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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 0075.PDF
WORLD NEWS Creditors fight Continental expansion HOUSTON , Continental's 18 creditors ^have begun a wrangle in the < US Bankruptcy Court to stop the airline's $600 million pur chase of new 737-300 aircraft * until it forms a debt repayment plan. The airline, still protected under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Laws, has been given, by court order, until January 15 to present a "working outline of a debt reorganisation plan." The air line says that it is working towards this goal. k The Court order is sup ported by the US Air Line Pilots' Association and Chase Manhattan Bank, Continen tal's largest creditor. 'Together they had been mounting a campaign to delay the airline's proposed acquisi tion of the 12 737-300s. Last October Continental announced that its parent company, Texas Air, planned to buy 24 737-300s, and that it would lease 12 of the aircraft, accepting delivery of some of them as early as June 1985. The other 12 737-300s are to be leased to Texas Air's other subsidiary airline, New York Air. The deal is worth about $600 million. Continental's creditors, however, are set to fight tooth and nail to prevent the aircraft being delivered. "We're not about to let them ^miit $600 million of debt in (Wont of us, which is what this If amounts to. That is anathema " to us as creditors," says Philip Pierce, a lawyer for Con tinental's employee unions. The airline's creditors sug gest that Continental could expand operations without so much debt by buying second hand aircraft or by helping to I finance the 737-300s with the I greater efficiency achieved by |, cutting those services to mar ginally profitable cities. Alpa maintains that Con tinental chief Frank Lor enzo's financiers are now | tired of all the "lip service" they have received concerning his "proposed action". In their SLIGHT International, 12 January 1985 Court filing Continental's creditors described the pro posed purchase as "audacious and outrageous for a debtor which has spent 14 months under Chapter 11 without paying a dime of debt service on its $1,110 million non- secured debt and without making any overtures, pre liminary or otherwise, con cerning a plan of reorganisation". French Antarctic airstrip opposed DURMONT D'URVILLE France has angered Antarctic environmental groups be cause of the siting of a hard ened Antarctic airstrip. It is located at Durmont D'Urville, about 140°E on the edge of Adelie Land, which comes under French jurisdiction. Although development is scarcely under way, some pre liminary work has been done, including blasting tests. Envi ronmental groups complain that the airstrip will endanger penguin colonies in the area. There are only two hard ened airstrips in Antarctica, one owned by Argentina and the other by Chile. Most air craft in the region operate on snow or ice airfields which, according to the British Ant arctic Survey, pose no threat to wildlife. The Soviet Antarctic expe dition has opened a second strip at Novolazerevskaya, located about 12°E longtitude on the edge of Dronning Maud Land. The new airfield is cleared for operations by large, wheeled transport air craft and will act as an alter native field to the USSR's Molodezhnaya air base (45°E, on the Prince Olav Coast). Both bases are on the Antarc tic's Indian Ocean coast. An I1-18D was the first air craft to fly into the new Soviet airfield. The aircraft flew from Maputu, Mozambique, on November 14 with Soviet Antarctic-bound passengers who had flown on scheduled services from Moscow. The Antarctic Treaty nations were scheduled to meet this week to discuss the development of the Antarctic. The conference will be held on the Beardmore Glacier—the first time a meeting has been held on the continent itself. The Antarctic Treaty applies permanently, but sig natories may apply to have parts of the treaty altered after 1991. In force since 1961, the Treaty stipulates that the region should "be used exclu sively for peaceful purposes" and "not become the scene or object of international discord". Jordan buys Soviet missiles AMMAN Soviet surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) are to be supplied to Jordan. The deal, concluded late last year, has been announced by Commander of the Jordanian Army Gen She- rif Zeid bin Shaker. Jordan had been refused the General Dynamics Stinger missile last year after protests by Israel over the proposed sale. In Jordan's search for alternatives to Stinger, Brit ish, French, and Italian SAMs were considered. It is not yet clear which Soviet SAM sys tem is to be supplied. 727 crashes in Bolivian mountains LA PAZ ~ On January 1 at about 1940hr local time an Eastern Air Lines Boeing 727-225 crashed in mountains surrounding La Paz, Bolivia. All 21 pas sengers and eight crew were killed. The aircraft took off from Asuncion, Paraguay, bound for La Paz on Eastern's flight No 980. Take-off was at 1740hr local time, and posi tion reports were made by the aircraft at 1848hr and then at FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL NEXT WEEK :*r: ismm*^ Mike Gaines reports on the South African Air Force, the threats it faces, its equipment, and its hard-earned operational experience and philos ophy. CP Air, Canada's number two airline, has been undergoing major surgery to prepare for deregulation at home. David Learmount reports from Vancouver. Boeing's mighty 747 has seen 15 years in line service. Harry Hopkins reviews the jumbo's pros pects, and puts them in context with technological advances planned by Boeing throughout its product range. 1937hr when the crew gave its position as 55 n.m. south-east of La Paz. La Paz Airport elevation is 13,106ft, and the crash occurred at a height of about 19,600ft in cloud reportedly on the slopes of Illimani Peak, a mountain which is over 21,000ft high.
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