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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2419.PDF
HEADLINES AIR TRANSPORT NICHOLAS IONIDES / KUALA LUMPUR MAS to replace short-haul fleets Malaysian carrier also set to assess Airbus A350 and Boeing 7E7 as it looks to ditch 737-400s and Fokker 50s Malaysia Airlines (MAS) expects to issue separate requests for propos als (RFP) in the coming weeks for new aircraft to replace its 39 Boeing 737-400S and 10 Fokker 50s. It is also weeks away from selecting an engine to power Airbus A380s already on order and next year plans to assess Boeing's 7E7 and Airbus's proposed rival A350. Managing director and chief executive Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan says in an interview with Flight International sister publication Airline Business, to be published early next year, that the two RFPs will be issued before the end of 2004 and simultaneous selections are likely before the middle of 2005. He says the long-awaited RFP to Airbus and Boeing should be for 40 narrowbodies to be taken on firm order from 2006 to replace its 39 737-400s. "We will need 40 aircraft for replacement and probably another 15 or 20 options," says Ahmad Fuaad, noting that some of the aircraft could be used on ser vices to "the new emerging mar kets such as India and China". The RFP for aircraft to replace ageing Fokker 50 rurboprops will be issued to manufacturers of turbo- props and regional jets, says Ahmad Fuaad. Bombardier and Embraer have this year demonstrated aircraft to the airline, which operates its Fokker 50s within east Malaysia. Meanwhile, Ahmad Fuaad says the state-owned carrier is in the final stages of deciding on an engine type for the six A380s it has on order through parent company Penerbangan Malaysia (PMB). Fleet decisions are taken in partnership with state-owned holding com pany PMB, which owns all the air craft in the airline's fleet and leases them to the carrier. Separately, Ahmad Fuaad says MAS will next year consider longer- term replacement plans for its Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s, and 200- to 250-seat aircraft will be considered such as the 7E7 and proposed A350. SPACEFLIGHT Space faces wait A US commercial space bill that would enable Richard Branson's suborbital tourism business to be realised is not expected to become law by the end of President George Bush's first term, throwing the nascent industry's future into doubt. Tuesday 23 November is the last legislative day of Bush's first term, and any bill not passed will have to fit into his second term agenda, which could mean an indefinite delay to its approval. Last week Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, chairman of the House science committee, which oversees NASA, declared the current version of the bill to be dead and added that negotia tions on it would "have to start all over next year". His committee, its equivalent Senate committee and others involved had reached agree ment on a final text of the bill on 12 November, but then last week the House committee on trans port, which oversees aviation, intervened. It said the latest draft required further hearings. Because of this situation last week saw questions being asked of the Federal Aviation Administration by legislators seeking to reach a compromise, however unlikely, before the 23 November deadline. DEFENCE STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC Tanker row claims top USAF scalps Secretary of the US Air Force James Roche and acquisition chief Marvin Sambur are walking out slightly ahead of a fresh wave of inquiries into the scandal-plagued proposal to acquire 100 Boeing 767-200 tankers. Both officials announced last week plans to retire no later than 20 January, the first day of the sec ond Bush administration. Pentagon officials describe both departures as voluntary decisions, with Roche privately informing US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in early October. The Pentagon has refused to deliver thousands of emails by Roche and Sambur relating to the tanker lease deal to a Senate panel. In retaliation, a furious Senator John McCain has blocked impor tant Pentagon business in the Senate, including all nominations to senior posts throughout the mil itary. The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to hold a year long series of hearings into the three-year tanker debacle, recently inflamed by admissions in court of widespread conflicts of interest tainting several recent contract awards to Boeing. The matter remains the subject of a federal investigation and a review by the US Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Both inquiries are sched uled to be complete as the Senate hearings begin. Meanwhile, plans to resume the air force's tanker modernisation programme will resume next month with the release of two key documents - a mobility capability study to clarify the Pentagon's air transport needs and an analysis of alternatives to determine the shape of tanker acquisition strategy. EADS North America is waiting for an opportunity to offer the A330- 200 tanker in competition with the Boeing product. DEFENCE First South Korean F-15K leaves assembly line South Korea's first F-15K mul- tirole fighter has left Boeing's final assembly line in St Louis, Missouri for the installation of its engines, avionics and other mission equipment at the site. Dubbed K1, the air craft is on track to make its first flight next March, with Seoul expected to take deliv ery of its first two aircraft in October 2005. The South Korean air force will receive 40 F-15Ks, but is believed to be considering a follow-on order for 40 more. 6 23-29 NOVEMBER 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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