Newsdesk – Commercial Aviation

Airbus’ market strategy with the A340 is interesting. The total market for long-range aircraft in this category is finite as both McDonnell Douglas (with the MD-11) and Airbus readily agree. At the top end is the established and unchallengeable 747, and at the lower end are the numerous ER versions of existing twinjets. Normally Al could not economically justify Producing the A340 on its own. However, the A330 twinjet and the A340 are virtually the same aircraft, except for engine installation points on the wings and some minor associated system changes. What this means in the long term is that Al have only to build, say, one A340 a month, to augment expected production of at least two A330 twinjets a month to maintain viability for the entire A330/340 line.

This way it is a lot cheaper to produce 36 such aircraft annually rather than a mere 24, which is why Al were reluctant to ditch the A340 in favour of a tie-up with McDonnell Douglas and their MD-11 trijet last year. In the long run Airbus also feel their A340 will win out against the MD-11 as it will essentially embody more advanced and efficient systems in what is an entirely new design aircraft whereas the MD-11 is essentially a revamped, albeit very improved, DC-10.

In the short term though MDC may capture more sales as their aircraft will not only be on the world’s airways a full two years ahead of the Airbus offering but it will also be marginally less expensive to acquire on a per seat basis as so much of its development costs have already been met via its proven DC-10 heritage.

 Australian Engine Component Facility Launched in Technology Spin-off With Rolls Royce:

A new $A15m advanced technology casting facility is to be built in Australia following the formation of a joint venture company by Rolls Royce and a new Australian consortium formed by Wastintech Innovation Corporation Limited. The new joint venture company will be known as Turbine Components Australia Pty Ltd”. To be built in the Perth area, Rolls Royce the facility will create new jobs and bring some of the most advanced aero engine manufacturing technology to the Australian aerospace industry. The facility is planned to be operational in 1988 and to have an initial annual turnover approaching $A10 million, the whole of which will be exported. The plant is principally being constructed to meet Australian Industry Offsets accumulated through the purchase of Rolls Royce aero engines over the past decade. Rolls are probably favourite to power Qantas’ new 747-400s and this latest move will only serve to enhance their chances.

At the outset, the plant will produce, under licence from Rolls Royce, directionally solidified (DS) turbine blades for the Rolls Royce RB211-535 and Tay engines. The RB211-535 is used to power the Boeing 757 aircraft and the Tayis the exclusive power plant for the Fokker 100 and Gulfstream IV aircraft.

The production of DS turbine blades will be followed at a later stage by the manufacture of single crystal (SC) turbine blades and the facility will be kept up to date with the latest improvements in the manufacture of SC and DS turbine blades. Rolls plans to purchase for its own use the total output of the new facility in the first five years of operation resulting in total export sales for the facility in excess of $440 million over this period.

The new facility will be funded jointly by Rolls Royce and the Westintech Consortium. The equipment for the facility will be purchased in Australia wherever economically practicable, although certain specialist equipment not avail- able in Australia will have to be imported.

Components utilising this advanced techno- logy will find expanding applications in the products of all aero engine manufacturers. Therefore, the new company will be seeking business for both military and commercial aero engine components in the worldwide market for high efficiency gas turbine engines.

At an early date it is intended to carry out a feasibility study with a view to doubling the output of the facility.

Turbine Components Australia Pty Limited is owned equally by Rolls Royce plc and the Westintech Consortium. The Westintech Consortium consists of Westintech, Circuit Technology Holdings and Clough Engineering. The board of the new joint venture company comprises three directors from each of the two partners, Rolls Royce and the Westintech Consortium. The Chairmanship will rotate between the Westintech Consortium and Rolls Royce every two years. The inaugural Chairman will be Mr Stuart Morgan, Managing Director of Westintech.

 CFM56-5 Passes Bird Ingestion Test:

The CFM56-5-A1 engine successfully completed medium bird ingestion certification testing recently at the SNECMA engine test centre in Corbell, France.

With fan speed set at 4,900rpm, slightly higher than that required for the engine’s 25,000lb thrust rating, the engine ingested seven birds weighing more than 1. 5lbs each in less than one second, maintaining 98% thrust. Regulations require that the engine must maintain at least 75% thrust.

The CFM56-5 is scheduled to be certified in August 1987, with service entry on the Airbus Industrie A320 aircraft in the first quarter of 1988.

 Paris Salon Bigger Than Ever:

The world’s oldest air show, the Paris Salon, looks set to eclipse all previous shows with its 37th being held this coming June.

Opening to the public on June 12 and running through till the 21st, the show this year will host 1200 exhibitors from more than 30 nations operating 420 chalets (some of which will be multi-storey). The static aircraft display area alone will cover almost 16 square kilometres while trade halls will add some 7. 8 square kilometres to this area.

Aircraft appearing at the show for the first time will be the Airbus A320, Fokker 50 (in Ansett livery), Fokker 100, BAe 146-300, Hawk 200. Dassault Rafale, Piaggio P. 180, Falcon 900 and a number of Soviet and Chinese air- craft types. Australian Industry is again being represented by a joint stand managed by the Association of Australian Aerospace Industries (AAAI) in conjunction with AUSTRADE.

Boeing 7j7 Definitive Launch Prior to Paris Air Show:

Boeing plans to make public its definitive configuration for the 7J7 well prior to this year’s Paris Air Show.

Boeing are known to be about to decide between a very wide seat and six abreast single aisle configuration or a twin-aisle cabin of three rows of two in the standard economy or up to seven abreast in three rows in the charter configuration. Boeing have found to date that most of the airlines who have visited their cabin mockups have preferred the twin aisle layout, something that would give them a tangible interior advantage over their A320/MD-90 series competitors.

Boeing will also have to make a definitive choice as to powerplant in the coming year as contrary to modern trends they do not intend to offer the aircraft with a variety of powerplant options. This is because of the technical difficulties encountered using the new techno-engines which are in conceptual terms configured totally differently to each other. The General Electric UDF for instance would be tail mounted whereas the IAE Superfan would be mounted underwing. Points against the Superfan are that it is still very much a paper engine and Boeing needs to move quickly to retain customer interest in addition to the ultra high bypass ratio of the Superfan requiring an extended and heavier undercarriage than is required for the tail mounted UDF. GE has also been test flying the development variant of this engine with great success aboard a 727 and more latterly an MD-80 aircraft and is well ahead of IAE on development. Whatever happens, Boeing will gain better financial terms from both companies as a result of the direct competition and while GE are favourites at this stage, the fact that Boeing are evaluating the Superfan is great news for Airbus who need as much credible endorsement for this engine as possible as it is the primary motive power behind their ultra-long-range A340.

Boeing are also looking to launch their long awaited and often mooted ‘baby’ 737. Now re-designated as a 737-1000, this 100 seater would be powered by two derated 18,000lb thrust class CFM56 engines, feature a shortened fuselage similar to the original 737- 100 of the mid sixties in addition to featuring the wing of the -300/400 and an appropriate avionics and systems suite. The aircraft has attracted considerable interest from US carriers, claims Boeing, and would be ideal for low noise operations from restricted runways over long sectors. Primary competitors would be the BAe 146-200/300 and Fokker’s 100. Boeing hope principally to team sales with combinations of 737-1000s and the larger 737- 400s.

Airbus Makes Further Inroads Into North American Market:

Airbus Industrie has made further large-scale inroads into the heart of Boeing Country following the sale of 25 A300-600s to American Airlines in March.

The GE powered aircraft will be used princip- ally on American’s Caribbean and South American routes and will be used in a two class 267 pax configuration. Boeing did not have too much cause for concern though as AA also signed for 15 new Boeing 767-300ER aircraft to complement the 21 767-200s that it already has in its large fleet. For Airbus though, the order is extremely important as it buoys up the A300 line through 1988/89 and will enable the European manufacturer to compete more competitively through a larger per annum production base in this period, a factor that will reduce its per unit cost and hopefully stimulate further A300 sales over the coming two years.

The latest American Airlines order brings to 451 the number of Airbus twin-aisle aircraft so far sold while American now joins fellow US carriers, Continental, Eastern, Northwest and PanAm as Al clients.

 Re-Engined 727 Programme Underway:

The world’s most populous passenger jet, the Boeing 727, is about to get a life extended via US specialist engineering group, Valsan.

Valsan have already test flown a 727-200 with the standard outboard Pratt & Whitney 15,000lb thrust JT8D-11s replaced by two JT8D-217s of some 20,850lb as used on the MDC MD-82 and MD-87. The centre standard unit meanwhile features a special exhaust mixer that reduces noise significantly.

Sterling Airlines of Denmark is the official launch customer for the retrofit and hopes to have the first of their 727 fleet so converted by early 1988 when Valsan anticipated FAA certification. The mod effectively brings the 727 within full ICAO Stage 3 noise limits while at the same time reducing fuel burn by an expected 12% and increasing range by around 14%. Field and climbout performance is also improved due to the increase in thrust. Valsan feel that there exists a big future for the converted 727s, as of the more than 1800 built there still exist more than 500 examples that are less than ten years old and thus ripe for conversion, to allow operators to achieve what Boeing conservatively anticipates as a full thirty year airframe life from the type.

Gaf Win Their First Airbus Contract:

The Government Aircraft Factories, now renamed Aerospace Technologies of Australia Pty Ltd, have won their first ever offset contract from Airbus Industrie.

The $3. 5m contract is for 300 shipsets of wing fixed shrouds for the new A320 twinjet which is due to enter service locally with Ansett through next year and Australian Airlines in 1989. The first of the Australian made components is due to be delivered to British Aerospace of the UK (who are responsible for the A320 wings) early in 1988 Award of the ATA contract follows hot on the heels of the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Hawker de Havilland, BAe Australia, Dunlop Aviation, ATA and Lucas Aerospace and Airbus Industrie for a share of up to 4% of the R&D and component manufacture work on the coming A330/340 projects.

Airbus expect to build more than 800 A330/ 340s over a twenty five year period commencing 1992 and a 4% share in this could ultimately be worth up to one billion (1987) dollars in potential export revenue. Financing the initial investment will be through a series of bank and government R&D loans that are presently under discussion.

The past few months have been an Important period for the Australian aerospace manufacturing sector. Along with the Airbus MOU, a similar arrangement has been entered into with Boeing to become a junior partner on the 7J7 propfan aircraft, additional heavy offsets arrangements have been entered into with Boeing and HdH while Australia also looks certain to become a joint partner with McDonnell Douglas Helicopters and the Chinese in the design, development and assembly of a new light helo to replace the MDH 500 series helicopters. (refer p92 Jan 87 AA).

GE 727 Unducted Fan Test Programme Finalised:

The flight testing stage of development of General Electric’s UDF engine aboard a specially configured Boeing 727-100 has been completed.

The test programme involved 25 flights totalling some 41 hours during which the aircraft flew at speeds of Mach. 84 at altitudes as high as 36,000ft. This equates to the typical operating environment of an in-service propfan-type aircraft.

GE are offering their UDF for the Boeing 7J7 in addition to a number of proposed propfan variants of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Senes aircraft. GE feel that fuel savings in the region of 40% to 70% are possible with the new engine, a point that was endorsed by the UDFeng- ine aboard the 727 consuming on average 49% less fuel than the JT8s on that aircraft. Additionally, noise levels were below those expected and though not quite within the ICAO Stage 3 standards, GE is confident that this will be easily met with the fitment of refined blades and a number of engine modifications. Interior noise and vibration levels were also essentially within target.

Meanwhile, fight testing resumes this May aboard a similarly modified McDonnell Douglas MD-80. This stage of testing will also include many of the improvements developed for the GE UDF engine over the past six months derived from the experience gained with the 727 test programme.

Wider Opportunities for RB211 as Rolls Gets Aboard the Boeing 767:

Rolls Royce have announced that it has signed a business agreement with Boeing to install the RB211-524D4D engine on the Boe- ing 767 family of aircraft for entry into service by early 1990. This will provide engine commonality with RB211 powered B747s and could bring significant operating benefits to those airlines, such as Qantas, which use both aircraft. The engine in the 8767 and 8747 will be rated at 58,000lb of thrust Following the launch of the RB211-524D4D in the Boeing 747 and the very successful start to that engine’s development programme, a further growth study on the RB211 is being undertaken. The study engine under consideration designated the RB211-700, is aimed at a significant increase in thrust to 65,000lb and above for the early 1990s.