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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1893.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT STRATEGY Axe falls as Britannia parent TUI restructures Britannia Airways' parent TUI UK is to shed 800 jobs across its businesses under a reorganisa tion that will see its Thomsonfly low-cost carrier brand applied to the entire UK-based fleet, writes Graham Dunn. The Thomsonfly brand was launched earlier this year with four Boeing 737-500s at Coventry airport as a spin-off from in-house charter carrier Britannia. TUI began the process of dropping the Britannia name from its UK char ter fleet and replacing it with Thomson earlier this year. The Thomsonfly rebranding will begin in November. TUI says it already has seat- only customers on its charter flights and the move to roll out the Thomsonfly name across its whole fleet is designed to make it easier for customers to see the whole flight network available. TUI says it will invest in its fleet, through a refurbishment programme and extra aircraft, but does not give details. Thomsonfly management has previously outlined plans to grow the carrier's 737 fleet quickly. Consolidation across the busi ness will see about 800 jobs - around 8% of its UK-based workforce - eliminated. "This is about reshaping the business so we can compete in a much more competitive envi ronment," says TUI UK managing director Peter Rothwell. "We want to grow and take advantage of new distribu tion channels, particularly the internet, which is growing fast for TUI UK." Britannia is part of the TUI airline group, which includes major partner Hapag-Lloyd and Hapag-Lloyd Express in Germany, as well as Corsair in France, Britannia Airways Sweden and TUI Airlines Belgium. London Luton-based Britannia operates 33 Boeing 757s and 767s. INVESTIGATION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW / LONDON Italians probe another Milan runway incursion Incident at Malpensa involves SAS MD-87, mirroring fatal collision at Linate in 2001 A Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) Boeing MD-87 was involved in a runway incursion incident at a Milan airport last month - almost three years after a similar aircraft was involved in a fatal runway colli sion at another of the city's airports. The 22 September incident, which occurred at Milan Malpensa airport, is under investigation by the Italian authorities and SAS. The MD-87 crew aborted take-off when they realised that another aircraft - a Lauda Air Italia Airbus A330 - was on the runway. The SAS aircraft, bound for Copenhagen, had begun its take-off roll on run way 35 and was travelling at about 20kt (35km/h) when it braked to a halt. It is not yet clear why the A330 was also on the active run way. "Our pilot had clearance for take-off," says SAS. "He looked out and saw that, in his opinion, the runway wasn't clear of other air craft and so he stopped." Italian air navigation authority ENAV claims there was no risk of a collision because the aircraft were 2,500m (8,200ft) apart. It says the weather was favourable and air traf fic controllers would, in any case, have had time to intervene. An investigator in charge has been nominated and has requested radar information, communication tapes, and statements from the crew and controllers involved. The incident echoes the fatal October 2001 runway collision at Milan Linate airport, when another SAS MD-87 that had been cleared for take-off collided with a private Cessna Citation CJ2 that had strayed on to the active runway in fog, killing 118 people. The report slammed the Italian civil aviation authorities and the air port for lacking any form of safety management system. • A male passenger last week attacked the pilots of a Kato Airline Dornier 228 with the emergency escape axe, but the badly wounded crew landed the aircraft safely. The incident was on 29 September as the aircraft, with two pilots and seven passengers, had begun its approach to Bodo, Norway, at the end of a domestic flight. The first An-148 prototype emerged from the production hangar last month, ahead of the 14 October roll-out MANUFACTURING VLADIMIR KARNOZOV / KIEV Kharkov loses in An-148 revamp Final assembly of the Antonov An- 148 regional jet will be undertaken exclusively at the Aviant (KiGAZ) plant in Kiev, after delays blamed on the KhGAPP plant in Kharkov have seen its role reduced to that of com ponent supplier. VASO in Voronezh will also provide sub-assemblies. VASO and leasing company Ilyushin-Finance signed up for membership of the 70-seater pro gramme's industrial and sales team together with Aviant and the Antonov design bureau during the recent Aviasvit air show in Kiev. Assembly of the three prototype An-148-100s (two flying and one for ground tests) is being undertaken at Antonov's plant in Kiev. The first aircraft was moved out of the hangar on 25 September ahead of the formal roll-out ceremony on 14 October. The 600-flight test pro gramme is due for completion in late 2005, with certification in 2006. Plans for an An-148 assembly line at KhGAPP have been dropped in favour of Aviant, with Kharkov to supply components only. "The final assembly line will be established at Aviant in Kiev, to which Kharkov will supply centre fuselage and VASO empennage," says Aviant gen eral director Oleg Shevchenko. Antonov general designer Piotr Balabuyev says KhGAPP's role was reduced because it had been "en tirely responsible" for the delays suf fered by the project. He blames the Kharkov plant for the "seriously delayed delivery of the first wingset" and says it is yet to deliver the sec ond wingset, "holding up the progress on the second prototype". • Ukrainian carrier Aerosvit has signed a letter of intent with Antonov, Aviant and Ilyushin- Finance for 10 An-148s. The first two aircraft will be delivered in 2006, with three in 2007 and the rest in 2008. 10 5-11 OCTOBER 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
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