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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 0676.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT EVALUATION SAA looks at A380 for UK flights South African airline again considers ultra-large aircraft to replace Boeing 747s on its dense services to London South African Airways (SAA) is looking to place an order for about six Airbus A380s within the next year to replace Boeing 747-400S on services to London. Industry sources say a new round of A380 presentations were made to SAA last month and an order is expected by early next year. If the A380 replaces SAA's 747s, it would be the last piece of an all- Airbus fleet that includes A330/A340s and will have A320s from August. Sources say Airbus had been confident that SAA would need the ultra-large aircraft to enable it to compete with Virgin Atlantic Airways' A380s on the dense, low-yield London-Cape Town and London-Johannesburg markets. However the urgency has been reduced as the UK airline has just deferred its A380 order. SAA confirms it is "evaluating the potential applications of the A380 on the route network of the airline". SAA considered ordering A380s as part of its 2002 $3.5 billion mega-order for 25 A319/A320s, nine A340-600s and five A340-300s. But the carrier decided buying three aircraft types at the same time would cost too much, and in 2003 delayed by another year any A380 consideration because of the SARS virus and the Iraq war. The A340s are being used on routes to continental Europe, Asia, Australia and the USA. The A340s are expected to remain the long- term solution for routes to Asia, Australia and the USA, and to Paris and Zurich in Europe. SAA is also expected to swap the mix of 747s it now uses for Sao Paulo for A340s. The A380 is believed to be a can didate to replace between five and seven of SAA's eight 747-400s, which are used mainly to support the carrier's triple daily services into London Heathrow, where slot constraints prevent SAA from expanding. The A380 could also replace the A340s now used on SAA's daily Frankfurt service, depending on future demand. Meanwhile, SAA is looking to boost its three-times-a-week flights to Paris after its application to join the Star Alliance is decided in June. This will probably lead to termina tion of its Air France codeshare. PRODUCTION ANDREW DOYLE/TOULOUSE Airbus prepares for final assembly Airbus is preparing to begin final assembly of the first A380 flight-test aircraft following the 7 May inauguration by French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin of its €360 million ($425 million) Jean-Luc Lagardere production complex in Toulouse. The 490m (1,600ft)-long, 250m-wide and 46m-high A380 assembly building is the largest on the site, sitting alongside the static-test facility and a hangar Unlike in previous Airbus programmes, the A380's major subassemblies - comprising front, centre and rear fuselage, wings, empennage and landing gear - are joined at a single station, with the aircraft then moving on its own wheels into one of three other stations for power- plant and auxiliary power unit (APU), fixed leading-edge and landing-gear door installation, equipment integration, "power-on" and ground tests. The complex, adjacent to Toulouse Blagnac airport, also has 10 exterior parking positions for further systems tests including cabin pressurisation, fuel and weather radar, followed by APU and engine runs. The first flight- test aircraft is due to reach the power-on milestone by mid-2004 and fly in early 2005. Charles Champion, executive vice-president A380 pro gramme, declines to provide details of the production ramp up, other than saying that by first delivery for Singapore Airlines, scheduled for March 2006, "20 air craft will have already gone through the assembly jig". Airbus executive vice-president programmes Gerard Blanc says the manufacturer aims to deliver 15 aircraft in 2006 and "30-plus" the following year. The production rate is due to stabilise at four aircraft a month by 2008, when the freighter version enters service with FedEx Express. Major sub-assemblies are joined at a single station AIRPORTS DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW / NAIROBI Kenya confident that Nairobi upgrade will lead to FAA Category 1 Kenya's airports authority is confi dent that an overhaul of its pri mary hub, Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International airport, will enable the country to be declared International Civil Aviation Organisation-compliant by the US Federal Aviation Administration. The country is seeking Category 1 approval from the FAA under the US agency's International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) scheme. Such approval, which indicates compliance with ICAO on safety oversight, would enable Kenyan op erators to increase US services. Kenya Airports Authority manag ing director George Muhoho says that part of the problem is Nairobi's inability to separate adequately arriving and departing passengers - a difficulty which has arisen through lack of capacity at the air port as the 3.2 million passengers it handles annually is nearly 30% more than its design capacity. But a two-year overhaul pro gramme intends to solve the prob lem and includes the resurrection of the old Embakasi airport infra structure located on the opposite side of the runway. When com pleted, annual capacity will be boosted to 6 million passengers. Muhoho says that the work should be enough to satisfy the FAA's IASA requirements and he expects that it will enable Kenya to achieve Category 1 status "in 18 months from now". www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 18-24 MAY 2004 9
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