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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2633.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT LIBERALISATION JUSTIN WASTNAGE / BRIDGETOWN Caribbean open skies put on hold Ongoing delay in creating a free trade zone, partly due to complicated air traffic rules, leaves liberalisation a faint hope Progress towards creating a com mon Caribbean aviation market has been delayed again due to the post ponement of single market legisla tion in most former British colonies, leaving open skies talks with the USA a distant hope. Members of the Caribbean Com munity (Caricom) group of English- speaking island nations had set January 2005 for the establishment of a free trade zone, which it was hoped would kick-start air transport liberalisation in the region. Only the Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago parliaments ratified the BEAP is the name of a new airline being formed in Belgium by a group of former Sabena employees who want to relaunch air services between Brussels and West Africa. The new airline groups together 1,400 former Sabena employees who were not hired by Sabena sub sidiary DAT when it survived the Belgian flag carrier's bankruptcy in November 2001. DAT was subse quently renamed SN Brussels Airlines and operates on some prof itable former Sabena routes to Africa, using Airbus A330-300s that it acquired through its takeover of the former Birdy Airlines. Bombardier may shift production of Dash 8 Q400 components from Japan to other Asian states in a cost- cutting move that could also help Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) free capacity for the Boeing 7E7. Industry sources say MHI, sup ported by Bombardier, has launched a feasibility study to determine if some or all of its Q400 work can be offloaded to lower-cost manufactur- treaty, delaying implementation, says Senator Rudy Grant, Barbados tourism and international transport parliamentary secretary. Trinidad & Tobago is close to securing Category I safety oversight approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration, permitting its flag carrier BWIA to start direct flights to Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico, which could stimulate the eastern Caribbean's air transport market, he adds. Barbados and other islands are updating their civil aviation rules, many of which date to the British However, BEAP says West Africa has been overlooked by SN Brussels and left to Air France and KLM. The new airline now wants to oper ate as a niche carrier serving West Africa. Headed by former Sabena pilot Yves Leblicq, who is the air line's chief executive, BEAP says it has secured Excel Aviation Group of the Netherlands as an investor. Other investors include unnamed Nigerian banking inter ests that would provide additional funding by March 2005. BEAP's first flight is scheduled for 23 December and will have Lome, Togo as its destination. ers in China, Indonesia and Taiwan. Shifting production from Japan would cut costs and free capacity for larger, more profitable MHI projects. MHI has already decided not to join Bombardier's CSeries programme so it can focus on 7E7 wing work. MHI supplies the Q400's mid- fuselage, vertical fin, horizontal sta biliser, elevator, rudder and door. It is prepared to retain responsibility colonial period. "Many of the civil aviation acts have no clear indica tion of the duties or rights of each country's transport minister, mak ing it impossible for countries to grant a negotiating mandate to a regional body," says Grant. The aim is to harmonise air transport rules as a first step to opening the market, a move long overdue, says Edward Gilkes, general manager of Anti- guan carrier Caribbean Star. The situation is complicated further by the region's French and Dutch islands, where air traffic rights are governed directly by Paris for these parts if they are sub- sourced unless Bombardier decides to sign new deals directly with the new team of suppliers. Sources say Indonesian Aerospace (lAe) has already submitted a pro posal to supply Q400 fuselage sub assemblies and is expecting a deci sion in the first quarter of 2005. This contract would be awarded directly by Bombardier and could result in and The Hague respectively, says Gilkes. Any open skies deal between the European Union and the USA, for example, would affect the air traffic rights of the carrier's Puerto Rican subsidiary Caribbean Star on routes to the island of St Martin, where the airport falls within the autonomous Netherlands Antilles jurisdiction, but requires French approval as an official port of entry to France. The European Commission says such intricacies over the Caribbean were among the technicalities that delayed the open skies talks with the USA this year. work being shifted from Canada and Japan to Indonesia. IAe, Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Devel opment Corporation and China Aviation Industries are seeking Q400 work as MHI subcontractors. A source says that other Bom bardier work by MHI may be offloaded later. "If they show good performance then it could go to the next project," he says. START-UP HERMAN DE WULF/ BRUSSELS Ex-Sabena employees launch BEAP at Africa PRODUCTION BRENDAN SOBIE / SINGAPORE Bombardier seeks to move Q400 components PROPULSION GP7200 starts flight tests The General Electric Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance GP7200 engine for the Airbus A380 has begun flight tests mounted on the inboard left wing of GE's Boeing 747 flying testbed at Victorville, California. The initial test effort, scheduled to be completed by the end of December after seven sorties, is aimed mainly at collecting pressure and temperature data for the nacelle and accessories. 10 14-20 DECEMBER 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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