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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0555.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT STRATEGY NICHOLAS IONIDES / HANOI Vietnam in short-haul shake-up Airline to transfer aircraft to new subsidiary as it focuses on longer-distance routes, including non-stop to Paris Vietnam Airlines is to spin off some domestic and short-haul interna tional services from its mainline operation in 2005 through the launch of Vietnam Airlines Express. The fast-growing carrier is, mean while, planning to lease additional Airbus A321s this year. Director of marketing planning Luong Hoai Nam says the new entity will be formed through the overhaul of wholly owned air char- REGIONALS Seair steps up to larger turboprops Philippine regional carrier South East Asian Airlines (Seair) is looking to upgrade to larger turboprop aircraft. "In the Philippines there are a lot of cities not properly ser viced and competitors are using larger Boeing aircraft," says Seair director Nick Gitsis. "We want to jump into the 50- to 70-seat market." Gitsis visited the USA recently to inspect aircraft for sale, specifically ATR 42/72s and Bombardier Dash 8s. The aircraft would serve medium- sized cities in the Philippines. Meanwhile, three additional Let L-410s are being intro duced to boost frequencies. ter subsidiary Vietnam Air Services. The all-economy arm "will fly mostly short-haul domestic flights and to neighbouring countries to feed Vietnam Airlines' network," says Nam. Vietnam Airlines will transfer seven ATR 72s to the subsidiary, possibly along with its two Fokker 70s. Plans call for the fleet to remain at that size for around five years, after which it will be expanded. A study by Netherlands National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) reveals that, while most air traffic manage ment-related (ATM) accidents occur during taxiing, most fatal ATM accidents occur in flight. There have been 213 ATM-related acci dents in 1981-2001 - most in North America and Western Europe, of which 29 were fatal. Presenting its findings at the Flight Safety Foundation's Euro pean aviation safety seminar in Geneva, Switzerland, the NLR said flightcrew error was the primary causal factor in 53% of the acci dents, and ATC in 28%. The remaining distribution of causes included 13% environmental fac tors and 6% aircraft systems. Vietnam Airlines has expanded rapidly in recent years and has been considering hiving off some operations to focus on medium- and long-haul services. Last year it carried just over 4 million passen gers, a rise of around 18% on 2001. The airline has said it plans to open new routes to Cambodia, China, India and Indonesia this year while expanding its fleet with additional Airbus A321s and its first Among the 29 fatal ATM acci dents, 14 were caused by collisions between two airborne aircraft or manoeuvring to avoid it, eight were caused by collisions with moving aircraft on the ground, and four by landing-aid faults. Collision with a vehicle, collision with a stationary aircraft on the ground, and collision between an airborne aircraft and another on the ground each caused one fatal acci dent. The most common cause of non-fatal accidents was collision of an aircraft with a vehicle on the ground. By region Australia/Pacific and Central/South America scored the lowest accident rates and Africa the highest by a significant margin. Boeing 777s. It also plans to begin non-stop services to Paris this sum mer, bypassing Dubai - its current transit point for European services. Vietnam Airlines last year placed firm orders with Airbus for five A321s, after ordering six 777-200ERs through lease and purchase arrange ments in 2001. It is also looking to lease at least one more A321 to join three leased examples, the third of which was only added last month. IMPROVEMENT MAT expands as recovery plan rolls on MAT Macedonian Airlines is eye ing fleet expansion this year, as it continues to implement its recovery plan. According to MAT managing director Dusko Gruevski, the Macedonian conflict in 2001 forced MAT to "pull a lot of money from shareholders", and it has since been implementing a "cautious" recovery plan. By cutting costs it achieved an operating profit of $2 million last year, although it recorded a net loss overall. After a troubled 2001, the air line's traffic rose by 40% last year to around 177,000 passen gers. Gruevski says the airline will lease a third Boeing 737 for this summer, and possibly a Fokker 100 later. Gruevski says MAT'S long-term goal is to take 50% of Macedonia's annual traf fic, which he estimates could be 700,000 passengers. Meanwhile, Gruevski says he is not prepared to discuss an issue of the airline's flag carrier status, which was raised last December by the head of the Macedonian civil aviation authority over its level of foreign ownership, until he has seen an official proposal from the author ity. "Above all, it is the state, not MAT that is not fulfilling its part of the agreement," he adds. IN BRIE AIRCAL New Caledo International finalised a de one A320 to Boeing 737-: Although the confirm its A sources say reached and is expected t Aircalin took Airbus A330 N A320 BUY lia's Air Caledonie (Aircalin) has al with Airbus for replace its leased 500 in early 2004. carrier declines to 320 plans, industry a deal has been an announcement lis week. Last year delivery of two new 200s. ISTRIBUTION OF AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT ACCIDENTS (81-2001 BY FLIGHT PHASE 0.5% I Taxi 1 Approach J En route | Landing Source: NLR/Flight Safety Foundation J Take-off I Missed approach/ go-around FLIGHT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL DAVID LEARMOUNT/GENEVA Report breaks down ATM-related accidents 12 25-31 MARCH 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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