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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0469.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT ROUTES AIRLINE CO-OPERATION GERALD BUTT / NICOSIA Gulf Air/Kuwait Airways to increase cooperation Mid-East airlines discuss operational and technical link-ups in effort to save money Gulf Air and Kuwait Airways are taking steps to increase co-opera tion as the two Middle Eastern carriers seek to increase efficiency and reduce costs. On 10 February, Gulf Air presi dent Ibrahim al-Hamer and Kuwait Airways chairman Ahmed al-Zabin attended a meeting of a joint com mittee which, says Gulf Air, "reviewed aspects of joint co-opera tion and co-ordination in flight schedules between the two carriers at some airports in Gulf Co-opera tion Council [GCC] countries". These include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The airlines will examine co-operation "on a global level in the future". Technical co-operation is also to be expanded, with Gulf Air offering engineering and aircraft maintenance services to Kuwait Airways in Bahrain, Doha, Karachi, and Singapore. Joint technical sup port services will be enhanced at other international destinations, including Beirut, Cairo and Damascus. The two Gulf carriers say that co-operation in training is to be stepped up, with Kuwait Airways offering this service for Gulf Air staff. There is some com monality between the fleets, with both airlines operating Airbus A320s and A340s. Also under discussion are plans for the two airlines to co-operate in aircraft sales and purchasing, open ing the possibility of joint talks in future order discussions to obtain better deals on pricing. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are the only two GCC states without an interest in Gulf Air, and it seems unlikely that either would want to join the carrier at this stage. Gulf Air is owned by the governments of Abu Dhabi (in the UAE), Bahrain, Oman and Qatar. Never theless, Dubai (in the UAE), Oman and Qatar also operate their own airlines (Emirates, Oman Air and Qatar Airways, respectively), result ing in a surplus of capacity in the region. Aviation officials in the Gulf have long called for greater co-operation and co-ordination among airlines there. REGIONAL JETS United Express takes Fairchild Dornier 328JET The first of 32 Fairchild Dornier 328JETs has been delivered to Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA), for operation on United Express flights from Washington Dulles and New York Newark airports. ACA already operates 29 of the 32-seaters as a Delta Connection carrier. CARGO llyushin II-76TF certification nears Ilyushin hopes to gain civil certifi cation for the Ilyushin I1-76MF freighter, designated the TF, by year-end, after the completion of flight testing of the military version, targeted at the Russian air force. The only flying example of the stretched, Aviadvigatel PS-90A76- powered version of the 11-76 trans port recently completed its flight- test programme. Trials began in 1995 with 600 flights being under taken, which included military acceptance trials. This is despite the fact that the air force has not yet decided between the II-76MF, Antonov An-70 and Tupolev Tu-330 as its future airlifter type. According to Ilyushin general designer Genrikh Novozhilov, talks on certification of the civil version have been held with Russian air worthiness body AR MAK. Agree ment has been reached on the acceptance of results from the flight tests made during military accep tance trials. "This makes it possible to achieve civil certification by the end of this year," says Novozhilov. The Il-76mMF/TF incorporates a 6.5m (21ft 3in) stretch over the baseline I1-76TD, which combines with the new generation engines to produce a 30-35% improvement in operating economics. Russian airline East Line has expressed interest in the I1-76TE Some 30-40 of the 200 Il-76T/TDs in service could be re-engined with the PS-90A76 - a programme that Volga-Dnepr and Atlant-Soyuz have expressed interest in. • Virgin Atlantic Airways is temporarily suspending its ser vices between London Heathrow and Cape Town and instead opt ing for year-round codeshares via Johannesburg with South African carrier Nationwide Airlines. The two weekly Cape Town services will cease on 26 March and 21 April respectively, resuming in November. • Mesa Air Group, operating as Frontier JetExpress under a codeshare agreement with Frontier Airlines, will begin twice-daily service from Denver to Ontario, California, and twice weekly to St Louis, Missouri, on 7 April, using Bombardier CRJ200s. • British Midland and Aer Lingus have been identified as possible partners for Belgium's SN Brussels Airlines (formerly DAT), which is to begin scheduled services from Brussels to Kinshasa, Kigali (Rwanda) and Entebbe next month using wet-leased air craft with DAT cabin crew. • Lufthansa Cargo has resumed its operations to Pakistan from Sharjah, starting with a new ser vice which routes to Karachi and Lahore and back to Sharjah. Two flights a week are flown each week by Boeing MD-11 s. • British Airways franchise carrier GB Airways has intro duced services from London Gatwick to Montpellier, France. • US low-fare carrier Spirit Airlines will restore some of the 40% capacity cuts made follow ing 11 September and begin services from Denver when it adds 12 daily frequencies on 9 May. From Denver, Spirit will operate two daily flights to Detroit and one to Fort Lauderdale. • Finnair has begun three- times weekly services between Helsinki and Hong Kong. • Israeli private airline Arkia will operate a series of charter flights to Osaka, Japan, from March as part of its policy to compete with El Al. • From 27 March Lauda Air will begin twice-weekly scheduled ser vices from Vienna to Dubai. • US low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways will launch twice-daily service between Washington Dulles and both Long Beach and Oakland, California, on 1 May, using Airbus A320s. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19-25 FEBRUARY 2002 17
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