Airline Affairs

Benefits of the 737-300, which TAA market- ing has dubbed the B300 (to be run in company with the A300) will be its excellent fuel efficiency, better field performance, quieter operation and longer range than the aged DC-9s. In fact, by the time the final DC-9 stands down from TAA service the type will have accrued twenty years of continious operation in Australian livery as DC-9 services commenced back in April, 1967.

The 737-300 will prove to be around 35% more fuel efficient on a seat/kilometre basis than either the DC-9 or the 727-200 while at the same time the type will be able to fly max payload sectors of 2300nm enabling year round Sydney-Perth directs irrespective of the headwind component. Other benefits are the vastly reduced maintenance burden through the advancement and maturity of systems aboard the aircraft, which has now seen ten months of commercial service overseas, and a reduced noise footprint that is even lower than the A300. This could open opportunities at a later date for extended night discount flights out of Sydney while overall the impact of quieter jets enables the airline to polish up its image in the traditionally volatile airport suburbs. A comprehensive technical update on the 737-300 appears elsewhere in this issue.

No doubt it was confusing for Boeing but while TAA Chairman Neil Smith proudly announced the 737 order his press statement spent more time on the Airbus A320 than it did on the Seattle twinjet. TAA make no qualms as to their intention to eventually equip with A320s, the stumbling block as General Manager, Frank Ball, recently told Australian Aviation, is that in TAA livery the aircraft would only seat 136 or so people and would thus not really be a true 727 replacement. TAA presently have their 727s configured for up to 150 passengers, depending upon the route, and are ideally looking at a 160-seat stretched version of the strong-selling single aisle Airbus jet. Though it took a long time to come. TAA were very enthusiastic about the future of the airline with the 737-300 though much of this was forgotten as Ansett rapidly announced the purchase of additional Fokker 50s, Airbus A320s and 737-300s. TAA though stands by its laurels as the airline which has traditionally introduced the latest technology to Australia. Its chairman, Neil Smith was quick to point out that TAA was the first Australian airline, and one of the first in the world, to introduce pressurised airliners, (Convair Metropolitans) the first in Australia with turboprops (Electras) and was about to become the first to introduce domestic jet aircraft (Caravelles) when it was stopped by the introduction of capacity controls as part of the 1958 two airline policy. Twenty years later TAA became the first domestic carrier to order new technology wide-bodied aircraft. TAA was also the first airline to specifically require EFIS aboard the 737-300.

It now appears that it is only a matter of time before TAA officially orders the A320 as undoubtedly Airbus Industrie will offer a stretched version as a logical conclusion to the requirements of a number of carriers, including Lufthansa, who want to replace their large 727- 200 fleet with an aircraft capable of uplifting more than 140 passengers in typical two class configuration. TAA has put a lot of design work into the A320. They were largely responsible for the wider fuselage (basically a foot wider than the Boeing single-aisle tube), a revised undercarriage geometry using low-pressure tyres, a mechanised underfloor hold to take LD3 containers and ensuring the aircraft had a transcontinental range far in excess of typical European requirements. TAA was also the first airline to actually fly the A300 mock-up with the revolutionary side-stick controller.

In the short term TAA will soldier on with its existing 727-200s, most of these aircraft are under ten years old and all but two are fully depreciated so their overall cost efficiency will remain viable in the coming five years leading up to the availability of a stretched A320 which would not be available till the early nineteen nineties.

Qantas Announces Record Profit:

The Chairman of Qantas, Mr J. B. Leslie, announced a second consecutive record profit from operations of $62. 7 million before tax for the year to 31 March 1985.

Qantas made $58 million before tax from airline operations in the previous year. The main reason for this year’s profit was a significant increase in passenger and cargo loads which more than offset some erosion in yield per unit of traffic. When. the effect of taxation and abnormal items such as the sale of six of Qantas’ older Boeing 747-2008 aircraft is taken into account, the group operating profit for the year was $147. 9 million. The proceeds from the sale of these aircraft are being reinvested in new aircraft.

The Board has recommended that Qantas pay a dividend for the year of 7. 5%, amounting to $11. 2 million. The 1983/84 dividend was 5% or $6. 9 million.

Mr Leslie said Qantas was predicting continued profitability in the coming year despite increased costs resulting from further modernisation of the airline fleet and the weakness of the Australian dollar.

 East West Records Strongest Monthly Growth Ever:

After recording an extremely healthy, though expected, 40% passenger growth for May compared with the same month of 1984, East West exceeded all expectations during June with a massive 70% increase. Indeed the airline could record its first ever one million passenger year for 1985 if present growth continues.

At the time of closing for press the airline had still not had full approval to embark on its ambitious overseas charter operation (refer p. 14, June issue) nor approval to import a new Boeing 737-200 and a fifth Fokker F28-4000, something that was causing a degree of heartburn at EWA as the airframes are already on the assembly lines. East West were also optimistic of getting approval for their daily Canberra/Melbourne F27 service though this too had been delayed by the Department for reasons not known to the airline.

East West are also examining the feasibility of changing its Melbourne base from Tullamarine, where it rents space via TAA, to Essendon where it would operate in its own right from the Main Terminal Building. EWA would be looking at operating 14 services a day from Essendon, mainly servicing its Tasmanian routes and the Albury gateway to Sydney. Meanwhile, Ansett has introduced F28-1000 jet services on its own Tullamarine to Wynyard, Burnie, Devon- port and Albury services as a direct challenge to East West. This was slated to commence on August 17 though the jet may not be used on all sectors.

In the West, EWA parent, Skywest is also encountering stronger competition from Ansett WA as that carrier recently moved its schedules into direct competition with Skywest. At time of going to press EWA claimed that they had around 40% of the Perth/Pilbara market on a fare structure around 8% less than the Ansett fares.

Record Returns for Air New Zealand:

Air New Zealand has achieved a record NZD133. 6 million (AUD 95 million) Net profit for its 1984/85 Financial year. The overall profit consisted of a NZD153. 6 million (AUD 109 million) airline operating profit – 94% up on last year.

Air New Zealand established a number of records in posting the profit figure. For the first time in its 46-year history, Air New Zealand’s total revenue for a 12 month period, exceeded one bilion dollars with NZD1160 million being earned. Overall record load factors of 72. 7% were achieved with the airline carrying a record number of both international and domestic passengers. The Company paid a NZD65 million dividend to the New Zealand Government as its shareholder.

A Case of the Minnow Swallowing the Whale:

Diminutive Texas Air Corporation has purchased the controlling rights of giant Trans World Airlines. TWA was suffering at the spectre of a proposed takeover by raider Carl Icahn, a move that the TWA board felt would be detrimental to the long-term effectiveness of the giant carrier. Almost by invitation Texas Air launched its own bid, which at SUS793m was successful in adding TWA to its aviation portfolio. Texas Air is also the parent company of Continental and New York Air. Texas Air will however not change the operating structure of TWA and will keep it wholly separate from both Continental and New York Air.

Round the World Tickets Selling Well:

If you are going on an extra lengthy overseas holiday or a very comprehensive business trip then the new Qantas/BA round-the-world ticket may be of interest. Fares are a value $2699 economy, $4499 business and $5499 first and travel must be in one direction.

Major benefits of the scheme is the diversity of routes available through the two airlines in addition to BA offering a return London to European capital fare-free and United Airlines offering four free sectors in the USA as a part of the overall ticket. This way you can really see quite a bit of Europe and the USA at no extra expense.

First-class fliers can also opt for Concorde across the Atlantic in any time but the summer peak while this is also available to business class patrons for a surcharge. Actually, if you take the Concorde option then there is little price difference in going first to begin with, which if anything only tends to highlight the overall good value of this fare.

 Ansett Group Continue Their Buy- Ing Spree With Dehavilland Order:

DeHavilland Canada cracked the Australian market in July with the first confirmed sale of their 36-seat Dash 8 aircraft.

Continuing their buying frenzy, Ansett has placed a firm order coupled with 2 options on the Dash 8 for Air NSW. The firm ordered aircraft will enter service in March next year.

Air NSW will use the aircraft for stabilising frequency on the more seasonal routes in their network. Cooma and Merimbula are two such ports that suffer badly when not at the height of their tourist seasons and as both ports run at volume at opposite times of the year then Air NSW will be able to balance available Dash 8 capacity between them. The carrier also is seeking approval to operate on the Sydney! Lord Howe Island run which would see the semi-STOL field performance of the Dash 8 used to its best advantage.

 Air Pacific Looking to the Future Under Qantas Management:

The near-bankrupt Fiji government-owned Air Pacific is beginning to reach the financial corner in its long road to profitability. John Schaap, Chief Executive of Air Pacific told Australian Aviation recently that the carrier is looking good in the long term now that it has ended its loss-making US connection and has established a stronger air bridge with Australia.

Air Pacific had a disastrous 1983 and 1984. The carrier was losing more than a million dollars a month (half of this as a direct result of the US DC-10 connection with Western Airlines) and had accumulated losses of $30m when Qantas won management control of the small carrier late in 1984. Qantas now has four key personnel, including John Schaap, on a three-year management lease with a two-year option to run the airline into profitability.

Load factors aboard the leased 747 have only been moderate in the first few months of operation. The aircraft is actually configured for more passengers than any other 747 in the Qantas inventory with 474 split between 16 Business and 458 Economy seats. Fiji itself has not been lucky this year with no less than four cyclones during the early part of the year followed rapidly by a 20% fall in the value of the Australian dollar which effectively increased the land component of a Fij holiday by an equi- vilant amount. Air Pacific replied with a pack-age of excellent incentive fares aimed at family groups and hopes that load factors will reach their targets by year-end. (Specific sector data was listed on p77 of our March edition) On the equipment side the airline has to rapidly offload its two Embraer Bandeirantes which the airline describes as ‘useless’ for the task. The Bandeirantes primarily operate a Nadi Suva link and unfortunately cannot carry passengers and baggage in the quantities required to satisfy the morning/evening peak. The airline currently leases a Twin Otter from Fiji Air and hopes to extend this lease.

To replace the Bandeirantes the airline is looking for a 40/50 seat twin turboprop aircraft that would provide an excellent passenger/ freight mix on regional island routes in addition to feeding the growing Nadi/Suva link and future extensions into New Zealand and possibly Nadi Brisbane via the Solomons.

A number of aircraft are being evaluated including the Fokker 50, BAe ATP, DHC Dash 8 Series 300 and the ATR42. As some of these aircraft though are still ‘paper planes’ Air Pacific may have to lease an alternative to bridge the gap fill an all-new aircraft would be available. John Schaap laments the disposal of the BAe 748s that Air Pacific operated up till 1982 as these in retrospect would have been ideal, if a little heavy on fuel, for the routes the airline is presently operating.

The airline will eventually settle on one leased 747, one owned 737 and a number of smaller turboprops. In the meantime, the carrier has worked in conjunction with Ansett managed Air Polynesia in an effort to enhance frequencies and increase load factors by collaborating schedules on routes that were being grossly overserviced by both carriers 737s. Thus Air Pacific has been able to reduce the utilisation of its sole 737 from 4750hrs per annum to 3500hrs while increasing load factors by as much as 25%. The 737-200 was purchased new from Boeing in 1981 and is configured for 112 seats.

All Air Pacific aircraft are now crewed by APS own personnel. Qantas recently turned out the last batch of 747 crew and the carrier now has four 747 Captains and four First Officers in addition to the required flight attendants. Qantas provided the Flight Engineer. Air Pacific is no slouch in maintenance either and from their Nadi base are carrying out full maintenance on the Bandeirantes (and other local commuter types) in addition to all A and B and some C servicing on the 737. Major C and D servicing of the 737 is undertaken by Air New Zealand once weekly in Auckland where ANZ provides a wet-leased 737 to undertake the ‘missing’ AP sector. When the airline eventually acquires its own new generation turboprops it will then cover this ‘missing’ 737 sector with its own equipment. All 747 maintenance is undertaken by Qantas.

So what of the future? John Schaap was confident that if the dual sword of both cyclones and dollar devaluation had not hit when it did the carrier would have seen a profitable March quarter. Problems aside though it is expected that AP will return a modest working profit for the 1985 calendar year and this will grow in strength into 1986.

The carrier also wants to explore future routes to Japan and the US West Coast. Now that AP has a US gateway at Los Angeles. rather than at Honolulu as with its unsuccessful Western DC-10 operation, the carrier feels it could make a far better go at attacking the potentially giant US market. This though will not take place till the carrier is certain that a sufficient market exists to ensure profitability from the outset. The same philosophy applies to Japan where capacity at present is extremely tight, a point that actually limits tourist opportunities to Fiji, but AP is loathe to enter the market till it is strong enough to truly be viable.

In the longer term the airline may seek to lease Qantas 767ER aircraft for operations to Japan in addition to promoting a non-stop Nadi Brisbane link. This though is certainly well in the future as the Qantas objective is primarily to return Air Pacific to a day-to-day operating profitability, an objective that appears to have already been met.

 United Strike Proves a Boon for Us Domestics:

The United Airlines pilot’s strike in June proved a major boost for almost every domestic US carrier. Some of the most spectacular increases in RPKs (Revenue Passenger Kilometres) were; American 38%, Continental 71%, Easter 20%, Piedmont 46%, Republic 41%, Western 28% and Delta 19%. United itself saw a drop of 71% as against June 1984 with some 74% of its capacity grounded from May 17 through to June 14. The overall domestic sector load factor for May/June was an unprecedented 78. 4%, which is around ten percentage points ahead of the typical US average. United aside, all US carriers are now reporting an excellent 1985 with typical growths of ten and fifteen per cent against the previous year’s figures.

The airlines aren’t the only ones in a buoyant mood though, figures recently released by the Future Aviation Professionals of America suggest that 6,218 new pilots were recruited in the twelve months leading up to June. American Airlines are now training up to 72 new recruits a month while Continental has 120 passing through its training programme each month. Certainly, a far cry from 1982/83 when many experienced pilots found it hard to get work even driving a cab to the airport!

Singapore Airlines Video Games Aboard 747s:

If you are flying with Singapore Airlines and are tired of watching movie or reading a book you can now be entertained electronically. Singapore have just begun introducing a number of video games aboard their long haul 747 services including electronic Scrabble, Donkey Kong and computer chess. The games are located in a console about the size of a hard-bound book and are available for two dollars per hour.

At a recent technology briefing by Boeing it was pointed out that the development of fat panel CRTs for the flight deck will eventually spin off into the cabin entertainment area with long haul aircraft, ten or fifteen years from now, having a personal video screen mounted in the seat back so that passengers can watch any one of a dozen or so separate movies, shorts or documentaries as they please.

One such area of development, which Qantas are hoping to take advantage of with their new VCR style system aboard the 747- 300s and 767ERs is to produce travelogues on the next port of call for use aboard primarily tourist-oriented flights.

United Airlines Plans Further Expansion:

United Airlines is preparing to generate surplus capital for reinvestment by leasing out a number of its Westin Hotels to second parties. US financial analysts estimate this will earn the free world’s largest air- line up to a billion dollars in available refinance capital over the coming two years. United recently paid $US587m for the Hertz car rental organisation and will use this now to offer even better package rates within the continental US. No doubt, in time, this will allow the airline to offer extremely competitive fly/drive packages of the US to Australian travellers when United inherits PanAm’s Pacific route structure early in 1986.

In another move, United also paid $US265m for 25 Boeing 737-200s from ailing Frontier Airlines. Airline observers are expecting a rash of orders from United in the next year or so as the carrier moves to update its relatively old fleet. The carrier presently operates no less than 50 Boeing 727-100s which are fast requiring retirement in addition to 13 DC-8-50Fs and 104 727-200s, most of them more than a decade old and not of the Advanced model so widely used in Australia.

One thought is that United might purchase a hundred or more 737-300s as the carrier now operates more than 74 737-200s, most of which are also well beyond ten years of age. Additionally, the carrier will have to purchase additional 747 aircraft to service its new routes in the Pacific as the 17 wide-bodied aircraft it soon receives from PanAm will be inadequate for the sectors envisaged as United moves to reactivate routes long closed to PanAm service.

Order for Air Traffic Services Training Simulators Will Cut Wasteful Procedures in Atc Training:

The Minister for Aviation, Mr Peter Morris, has announced the award of a contract for the supply of two simulator systems to the Department of Aviation, at a cost of just over $8 million.

The systems, to be supplied by Ferranti Computer Systems Limited, will be used for training the Department’s Air Traffic Services officers. Under the terms of the contract, a significant portion of the work is to be carried out at Ferranti’s Sydney factory.

One system is to provide basic Air Traffic Service training at the Department’s Central Training College. It will replace simulator equipment nearly twenty years old, providing more effective training and much improved realism. Selection of the upgraded simulators goes some way to relieving the problems associated with wasteful ATC procedures as outlined in our ‘ATC and the economy’ article on page 93 of the March edition.

The second simulator system will be installed at the Melbourne Air Traffic Services Centre (ATSC), where it will be used for advanced training of operational field staff. The new, more realistic simulator will be able to replicate the actual working environment. Mr Morris said that the Melbourne ATSC simulator would contribute significantly to the efficiency and effectiveness of training. It would allow operations staff to regularly exercise and maintain their skills in handling complex and emergency situations to a degree which is not possible with ‘on-the-job training programs.

New Overnight Tasman Freight Service:

Qantas and Air New Zealand launched a joint overnight air freight service during July between Sydney and Auckland.

A Westwind twin-jet aircraft, capable of carrying up to 1. 5 tonnes of cargo, operates the new service every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night. It has been chartered from Melbourne-based Transecutive Airlines.

The new service will cater for urgent documents and small express cargo consignments. The aircraft will depart Sydney at 11pm, arriving in Auckland at 3. 50am and be back in Sydney at 6. 20am. This will allow documents and express cargo to be accepted at the end of a business day in Sydney and Auckland and be delivered on the other side of the Tasman when businesses open the following morning.

The High Cost of Flying Duty-Free Alcohol:

An interesting article recently in Flight International pointed out that there is more than 200 tonnes of duty-free alcohol flown across the Atlantic each and every day. The report went on to conclude that this 72,000 ton. nes per annum (equivalent to the weight of the QE2 liner!) consume arould 5% more fuel than would otherwise be required. This then equates to a startling 20,000 tonnes of avtur each year or 6. 5m gallons. The per flight weight is equivalent to 16 passengers or nearly 1. 5 tonnes.

Additionally the presence of such a large amount of alcohol presents a very real danger in the event of an emergency. Bottles are usually heavy and in a rapid deceleration could easily become lethal objects as they inevitably broke free en masse from ruptured overhead bins. In the event of a fire they would only add to the fuel available in addition to providing a base of broken glass over which injured, terrified and disorientated passengers must travel on their way to an exit.

Taa Commences Indian Ocean Services:

TAA began services to the Australian Indian Ocean Territories of the Cocos and Christmas Island on Tuesday, July 2. The services will be charters operated on behalf of the Federal Department of Territories and Local Government.

TAA will operate a daylight service every Tuesday, leaving Perth at 10am, using a Boe- ing 727 aircraft. The aircraft will fly Perth-Cocos Island-Christmas Island-Perth but on an alternate Tuesdays will fly a reverse route, Perth- Christmas-Cocos-Perth.

The services were previously operated by Ansett WA. TAA and Ansett Airlines of Australia shared a service every three weeks on the route from 1967 until 1984.

Domestic Airlines Continue Strong Growth:

The strong growth ex- experienced by Australian domestic airlines in 1984 has continued in the first quarter of 1985. Three of the four major performance indicators showed a significant increase compared with the corresponding quarter of 1984. The improvements are:- total tonne-kilometres up 7. 8% to 268 million,-passenger-kilometres up 8. 9% to 2,563 million,-freight tonne-kilometres up 0. 5% to 33 million, passengers carried up 8. 9% to 2. 8 million.

The most important of the indicators, total tonne-kilometres, increased by 7. 3% in the year ended 31 March 1985. Recovery in the Industry is particularly evident in the area of passenger-kilometres which rose by 8% over the year to March 1985.

 Lufthansa and Caac Sign Cooper- Ation Agreement:

Lufthansa has signed a cooperation agreement with CAAC to provide the PRC airline, and its growing affiliates, with technical training and support services. The agreement revolves around providing a consultation service in all technical areas, including aircraft-type evaluation. Upgrading of workshops to improve efficiency and developing detailed plans for the expansion of CAAC’s technical base.

The agreement follows extended training of technical and operational CAAC management personnel by Lufthansa in Germany over the past eighteen months. Lufthansa, together with the German organisation for technical cooperation, will also be advising CAAC on matters concerning the division of responsibilities and functions between CAAC and the planned new national Chinese Airline that will be headquartered in Beijing.

 Near Record Movements:

Aircraft movements at Sydney airport on the Friday of the July firefighters’ strike reached near-record levels.

Although passenger numbers were down on a normal day, the use of large numbers of smaller aircraft boosted aircraft movements to 639 compared with 582 for the same day in 1984. Air traffic services staff had more flight pro- gress strips than could be fitted onto their boards. The record for air movements at Sydney airport is 666.

 Airbus A310-300 Makes Successful First Flight:

The latest addition to the Airbus family of aircraft, the extended-range A310-300, has been successfully first flown at the European consortium’s headquarters in Toulouse.

The A310-300 is the extended-range version of the advanced technology A310-200 and features a number of world firsts for a civil airliner, chief among them being a fuel-saving centre-of-gravity management system that utilises a tailplane fuel trim tank.

The tailplane tank enables the -300 to carry an additional five tonnes of extra fuel and by utilising the fuel management transfer system, the pilots are able to adjust the aircraft’s centre- of of-gravity in flight, thus reducing drag and fuel consumption. The he A310-300 is the first airliner to be equipped with such a system although a similar principle has been applied to Concorde. The A310-300 can carry 218 passengers in a typical mixed-class First and Economy layout over a distance of 4,600mm/8,500km. Powered by Pratt and Whitney JT9D-7R4E engines, the first -300 will fly some 220 hours in a test programme leading to certification and handover to Swissair in December. A second A310-300, powered by General Electric CF6- 80C2 engines, will fly in September at the start of a 160 hour test programme leading to certification next February. Air India will be the first airline to put this type into service in June 1986.

Ansett Startle Aviation Munity With Airbus Order:

Ansett joint managing director, Sir Peter Abeles, stunned the Australian aviation community with his Paris Air Show A320 purchase announcement. In view of Ansetts extremely close relationship to Boeing in recent years and their large scale marketing of the “Boeing Fleet concept most observers had not expected Ansett to depart the Boeing camp for arch-rival Airbus Industries.

The eventual deal had been in serious discussion for more than six months prior to the secret signing for 17 A320s in Sydney on May 12, 1985. The Ansett purchase covers a firm order of 8 with an additional 9 on option, total value could exceed one billion Australian dollars at current values. Ansett later chose the CFM56-5 to power its A320 fleet which indicates initial delivery around mid 1988. Powerplants for the optioned aricraft have yet to be chosen. The A320s will be configured in first and economy as 140 seaters and will be two crew aircraft. According to Sir Peter, the FE problem has been resolved and “there won’t be any crewing problems, we don’t have any arguments with the flight engineers”.

Ansett, and particularly Sir Peter, have in recent months gone out of their way to highlight the fact that they are emerging as an international transportation company. Combined with the vast resources of TNT, Ansett hope to win many management and lease deals in the next few years that will eventually see them flying beyond Australia. Indeed, China looks set for Ansett’s first coup with the carrier providing substantial management and material support to the nation’s rapidly expanding but woefully inexperienced domestic air transportation system. A number of the A320, or aircraft from fol- low on purchases, could well find their way to China. Ansett is also looking at BAe 146 activities as regards China and in particular providing a major maintenance and support base that would nicely tie in with its own Australian operations.

When, several weeks later, Ansett then announced that it was rolling over its entire 737- 200 fleet for the larger, more fuel-efficient 737- 300 it came almost as an anti-climax, particularly as this seemed the most logical course of action due to the imminent cessation of the in- vestment allowance on June 30th. Once TAA had played its hand, Ansett was no doubt forced to follow if it wanted to maintain some sort of resemblance towards fleet superiority. The first Ansett 737-300 will arrive in. Melbourne next July, a few weeks after TAA’s first of type, and will be configured for 112 passengers in a two class arrangement. Like TAA, Ansett’s aircraft will be powered by CFM56-3-2B engines of 22,000lb thrust and will be equipped with EFIS cockpit: A comprehensive Boeing 737- 300 technical update appears elsewhere in this edition.

On top of the surprise Airbus order, Ansett’s subsidiary, Corsair, has ordered an additional 7 Fokker 50 aircraft to take the total Ansett group acquisition of this aircraft to 22 units. Corsair is a joint partnership between News Corporation, TNT and Mr Leslie Hong. Mr Hong operates Corsair from Seattle and was instrumental in placing the ex-Ansett DC-9-30s into US service following Ansett’s Boeing 737- 200 order in 1980. The Corsair involvement indicates that many of the Fokker 50 aircraft will be employed in overseas operations and will not even get to wear Ansett livery. Times are certainly changing and Ansett obviously intend on being far more than a mere domestic airline in the years ahead.

Radial Aircraft Tyres Offering Performance Gains:

Just as radial tyre technology revolutionised the motor car tyre industry the emergence of radial tyres for aircraft looks certain to do the same for aviation. Michelin have recently released a new range of aircraft radial tyres that will reduce tyre weight by between a quarter and one third, offer better resistance to wear allowing double the number of landings in some instances in addition to being easier to retread and more durable in the long term. The Air X tyres have already been flying on French Air Force Mirage III, F-1 and 2000 fighters since 1982 and have recently been fitted to Air France A300 aircraft. As they are substantially lighter, Michelin claim that aboard an A300, with a weight saving of 300kg. and with 1200 flights per annum the overall fuel saving would be around US$30,000.

Indonesia and Japan Evaluate Market for Large Flying Boat:

Shin Meiwa of Japan and Nurtanio of Indonesia have held joint discussions on the feasibility of developing a flying boat in the 40-seat class. Indonesia, with more than 4,000 islands has a significant requirement for such an aircraft though it has no practical expertise in developing such an aircraft, Shin Meiwa on. the other hand is famous for its flying boats and envisages such craft being used to support Japan’s vibrant tourist industry.