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The first Boeing 757 took to the air Friday (Feb 19) from Renton Municipal Airport's 5300-foot (1630 m) runway after a 3800-foot takeoff run and climbed out over the East Channel of Lake Washington on its initial test flight. One of five 757s that will carry out a 10-month flight-test program leading to certification for commercial use, the new technology airliner later landed at Paine Field, adjacent to Boeing's 747/767 plant near Everett, Washington, where it will be based for early flight. Once approved by the Federal Aviatio_n Administration, the Rolls Royce-powered 757 will operate from Boeing Flight Centre Seattle, 30 miles south.
Newsdesk – Commercial
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End of the Nomad:
Production of the Nomad twin-engined commuter aircraft is to cease in 1984. The announcement came on May 7th as Sir Philip Lynch handed over responsibility for the future of Government Aircraft Factories to the newly created Ministry for Defence Support, an upbeat version of the old Department of Supply. It is anticipated that when production of the Nomad ceases in 1984 that a total of 170 aircraft will have been delivered to local and overseas operators Reasons given for the project abandonment were the high cost of manufacture, depressed market opportunities internationally and consistent labour unrest at GAF had made the project unprofitable in the long term. On the lighter side, it is ironic that GAF’s final advertising campaign had a nomad-wearing Laker Airways livery. At the time we found it difficult to understand the reasoning behind the advert in question, perhaps the advertising agency guessed the Nomad’s fate in advance. GAF itself will also become deeply involved on the F/A-18 project by 1984 in addition to the RAAF basic trainer programme which gets underway later this decade.
Canberra Air Traffic in Big Slump:
Following the recommendations of the Holcroft committee in April 1981, the important Sydney/Canberra and Melbourne/ Canberra route suffered fare hikes in the order of 38%. This has had the effect of killing off an average of 25% of the traffic which has forced TAA and Ansett over the period to cancel services in an effort to reduce capacity on the route. East West hoped to revitalise the sector with a ‘no frills walk on’ F-27 service from Sydney offering reductions in the region of 30%, this was immediately copied by Ansett which forced EWA to withdraw; the ATI service eventually faded due to lack of support. Apparently, the remaining three-quarters of the air traffic is primarily made up of business people and government employees who fly regardless of the basic cost. It might also be interesting to see if EWA might again try the Sydney/Canberra sector when it takes delivery of its first F-28, an aircraft that would be ideally suited to the relatively low volume short-haul nature of this route. Further inroads will be made into this route when the XPT express train commences operation later this year.
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