FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1996
1996 - 1813.PDF
HEAOUNES US/Japanese cargo row flares up again PAUL LEWIS/SINGAPORE THE US AND Japanese Governments are once again become embroiled in a bitter row over air-cargo rights, with the two sides threatening to impose sanc tions from the end of July. The US Department of Trans portation (DoT) says that it will restrict certain Japan Airlines fJAL) cargo routes from 31 July, unless the Japanese Government ap proves the latest FedEx applica tions for new fifth-freedom services to Asian cities beyond Tokyo. In effect, the threat is to stop JAL from serving the same Asian-US routes which are being denied to FedEx. JAL would be prevented from carrying cargo to the USA from Manila and Cebu in the Philippines, as well as Shanghai, Beijing and Jakarta. Japan's transport ministry has warned mat it will retaliate by bar ring Northwest Airlines and FedEx from carrying freight on all routes between Japan and Cebu, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Penang and Singapore. This latest row follows the breakdown in Japanese-US talks in Washington at the end of June over new cargo services and a reworked passenger bilateral. Japan refused to approve any new increase in US fifth-freedom services from Narita or Kansai, and instead demanded mat a new, more equitable, bilater al agreement be negotiated. The USA has ruled out any new agreement until Japan first approves all outstanding applica tions allowed under the existing 1952 bilateral treaty between the two countries. "The USA will hon our its commitments, and we expect our aviation partners to do the same," says US transportation secretary Federico Pena. Following the collapse, FedEx was forced to cancel the planned 1 July start-up of its new Asian ser vices and Northwest has also had to push back the launch of its new ser vice to Seattle-Jakarta service, via Kansai, until 1 October. It is only a year since thefwosides last threatened sanctions following Japan's refusal to grant FedEx new routes to support its Subic Bay cargo hub, in the Philippines. Abat- tle was only averted after a new accord was reached on air-cargo services in April. Japan claims that the new accord does not include the new destina tions being asked for by FedEx, but the DoT argues that these are cov ered by the existing 1952 bilateral. The USA and Japan, in spite of the threat of cargo sanctions, have managed to agree to extend by four weeks additional summer-schedule passenger frequencies for JAL and United. JAL has increased its Sendai-Honolulu service from three-times-a-week to daily, while United has doubled the number of flights between Los Angeles and Tokyo to 14 a week. Asimilar row over passenger ser vices is also simmering, following the refusal of Northwest's applica tion to serve Jakarta via Japan. • Rolls-Royce RB.211s in Ulyanovsk THE FIRST SET OF ROLLS-ROYCE RB.211-53 5s has been delivered to Aviastar in Ulyanovsk for installation on a production TupolevTu-204. The aircraft will be used to complete certifica tion of the R-R-powered Tu-204-200 series. The delivery was timed to coincide with the visit of a business group to finalise talks about a "substantial order" for RB.211 -powered Tu-204s. USA and Japan near F-2A accord U S AND JAPANESE Govern ment negotiators are close to reaching a breakthrough over workshare for the Mitsubishi F- 2 A/B support fighter, allowing pro duction of the new aircraft to begin. An agreement was expected to be struck in Washington on 2 5 July, ending months of arduous negotia tions, which had been in danger of stalling for lack of progress (Flight International, 5-llJuneP5). The deal covers 120 main items, including the F-2's powerplant, avionics subsystems and airframe, and provides an agreed dollar-yen exchange rate on which to base workshare. US manufacturers will get a 40% workshare, worth an esti mated ¥400 billion ($3.6 billion) over a planned production run of 130 fighters. The agreement also resolves pre vious disagreements between the USA and Japan on production of the F-2 's main wing. Mitsubishi will build all of the aircraft's right-hand wings and some left-hand wings, ensuring it complete control of the fighter's design. Lockheed Martin will supply the remaining left-hand wings. Production of the F-2's General Electric Fl 10-129 engine will be shared with Japan. Ishikawajima- Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) will be responsible forabout40% ofthe work, manufacturing components, final assembly and testing the engines. The remainder will be done by GE. Sources say that the new agree ment is scheduled to be submitted to the US Congress on 2 August to begin a 30-day period of notifica tion and approval. Negotiators have been pushing to finalise the deal before Congress recesses for the summer, and so avoid any fur ther programme delay. • Japan blames Airbus and China Airlines for 1994 Nagoya Airport accident AIRBUS INDUSTRIE and China Airlines (CAL) have both been attributed with blame by a Japanese investigation into the April 1994 crash of an A300-600R at Nagoya. A final report issued by Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission (AAIC) points to defi ciencies in the design of the air craft's flight-control computer system. The commission also cites pilot error and poor crew-training on the part of CAL. The sequence of events leading to the crash was triggered by the co-pilot inadver tently engaging the "go lever", putting the A300's autopilot into a go-around mode during its final approach to Nagoya Airport. Rather than disengaging the mode, the crew tried to manually override the autopilot system. The system compensated for the pilot's nose-down input by putting the air craft into a nose-up attitude. The A3 00 pitched up, stalled and cra shed, killing 264 people on board. Following earlier incidents, a software modification was available before the Nagoya crash. It would have allowed pilot pressure on the stick to disengage the autopilot. Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Admini stration (CAA) claims that Airbus failed to notify its customers ofthe necessary modification. In addition to the needed soft ware change, Japanese investiga tors have pointed to the absence of any cockpit warning-system to indicate that die aircraft was in the wrong mode. The flight manual has alsd been criticised for unclear instructions on how to correct such a mistake. The report blames the crew for a lack of familiarisation with the systems and poor pilot/co pilot communications. The AAIC has asked Taiwan's CAA to direct CAL to improve pilot training and cockpit-resources management. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24 - 30 July 1996 5
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
