FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2002
2002 - 1965.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT FLEET DEVELOPMENT ALEXANDER CAMPBELL/ PRAGUE CSA relaunches search for 70-seat regional jet Airline rethinks Fairchild Dornier 728 order as chances fade for the programme's rescue CSA Czech Airlines is now resigned to seeking alternatives for the Fairchild Dornier 728 regional jet as it seems increasingly likely that the project will be terminated. The carrier was one of only two airline customers for the 70-80 seater, the other being launch cus tomer Lufthansa CityLine, which holds 60 orders. Lessor GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) also held 50 orders, but this contract has been cancelled following Fairchild Dornier's financial woes. "1 am absolutely sure that we need a regional jet," says CSA pres ident Miroslav Kula. "We have started discussions with Embraer and Bombardier." The airline holds orders for four 728s (it also had planned to lease four from GECAS), which were originally scheduled for delivery from September next year. The delivery schedule had already slipped before the manufacturer's financial problems, and Kula acknowledges that replacement air craft would not join the fleet until at least March or April 2004. Boeing 737s would fill the gap as an interim solution, Kula says. As well as the regional jets, CSA may soon add more widebody air craft. The airline operates two Airbus A310-300s on its longer routes, but "this is not a real long- haul aircraft", says Kula. It cannot reach the hubs of CSA's SkyTeam partners Delta Air Lines and Korean Air in Atlanta and Seoul respec tively, resulting in CSA starting talks regarding a potential purchase or lease of A330s or Boeing 767s to open the routes by mid-2003. If this is too costly, Kula says, the ser vices could be operated as code- shares by Delta and Korean Air. Shorter routes from Prague to Edinburgh and Glasgow are also planned for its summer 2003 schedule, but expanding London services will be more difficult. "I wanted to operate more services to London, but CSA cannot get slots at any of the airports. I do not think this is a fair and equal oppor tunity for CSA. We have been applying for more slots for four or five years now without any success," Kula complains. The Czech government indi rectly owns 88% of the airline, but a privatisation is on the way. The government has decided on an ini tial public offering (IPO), which will keep 51-52% in government hands and place 36-37% on the market. "It is natural that our SkyTeam partners would take some portion of the shares," says Kula. The fall in stock prices around the world and the current civil aviation crisis have delayed the IPO, which will now wait at least until 2003 - Kula's own preference would be for mid-2004. • KLM and Aer Europa have signed a codeshare agreement in a move that could lead to the Spanish independent carrier join ing the Dutch airline's global alliance. The two airlines are sharing codes on 11 Spanish domestic flights beyond the gate ways of Madrid and Barcelona. • CSA Czech Airlines has increased its services between Prague and Birmingham, UK, to six flights weekly, with services operating daily except Saturdays. • Continental Connection carrier CommutAir has begun four daily flights between Albany, New York, and Montreal, using a Raytheon Beech 1900. • Spanish airline Chartair Express has acquired an ATR 42 convertible freighter which it is using to launch domestic cargo services. Based in Palma de Mallorca, the aircraft will start charter operations from 30 July. • UK low-cost airline Bmibaby has named Cardiff International Airport as its sec ond base. The East Midlands Airport-based airline will initially locate at least two Boeing 737s at the airport from the start of the 2002 winter schedules. Destinations will be announced later this month. • South African Airways is reintroducing Italian flights with the launch of a three times weekly non-stop flight from Johannesburg to Milan Malpensa, using a Boeing 747SPB Thai Airways International has introduced codeshare agreements with local carriers Air Andaman and PB Air on 13 domestic routes. • SN Brussels Airlines and Continental Airlines have signed an agreement to sell tickets on each other's networks. • Varig has begun daily ser vices between Miami and Salvador in North-east Brazil and increased to daily the frequency of its recently restarted New York-Rio de Janiero service. • Air Srspska has started twice weekly flights between Tivat, Montenegro, and Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina. • Delta Air Lines and SkyTeam alliance partner Korean Air have received US antitrust immunity to co-operate on their networks. The carriers already codeshare. CSA is flying the idea of adding a new widebody type alongside its A310s SCREENING ARIE EGOZI / TEL AVIV Israel drops Tel Aviv secui Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport has begun replacing the "profile" security passenger-screen ing method with a fully automatic electronic scanning system. Since 1 July the system has been used to screen all El Al passengers. The profile system, based on questioning passengers, has caused many problems as it is time con suming, and resulted in long queues, especially in high season. It has also angered passengers who could be asked personal questions. Under the new system, passen gers enter a "sterile" area in the check-in hall, and after they put their luggage on the conveyor belts of the advanced X-ray machines, they go to passport control. All baggage and belongings are scanned by an electronic system that recognises all the articles in them, including explosive devices. security profiling The system uses off-the-shelf machines, but the software has been adapted to meet the require ments of the Israeli security service. So far $20 million has been invested in the new security system and it will be fully implemented in Ben Gurion's new terminal, sched uled to open in 2004. Another $80 million will be invested to extend the system to other airlines' passengers. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9-15 JULY 2002 11
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
