Commercial Aircraft Sales

Qantas was also keeping its eyes on the Products from Toulouse, though had largely discounted the twin engined A330 for the same reservations expressed regarding the 777A. Whilst the very long ranging four engined A340 could fulfil the Qantas mission, the small number required made it uneconomic to support as a one off fleet. Qantas felt that it would need at least at dozen of type to make them cost efficient in engineering terms and the requirement did not stretch to that number of planes.

For the years ahead it is likely that the airline will continue to rollover its older 747- 200/300 fleet with new-400s and to acquire additional Boeing 767-300ERs and developed versions of the 767.

Whilst the airline (via Australian) still holds paid deposits on a number of A320s it is most unlikely that they will be exercised in the foreseeable future as Qantas builds upon its large 737 fleet. Prior to the merging of Qantas and Australian it was generally believed that the paid deposits would be converted to firm orders for A321s or A310s to replace the now retired Boeing 727 fleet and the existing A300s.

The A300s, whilst on the market, are also to be painted in the new Qantas livery with the first aircraft due out of the paintshop in July. Indeed a sight that Toulouse has long wished to see but in this case perhaps for all the wrong reasons.

Say Again Please!:

How’s this for a basis for confusion? The new Denver Airport has the following designations for its parallel runways.

When approaching from the east the lefthand runway is nominated as 25 Right and the righthand runway is 26 Left. When approaching from the south the far left runway is 34 Centre and 34 Right is to the left of 35 Left! Just thought you’d like to know in case you’re ever flying into Denver! The new airport also has other problems. Originally scheduled to open this August, it will now not be operational until December while hundreds of systems in the $US2. 7bn facility are debugged, particularly the automatic baggage handling system and underground automatic trains. The airport will feature five 3660m (12,000ft) runways initially and another seven will be added later, including one 4880m (16,000ft) long.

A few more major city airports of this size and some of the world’s airport/airways congestion might begin to disappear.

Awa Wins Taiwan MLS Contract:

AWA has won a $5m contract from the Taiwan government to supplythree Microwave Landing Systems (MLS).

The tender was won against stiff US and European competition and represents the first significant sale of Australian high technology to Taiwan. Previous sales have been made to the USA, China and Spain. Commissioning trials for the first system will begin in May next year and full operation at the three sites will be achieved the following December.

Flightpath to Prosperity:

Congestion at both airports and in the airways is proving a major obstacle to air transport development and urgently needs to be addressed, according to a document on the subject prepared by Airbus Industrie.

Flightpath to Prosperity’ was prepared by Airbus fortheAir Transport Action Group and details the increasing problems of airport and airways congestion, which is hampering growth and wasting unrenewable resources, and stresses the pressing need for solutions.

Congestion, particularly in Europe and North America has been spurred on by the relative increase in the affordability of airline travel, due to the introduction of progressively larger and cheaper to operate aircraft. However development of airports, due to a number of factors has lagged, with very few new airports opened in recent times (Munich’s new airport took 30 years from initial proposal to opening) which has resulted in an ever increasing strain on existing facilities.

With more movements comes congestion and delays, making flying a more tedious and wasteful prospect than it needs be. Delays in Europe and North America alone are said to cost over $US10bn a year.

Congestion has also lead to clogged airways as capacity increases, and this is further hindered by national barriers, where in Europe alone there are 55 control centres, 31 different incompatible ATC systems with 70 different computer languages.

Solutions are however at hand, with high speed rail links, particularly in Europe, set to gain an ever increasing share of traffic of up to two hours travelling time, which should to an extent ease the strain on some short haul routes.

More importantly though the ICAO endorsed Future Air Navigation System(FANS) will allow through satellite communication links the far more efficient operation of airways, enabling smoother traffic flows and greatly reduced delays. FANS has not yet been fully funded however and natural and cultural differences could form barriers that could delay its desperately needed implementation.

 Instant Etops for 777:

Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration plan to have the forthcoming 777 widebody twin certificated for 180 minute Extended Range Twin engine Operations (ETOPS) from the moment it enters service, bypassing the usual proving itself in service’ procedures.

To meet this goal, the FAA has published the conditions which must be met if instant ETOPS approval is given. They include the demonstration by each of the three engines on offer of 1000 cycles simulating airline operations (with one of each engine going through a 2-3000 hour ground test beforehand); establishment of an approved prob- lem tracking system and the establishment of various design, reliability and integrity