FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0562.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT RESTRUCTURING KLM ponders Buzz merger KLM uk could be split from its London Stansted-based low- fare subsidiary Buzz and merged into KLM's wholly- owned regional subsidiary KLM Cityhopper as part of a major revamp the major is considering for European operations. The move would also involve the Dutch carrier's Amsterdam- based charter airline Transavia being folded into the UK-based no-frills carrier and taking the Buzz brand. The Dutch flag carrier says these changes are "on the table" as part of a wide-ranging review of its European network and businesses. Such a re-organisa tion would offer savings from fleet commonality because KLM uk and KLM Cityhopper operate Fokker aircraft, while Buzz and Transavia fly Boeing 737s. Transavia also operates a low- fare brand - Basiq Air - on some of its European network. KLM had hoped to merge Transavia, in which it holds an 80% stake, with Martinair, in which it has a 50% sharehold ing, to maximise synergies in the leisure market and at their Amsterdam base. However, the European Commission has refused to allow KLM to buy Royal Nedlloyd's 50% stake in Martinair, citing competition concerns. Martinair plunged into the red in the year to 31 December 2000, although an operating profit in the quarter ending 30 September last year suggests a tough cost-cutting plan is pro ducing results. Transavia saw net profits almost halve to $11 million in the year ending 31 March 2001. Buzz, by contrast, is heading for break-even by year-end - as planned, says KLM. And Amsterdam-based KLM Cityhopper has been "very suc cessful" in plugging the gap left by German regional Eurowings, which last year ended feeder services from Germany and Austria to Amsterdam for KLM, after a tightening of ties with German flag carrier Lufthansa. SECURITY DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON ICAO unveils security plan A new strategy will be adopted by 14 June, with implementation starting immediately The International Civil Aviation Organisation has unveiled its avia tion security action plan (ASAP), aimed at filling holes in global avia tion security. ASAP will combine global security audits with further revisions of the recently updated security standards. At the heart of the ASAP is a sys tem of "regular, mandatory, sys tematic and harmonised [security] audits to enable evaluation of avia tion security in place in all 187 ICAO member states". In order to allow each nation to monitor its own standards, ICAO plans to define a system of "avia tion security quality control func tions and performance indicators". The plan as a whole is slated for adoption by 14 June with "imple mentation commencing immedi ately". ICAO has called for volun tary contributions for $15 million of the $17 million programme costs. The USA has pledged $1 million and Canada $220,000. The initial phase of the programme will cover 2002-04, says ICAO. It says that the audits "will rec oncile confidentiality and trans parency". If the system mirrors ICAO's aviation safety audit sys tem, results will remain confiden tial unless follow-up checks, six months after the original report has been submitted, reveal that no action is being taken to remedy inadequacies. In such a case the report is made public. ICAO cannot force rectification on transgressors, so it has to rely on the errant state's awareness that other nations may choose to ban or restrict flights from countries or airports that do not comply with ICAO standards. An essential part of ASAP, ICAO reveals, is an agreed programme to follow up audits with assistance to rectify deficiencies. The organisa tion has called on members with security experience to help train those that do not. PRODUCTION PAUL DUFFY & VLADAMIR KARNOZOV / MOSCOW Russians find backers to revitalise Tu-204 manufacturing at Aviastar Investors have been found for the troubled Russian Aviastar plant in Ulyanovsk - which builds the Tupolev Tu-204 - with the aim of ensuring a consistent annual out put of four-five aircraft. Tupolev chairman and general designer Igor Shevchuk says two investors - understood to be Egypt's Kato Aromatic (the parent of Tu-204 lessor Sirocco Aerospace) and Russia's Leader group - are pre pared to fund 30-50 new airframes in 2003-05. "We also have to find ways to resume production of the [Aviadvigatel] PS-90A engine, as the stock of parts at [engine manu facturer] Perm Motors is depleted," Shevchuk says. Aviastar plans to build five or six Tu-204s this year, including two Rolls-Royce RB211 -powered -120C freighters for Sirocco. The remain der will be PS-90A-powered -100s for Russian-based airlines. Aviastar also holds orders for five Tu-204- l20Cs equipped with English- language cockpits, Honeywell aux iliary power units and radio equip ment, for two Chinese airlines. The final agreement for these air craft will be signed in early March, says Shevchuk, and the first will be delivered within 18 months. The TNT is to take delivery of its first Tupolev 204-120C, leased from Air Cairo first English language cockpit- equipped Tu-204 will be used in the Joint Aviation Authorities certification programme prior to delivery to China. Freight operator TNT is expected to receive its first Tu-204-120C, leased from Kato-owned Egyptian airline Air Cairo, while the first of the airline's two dedicated aircraft is expected to be completed within weeks. The second is on schedule for delivery in May. Meanwhile, Rosaviakosmos, the Russian air and space agency, has committed to fund the completion and certification of the first Tu-204- 300 shrink-derivative - the first flight is planned for this year. KMV, a Stavropol-based carrier, is inter ested in acquiring the smaller, longer range version of the Tu-204. The Kazan-based KAPO factory, meanwhile, is to deliver an unspec ified number of the longer-range Tu-214 model to Moscow-based carrier GTK Rossiya, and one to Khabarovsk-based airline DalAvia. A deal to supply two Tu-214s to Ekaterinburg-based Ural Airlines is close to completion, says the airline general director Sergei Skuratov. 10 26 FEBRUARY - 4 MARCH 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
