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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 1578.PDF
ARKETPLACE • Air Atlanta Icelandic has pur chased six Boeing 747-200s - four from Cathay Pacific Aircraft Trading and two from Mido Aircraft Trading, which it had been operating on lease- purchase agreements. The air line says it was deemed better to arrange loans (totalling $16.67 million) and purchase the aircraft, rather than continue with lease payments. • Dart Group, par ent of UK cargo airline Channel Express and low-fare carrier Jet2, has acquired six ex-Ansett Australia Boeing 737-300s for delivery this year The deal was arranged by Focus Aviation. • Volare Group of Italy has leased a 10-year-old, CFM International CFM56-5A3-pow- ered Airbus A320 from Ansett Worldwide. The aircraft, for merly leased by Monarch Airlines, will be operated in sup port of subsidiaries Air Europe and Volare Airlines. AIR TRANSPORT EXPANSION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW / LONDON New Jordan service set to serve Red Sea resort Charter carrier to take advantage of open-sky area at Aqaba with A310 widebodies Middle East charter carrier Jordan Aviation is to launch services from the Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba using a fleet of Airbus A310s. The Amman-based private air line will take advantage of the greater flexibility offered to compa nies operating from Aqaba, which was designated a special economic zone three years ago. The three- year-old airline has until now oper ated ad hoc charters from Amman's second airport Marka, but this will change with the transfer to a new base at Aqaba, says Jordan Aviation founder Capt Mohammad Al Khashman. "It is an 'open sky' area - there is no monopoly for any car rier or the government-run airlines. Because of its unique location - close to [Israeli resort] Eilat and [Egypt's] Sharm el-Sheikh - there is the opportunity to do more busi ness with Aqaba." Jordan Aviation, which has a Boeing 737-300 and a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar freighter, has signed a letter of intent with Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise to pur chase an ex-Singapore Airlines Airbus A310-200 operated by Middle East Airlines. This aircraft will go into service early next month, initially on flights to Istanbul. "We are planning to take another two A310s as soon as busi ness picks up," he says. One of the A310s could be in the fleet by the end of the year. The network will initially be expanded to nearby points such as Beirut, in Lebanon, and Egyptian capital Cairo, with services to Barcelona, Milan and Paris follow ing in the coming months. Al Khashman adds that the longer- term ambition is to operate to des tinations in Canada and the USA. DEVELOPMENT L-610 interest boosts Let Czech manufacturer Letecke Zavody says it is seeing "strong" interest in its 44-seat L-610 turboprop, which could lead to the project being resurrected. An unnamed South Korean customer is ready to order a General Electric CT7-9D-pow- eredL-610G version. Kunowice-based Letecke - pre viously known as Let- says that if the programme is revived it will take 10-12 months to complete the certification programme. It is hoped that an initial sale to South Korea would open the market for the L-610 in the region. The first L-610 variant to fly, in 1988, was equipped with Czech- built Walter M602 turboprops. The Westernised L-610G ver sion flew in 1992, with GE engines and Rockwell Collins avonics, but the programme was suspended after the abortive takeover of Let by Ayres of the USA. The L-610's only order, from the Czech airforce.was never finalised. Letecke has also reported increasing interest in the smaller L-410/420. CORPORATE SHUTTLE ANDREW DOYLE / CHICAGO Lufthansa in business-only again Lufthansa launched its third busi ness class-only transatlantic service on 9 June using an Airbus A319 Long Range twinjet wet-leased from PrivatAir of Switzerland. The six-times-weekly Dusseldorf- Chicago flight expands a year-old arrangement covering services between Diisseldorf and New York Newark, and follows the recent addition of a Munich-Newark ser vice operated with a PrivatAir Boeing Business Jet. PrivatAir is the launch customer for the A319LR, which incorporates four auxiliary fuel tanks in the cargo hold rather than the six tanks fitted as standard to the A319-based Airbus Corporate Jet. The Geneva-based VIP operator is pushing the manufacturer to complete as soon as possible a ser vice bulletin to modify the fuel tank layout to release more space for hold baggage. Relocating the rearmost of the three tanks in the aft hold to the forward compartment would increase usable baggage volume from 3.5m3 (123ft3) to around Diisseldorf-Chicago flights for business people will be flown by an A319LR 10.2m3, says PrivatAir vice-chair man David Hurley. The current configuration means the CIT-owned A319LRs are some times unable to carry all of the hold baggage checked-in by a full load of 48 passengers. The addition of the Chicago route and services from Munich mark the second phase of Lufthansa's experiment with busi ness class-only services. "Commercially this is still small scale," says Lufthansa vice-presi dent alliances Carsten Spohr. "However, in my view this can never replace a hub strategy," he adds. PrivatAir last year established a German subsidiary which has recently been awarded a German air operator's certificate and 120min extended range twin engine operations approval for A319LR operations. The carrier also provides corpo rate shuttle flights for Airbus with a pair of A319s based in Hamburg. The next phase of expansion could see Lufthansa buying a stake in PrivatAir GmbH, but the two com panies say they have yet to discuss the idea formally. 24 17-23 JUNE 2003 FLIGHT IN TERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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