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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0232.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT FLEET DEVELOPMENT NICHOLAS IONIDES / SINGAPORE Air Tahiti studies A34O500 buy Long-range derivative being considered for direct Papeete-Paris services, which would push it to the limit of its range French Polynesian flag carrier Air Tahiti Nui has emerged as a poten tial customer for the ultra-long- range Airbus A340-500, which it is considering for proposed non-stop services between Paris and its Papeete base. The fast-growing national car rier, which only started operating late in 1998, has "asked Airbus to study an A340-S00 long-range capability" for Papeete-Paris ser vices. It currently operates to Paris via Los Angeles using A340-300s. Vice-president commercial Nicholas Panza says Airbus is "telling us it may be feasible," although it is yet to be determined if range issues will prevent services from being launched. Airbus adver tises a range of up to 16,000km (8,650nm) for the A340-500 and a direct Papeete-Paris flight would be just short of this. Meanwhile, Air Tahiti Nui is putting into service two more Airbus A340-300s that were ordered from Airbus late last year. The first arrived in Papeete on 29 January and the second was due to have been accepted by chairman and chief executive Nelson Levy at a cer emony in Toulouse on 31 January. The aircraft were originally ordered by the former GATX-Flight- lease venture, but commitments were later cancelled, after which Air Tahiti Nui purchased them. Air Tahiti Nui has grown rapidly since its launch in 1998 with a sin gle A340-200 flying between Papeete and Los Angeles. Early last year it added one A340-300 on lease from International Lease Finance and purchased another direct from Airbus. The A340-200 was leased from Airbus and is being returned this year, leaving the carrier with four larger -300s. Panza says the air line's summer sched ule will see it operat ing the four aircraft on five Papeete-Los Angeles-Paris services a week, plus eight weekly Papeete-Los Angeles services. It will also operate three weekly flights to Osaka and Tokyo in Japan, as well as two a week to Auckland in New Zealand, rising to three in November. • Interlease Avia, a subsidiary of St Petersburg's International Bank, is acquiring three of the seven whitetail Tupolev Tu-154Ms stored at the Aviakor factory in Samara for lease to an unnamed Russian airline. • Nigerian carrier Sosoliso Airlines has acquired a McDon nell Douglas DC-9-30 from JAT on a three-year lease-purchase. • Dutch carrier Martinair will take delivery of two new International Aero Engines V2500-powered Airbus A320s in March on lease from Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise. • Malaysia Airlines will receive three ex-Delsey Airlines Airbus A330-200s on three-year leases in February from International Lease Finance. • Air New Zealand has added an Air Malta Boeing 737-300 on short-term wet lease to cover for a shortfall after an engine failure grounded one of its 767-200s until April. • Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air will take two Boeing MD-83s in March and April on lease from SAS.B US start-up Viva Airlines has signed a letter of intent for three 727-200s, which will be converted to the Super 27 configuration in 2004. PROGNOSTICS Delta TechOps steps up health management Delta Air Lines is to broaden its use of prognostic health manage ment technology beyond real time engine condition monitoring to other critical systems including auxiliary power units (APU) and flight controls. Delta's Technical Operations (TechOps) division also plans to make the technology available to third-party maintenance customers. The airline has awarded Smart Signal a five-year contract to pro vide condition monitoring on its fleet of 550 mainline aircraft, except its remaining Boeing 727s, which are due to be retired by April, and 737-200S. Data transmitted via the air craft's airborne communications and reporting system to the ground includes exhaust gas temperature, turbine RPM, pressure ratio, fuel flow, vibration and oil pressure. "We also want to take this to the APU, flight controls, environ mental control systems and pneu matics in the aircraft. All of these systems have data pick-ups. Not only will this give us real-time data and knowledge about our compo nents, we can use it to relieve our maintenance programmes," says Walter Taylor, TechOps managing director of process and technology engineering. The airline overhauls 700 engines each year, of which 15% are for third-party customers, and it estimates 60% of its maintenance is unscheduled. The other real saving for the car rier is in spares inventory manage ment. "The savings are significant in this area alone, excluding the cost of labour and having aircraft on the ground. The system pays for itself in six months," adds Taylor. TechOps also wants to make condition monitoring available to third-party carriers subcontracting maintenance to Delta. Smart monitoring covers the Rolls-Royce Trent 800s powering its Boeing 777-200ERs, Pratt & Whitney PW4000s on its MD-lls and 767-200/300s, PW2000s on the 757 fleet, the MD-80s' JT8D-219s, MD-90s' International Aero Engines V2500s, 767-400ERs' General Electric CF6s and the 737-300/800s' CFM56-3/7 engines. ORDERS Air India's fleet renewal plans creep forward Air India is moving ahead with its long-delayed fleet modernisation by confirming its intention to order 18 narrowbody aircraft and up to 17 widebodies. The state-owned carrier's board has decided to for mally shortlist the Airbus A321 and Boeing 737-900, and accept a technical committee's recom mendation to acquire 18 aircraft. The board also decided that firm orders would be placed for 10 widebodies - either A340- 300s or 777-200ERS-with options for seven more. The air craft are expected to be used for services to the USA and Europe. Air India has been considering the purchase for years but repeatedly deferred decisions. Its board has now moved further ahead than at any other time in the past decade, giving manufac turers hope that decisions will finally be taken. Early last year, India's second state-owned car rier, Indian Airlines, said its board had selected the A320 over the 737 for its fleet modernisation. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4-10 FEBRUARY 2003 17
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