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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2705.PDF
ROUTES • Privately owned charter oper ator Jordan Aviation has launched a weekly service between Beirut and Freetown, Sierra Leone. Jordan Aviation is seeking permission to allow the service to originate in Amman. • Delta Air Lines has expanded its codeshare with South African Airways (SAA) to include Delta Express flights between New York JFK airport and West Palm Beach, Florida, and SAA flights between Johannesburg and Kampala, Uganda. • Low-cost Slovak air line SkyEurope will launch twice weekly services between Prague and Poprad, in Slovakia's Tatra mountains this month. • British Airways fran chise carrier GB Airways will launch services between London Gatwick and Spanish destinations Girona and Mahon, Menorca next March. • Dubai- based Emirates has signed a codesharing agreement with Japan Airlines covering Emirates' non-stop services between Dubai and Osaka Kansai, scheduled to start next month. The two companies will also codeshare on transfer flights from Osaka to Tokyo, Sapporo and Fukuoka. • Ecuador's national aviation board has granted LanChile- owned LanEcuador rights to operate from Quito and/or Guayaquil to Buenos Aires, Madrid, Miami, New York and Santiago. LanChile is working on certifying LanEcuador to begin operations "as soon as possi ble".* Air Jamaica has commenced twice weekly non stop services between Manchester and Montego Bay and weekly non-stop services between Manchester and Kingston. • New Canadian low-cost airline Jetsgo has dou bled its service frequency between Montreal and Toronto to 12 flights a day. • United Express carrier Air Wisconsin will fly twice daily between Denver and Winnipeg from 8 October, using a Bombardier CRJ200. On 31 October, United Express carrier Atlantic Coast Airlines will begin four daily flights between Washington Dulles and Toronto, also using a CRJ200. AIR TRANSPORT EXPANSION PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC Copa may speed 737 order ready for Category 1 return Airline will expand services to the USA, and hopes to benefit from Continental link Copa Airlines may seek to acceler ate delivery of up to 12 additional Boeing 737-700/800s if, as the car rier expects, Panama is reinstated as a Category 1 country under the US Federal Aviation Administration's International Aviation Safety Asses sment (IASA) programme. Cate gory 1 status would allow Copa to expand services to the USA. The airline recently confirmed a follow-on order for four more 737-700S and the carrier's first 155- seat stretch -800s, with deliveries starting in October next year at the rate of two aircraft a year. Copa has also taken options on six more air craft for delivery in 2006, but has the flexibility to advance these. "These options are exercisable 18 months before delivery and we could definitely accelerate this, not just with Category 1 but with market growth. Nothing has hap pened yet officially but Panama keeps working towards Category 1 and hopefully way before the first new aircraft arrive we'll be Category 1," says Pedro Heilbron, Copa president. Panama was downgraded to Category 2 in May last year after an IASA audit found shortcomings in the country's regulatory aviation oversight, forcing Copa to suspend its codeshare with Continental Airlines and freeze services to the USA. As a result new 737-700s or larger -800s cannot be added or substituted for those on the origi nal operational specification. Heilbron adds: "Expanding to the US market is a small part of our plans. We are looking at rights and route opportunities throughout Latin America." The airline is plan ning for a 10-12% growth in capac ity, maintaining current load fac tors around 65% and in, particular, hopes to increase frequencies to Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. The new aircraft will supplement 12 737-700s ordered in 1999, 10 of which are now in service, and replace Copa's final eight -200s. All of the new 737-700/800s, along with the last four aircraft from the previous order, are being delivered equipped with blended winglets from Aviation Partners Boeing. The airline plans to retrofit the winglets to four of its existing aircraft by next year, delivering a better than expected 4% improvement in specific fuel consumption. In the long term, Copa expects to benefit from the tie-up between Continental, which owns 49% of the Panamanian carrier, and Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines and their respective SkyTeam and Wings alliances. "We see this as a great opportunity for us expanding ties with other airlines, especially Air France, Delta, KLM and Northwest," says Heilbron. Copa plans to retrofit winglets to improve fuel consumption CERTIFICATION An-74TK-300 completes flight tests Antonov has completed flight tests of the An-74TK-300 and is aiming for type certification next month to Russian AP-25 airworthiness requirements, which harmonise with US FAR Part 25 standards. The only flying aircraft, built to production standards, has logged 219 flights since April last year. The An-74TK300 differs from the basic An-72/74 in having the engines installed underwing rather than above. This reduces fuel consump tion by 19% and boosts cruise speed by 27kt (50km/h), but it requires a 200m increase in runway length. Chairman of the interstate avia tion committee air register Anatoly Kruglov says the An-74TK-300 is fully compliant with the AP-25, although the original An-74 was developed and certificated in 1991 to Soviet NLGS-3 standards. The 14,3001b-thrust (64kN) ZMKB Progress D-36 Series 4A-pow- ered aircraft meets International Civil Aviation Organisation Chap ter 4 noise requirements that will come into force in 2006. In June, Aeroflot signed a letter of intent for 30 52-seat An-74TK-300s, to be financed by Russia's Ilyushin- Finance and leased from Ukraine's UkrTransLizing. A stretched version carrying 68 passengers over 2,500km (l,350nm) is also being studied. The KhGAAP factory in Kharkov is assembling an An-74TK-300 freighter with a 2.8m plug in the fuselage for an unnamed Ukrainian cargo carrier. Antonov says aircraft have also been ordered by Chinese and Russian freight operators. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 10-16 SEPTEMBER 2002 17
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