to secure a similar deal with Kazakhstan soon. MARKETPLACE • Tokyo-based Skymark Airlines will take delivery of a third new General Electric CF6-80C2-powered Boeing 767-300ERfrom International Lease Finance (ILFC) in March next year on a six-year lease. • Air Jamaica is close to com pleting a deal with ILFC to take two ex-Air Canada Airbus A340-300s in exchange for returning its existing aircraft early. Air Jamaica hopes to take delivery of the two aircraft in March and May next year. • Turkish Airlines (THY) is to sell its seven GE CF6-80C2- powered Airbus A310-300s over the next two years - three in 2002 and four in 2003. No replacement plans have been announced for the A310s. • American Trans Air has taken delivery of its first two of 10 Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4- powered Boeing 757-300s. Deliveries of the remaining eight aircraft on order will be com pleted by May. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 21-27 AUGUST 2001 9
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