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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1559.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT LAUNCH Third carrier challenges in South Korea A new domestic passenger air line will be launching in South Korea early next year in competi tion with established players Asiana Airlines and Korean Air, writes Leithen Francis. Chung Cheong Airlines' forth coming launch is significant because it will be South Korea's first low-cost carrier and the country's first operator of ATR 72s, says the airline's chief of flight operations Jason Cho. Cho says the airline has signed five-and-a-half-year oper ating leases with the manufacturer for two ATR 72- 200s, with the first to be delivered by the end of October and the second arriving three months after that. ATR will provide main tenance support and four pilot instructors and examiners, who will train Chung Cheong Airlines' first four South Korean pilots. "We will be starting on the air operator's certificate [AOC] application in September...[and aim] to launch in January or February," says Cho. Its first services will be from its Cheong Ju hub to Jeju island, south of the Korean peninsular, and to Seoul's Gimpo airport. Towards the end of 2005 the air line hopes to launch services to Japanese cities. Cho declines to disclose the identity of the airline's owner, but says the carrier has the support of the Cheong Ju government, which has provided support and acted as a go-between for the air line and South Korea's ministry of construction and transport. DUTY TIME EMMA KELLY / PERTH Australia seeks scientific f lightcrew management CASA aims to improve regulation of crew rosterinq with introduction of data-based system Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is seeking indus try feedback on proposals to replace the current system for regulating flightcrew duty times with a more scientifically based method of man aging pilot fatigue. The move comes as the University of South Australia is half-way through a study of pilot fatigue, which has already discov ered that existing assumptions about fatigue causes are flawed. The new CASA system will be designed to enable a risk manage ment-based programme for flight- crew rostering. The agency says it hopes to manage fatigue risk across the whole industry "in a more flexi ble manner, appropriate to the level of fatigue risk exposure and nature of the operation" by using a data- based fatigue risk management sys tem (FRMS). Current flight time and duty period limitations have been criticised as complex, inflexible, lacking scientific basis and inappro priate for new types of operation. The authority is seeking feed back on seven options by 8 October, including retaining the current regulatory requirements with exemptions; using more sci entifically based prescriptive limita tions; adopting another country's regulations; introducing an opera tor-developed FRMS; or allowing operators to choose to use new pre scriptive limits or an operator- developed FRMS. The latter is CASA's preferred option. CASA has already demonstrated the use of a fatigue management system in a trial with 21 general-avi ation and low-capacity air transport operators last year. The participants supported the concept, although the costs involved and CASA's implementation processes were crit icised. Setting up a sophisticated FRMS can cost between A$ 10,000 ($7,200) and A$50,000, says CASA. The authority expects to move to new arrangements within two to five years. Any proposals to change air transport operations involving travel across time zones will not be finalised until the University of South Australia completes its fatigue study. The three-phase pro ject involves collecting data on flightcrews' sleep patterns, reaction time tests to determine how quickly their body clocks adapt, and observing pilots in simulators to link real performance measures with predicted fatigue. The university has completed the first phase. A final report on the sec ond stage is due in December, while the simulator stage is due for com pletion in the middle of next year. Most fatigue models assume that body clock time is the most impor tant driver, but the study has found this only accounts for 50% of the influence, with socially appropriate time to sleep driving the rest. FREIGHTER A300 ready Dedicated cargo carrier Air Hong Kong is preparing to take delivery of its first new- build Airbus A300-600 General Freighter from a firm order for six placed last year. The first aircraft is to be officially handed over on 6 September and will be used to launch new services within Asia. UNIONS GRAHAM DUNN / LONDON Irish and UK pilot bodies team up at Ryanair The British Air Line Pilots Asso ciation (BALPA) and their counter parts at the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) have reached a "ground-breaking" agreement in principle to work together to cover the organisation of pilots at Irish budget carrier Ryanair. "I am delighted that IALPA and BALPA have recognised that the changing face of European aviation demands novel solutions such as this," says IALPA president Capt Evan Cullen. The unions say the agreement is the culmination of eight months' work evolving a strat egy to "effectively address the issue of representation across the new breed of pan-European airlines". BALPA chairman Mervyn Granshaw says: "Over the next few weeks the detail will be communi cated to existing and prospective members who we know from our research will be delighted to at last have their own voice." The UK pilots' union has long battled to gain union recognition at the low-cost carrier, which is head quartered in Dublin but has operat ing bases across Europe, including its largest at London Stansted. 16 24-30 AUGUST 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
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