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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 0132.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT STRATEGY KURT HOFMANN / SALZBURG Austrian opts for Fokker 100 deal Airline bows out of joint regional jet purchase with Star Alliance partners and settles for ex-American Airlines aircraft The availability of cheap second hand 100-seat aircraft has dis suaded Austrian Airlines from immediately linking with its Star Alliance partners and ordering new regional jets built to a joint specifi cation. The airline has instead decided to acquire up to 15 ex- American Airlines Fokker 100s for its medium-term requirements. Austrian has concluded a deal for nine ex-American aircraft, and has options for a further six, with deliv eries due to begin in May. The air craft will join the existing fleet of 10 Fokker 70s flown by Austrian and its regional arm Austrian Arrows. A decision on the six options could be made by the end of the year. "The Fokker 100 acquisition was a cheap deal and the aircraft are available for our immediate needs," says Austrian chief executive Vagn Soerensen. The airline declines to comment on the purchase price, but Austrian sources say it paid around $2.5 million for each aircraft. The Fokkers will replace Aust rian's seven remaining Boeing MD- 80s, helping it to streamline its fleet, and will be the "expansion- weapon" for its network to central and eastern Europe, says Soerensen. "We aim to increase our passenger traffic to the east by 50% through to 2008, opening two to four new destinations every year," he adds. Soerensen expects the Fokker 100s will be operated for around four to five years, and says Austrian remains involved in the Star work ing group for regional jets and will take a decision on the acquisition of newer aircraft during this period. "That could be Bombardier, Embraer or Airbus," he says. In December, Air Canada became the first Star carrier to commit to a regional jet order, choosing 45 Bombardier CRJ700-705s and 45 Embraer 190s. Lufthansa is expected to be the next to decide. Having "learned a lot" from the joint study, Soerensen says Star has decided to co-ordinate a 7E7 evaluation. MARKETPLACE • Hong Kong's Dragonair has finalised a deal with International Lease Finance for six more Rolls-Royce Trent 772- powered Airbus A330-300s. Three aircraft will be delivered in 2005 and three more in 2006, all on seven-year leases. • Air Europa has ordered two new Boeing 737-800s for delivery in May and July 2005, taking its fleet to 34 aircraft. • Indian Airlines has completed talks with undis closed lessors to add four more Airbus A320s before the end of June on three- to five-year leases. • UK-based AirRep will operate one of its Tupolev Tu-204 freighters for Lithuanian carrier Aviapaslauga. The agreement, says AirRep, will give the Baltic states and Scandinavian markets easier access to Tu-204 opera tions. • ATR remarketing specialist Magellan Air has sold three ex-American Eagle ATR 42-300s - one each to Swiftair of Spain; western Canada's Wind Aviation and Air Vanuatu. It has also placed an ex-Danish Air Transport aircraft with Nordic Aviation Contractor. • Slovak Airlines has sold its Tupolev Tu- 154M fleet to Russia's Pulkovo Airlines, after deciding to replace the Soviet-era trijets with Boeing 737s. • Emerald Airways has acquired three ex-Air Wisconsin BAe ATPs and two ex-Biman Bangladesh ATPs. LAUNCH BelgiumExel takes off with ex-SAS aircraft New Brussels-based carrier BelgiumExel began charter operations last month with a single 272-seat Boeing 767-300ER leased from Scandinavian Airlines (SAS). The airline, which is operating long-haul routes for tour operator Thomas Cook Belgium, has been set up by the Dutch Exel Aviation Group. It was formed to fill the void left by the demise of Sobelair and has taken over the latter's long-term contract with Thomas Cook Belgium and will fly holidaymak- ers to Cuba, Kenya, Mexico and Zanzibar. The aircraft is one of three ex-SAS 767s placed with Exel on three-year leases by Aircraft Leasing & Management. STUDY JUSTIN WASTNAGE / IRKUTSK Irkut to begin narrowbody design Russian manufacturer Irkut plans to start preliminary design work on a narrowbody jet airliner after win ning a tender from the Russian government late last year. Irkut led the winning consor tium, which includes the Yakovlev design bureau and Ilyushin plant, with its planned 100- to 130-passen- ger SMHA-21 short/medium-haul aircraft. An initial three-year design phase will be funded by $100 mil lion of Russian transport ministry funds and $100 million of public funds will be available to fund fur ther development and prototyping if the project is commercially viable. Irkut president Alexei Federov says the project is at an early stage, and that the three companies will have completed workshare talks by mid-year and detailed development will start by year-end. Federov says eventual production will depend on identifying a market for the aircraft. Initial estimates of the potential for narrowbody jet sales in Russia are around 130 over 20 years, says Fed erov, who adds that export orders in countries such as China and India could bolster this. "The question is whether the market is big enough for a rival aircraft to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family," he says. Federov says that the most likely outcome at this stage is that the research will feed into a new air craft design from either Airbus or Boeing, in which Irkut would be involved as a risk-sharing and development partner. Irkut is also developing the MTA multipurpose transport aircraft with Indian manufacturer Hindus tan Aeronautics. 10 23-29 MARCH 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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