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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2821.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT ACQUISITIONS ANDREW DOYLE / SINGAPORE Chinese boost for Airbus Two airlines put finishing touches to agreements to expand A320 family fleets Two Chinese carriers, Air China and China Southern Airlines, are finalising deals to expand their Airbus A320 family fleets. Air China is discussing a larger order than previously planned for A319s, and could increase its commitment to around 14 aircraft, including options. China Southern is about to conclude a deal with Inter national Lease Finance (ILFC) for DELIVERY four A319s to add to its 20 A320s. Industry sources say Air China plans to place a firm order for eight A319s - two more than expected - and take options on up to six more. Although a final contract is yet to be signed, first delivery is due in the second half of 2003. A larger A319 puchase would come as a boost for Airbus, which wants to increase its penetration of China Eastern expands fleet with 737-700 acquisition China Eastern Airlines has taken delivery of the first of four Boeing 737-700s that it is purchasing directly from Boeing. The aircraft joins a single -700 delivered in June on lease from Boullioun Aviation Services. The Shanghai-based carrier will take nine more 737s in total through to next June, with the six additional aircraft expected to be on operating lease. China Eastern also operates six older 737-300S. Air China's Boeing-dominated fleet. So far the Chinese flag carrier has taken delivery of just three Airbus aircraft - all A340-300s that were placed with Cathay Pacific under a two-year lease deal in 1999 and have since been returned. China Southwest Airlines, which Air China is taking over as part of the ongoing consolidation of the country's airline sector, also has three A340-300s. Another carrier being merged into the new Air China group is Zhejiang Airlines, which has three A319s and five A320s. Air China is taking A319s after deciding to drop its commitment for eight smaller A318s when Pratt & Whitney ran in to problems developing the latter's PW6000 powerplant Flight International, 13- 19 August). The A319s are expected to be powered by International Aero Engines V2500s because P&W is a partner in the engine consor tium and had earlier agreed to buy Air China's four Boeing 747SPs in return for the A318 commitment. China Southern's A320s are V2500-powered and it wants to take its A319s with the same engine, say the sources. The first aircraft could be handed over as early as the end of this year. The Guangzhou-based carrier already operates three Boeing 777-200ERs on lease from ILFC. CERTIFICATION An-74 wins Russian type approval Antonov's new An-74 derivative, the TK-300, has received Russian airworthiness certifi cation. Approval to AP-25 standards was given on 9 September, and the certificate will be presented to Antonov and the Kharkov factory, which builds the aircraft, by the end of the month. The new 52-seat twinjet is equipped with engines installed conventionally on pylons mounted under the wings, rather than the blown-wing configura tion of earlier An-72s/74s. Kharkov says it has an initial order for two An-74TK-300s from undisclosed CIS airlines, as well as a memorandum of understanding from Aeroflot for 25 aircraft. The Aeroflot deal stipulates that the aircraft must be delivered within an agreed time frame, and Kharkov says that this should not be a problem as it has already made substantial progress on the construction of at least 10 aircraft. • Antonov has begun construction of the fuselage of the first 70-seat An-148 regional jet, while assembly of the first wing set is under way at the Kharkov factory. First flight is tar geted for late 2003, and certification a year later. REGULATIONS DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON & GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES US pilot retirement campaign reaches milestone Airline pilots in the USA appear closer than ever to overturning a 43-year-old rule forcing them to retire at the age of 60, according to the Professional Pilots Federation (PPF), a body formed to challenge the legislation. Meanwhile, the US Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA) has welcomed an assurance from the US Federal Aviation Admini stration that it is clamping down on breaches of crew duty-time rules. The PPF attack, which is based on constitutional and legal grounds, claims the original 1959 FAA ruling was created under false pretences. PPF member Dan Hill says docu ments reveal the ruling was created by the first FAA administrator, Elwood Quesada, to help then- American Airlines chairman C R Smith solve a pilots dispute. Documents and memos uncov ered by the PPF show that "Quesada defrauded the US gov ernment. There never was any thing to substantiate that there were any safety issues relative to the age-60 rule," Hill says. The International Civil Aviation Organisation's standard for pilot retirement age is also 60 years. The PPF's initial attempt to revoke the ruling was blocked in the US Congress as part of the post- 11 September legislative fall-out. The motion is now attached to the Homeland Security Bill currently passing through the US Senate. Simultaneously, petitions to the FAA by 10 pilots asking to be exempted from forced retirement must be approved or denied by mid-October. Should they be denied, as the PPF expects, a law suit will be filed which it says will expose the alleged fraud. Meanwhile, US pilots have accepted an assurance by the FAA that crew duty-time regulations are now being applied by the book. The FAA says it is also redrafting rules to "clarify" them, and expects to have a new notice of proposed rulemaking on the problem of crew duty-time by "the end of the year". ALPA has put out a circular telling its members to notify it of any airline breaches of the maxi mum 16h duty period. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24-30 SEPTEMBER 2002 9
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