Newsdesk – Commercial Aviation

Valsan says the modifications would pay for themselves in two years of high fre quency airline operation.

ASTA Pushes Avalon Freight Potential:

Aerospace Technologies of Australia is heavily promoting its Avalon airport as a future air, sea and land freight hub for south eastern Australia.

ASTA has in place a 20 year development programme to develop Avalon as an aerospace centre of excellence, with a comprehensive freight complex as a major component. The grand plan for Avalon involves a shipping cargo terminal at Point Lillias on the airfield’s airfield’sperimeter, airfreight handling facilities and a rail link, setting aside 1700 acres of land for major indus- trial development at the airport.

As it stands ASTA sees great potential for developing Avalon, given that currently there are few direct air freight links to potential markets while demand for Australian perishable goods, such as seafood continues to grow strongly. The coming availability of older 747s and their suitability for conversion to freighters is another helping factor.

Currently, Avalon (which has recently been gazetted as an international airport by Customs for air freight purposes) features a 3048m runway and hardstands to accommodate up to two 747s and two 7078, while a full range of airport services can be provided by ASTA.

 Engine Out Training Comes Under Fire:

The UK Air Accident In- Branch has criticised the use of engine out training in aircraft following a report into the crash of a Jetstream demon- strator aircraft in October 1992. In its re- port the AAIB noted that more accidents occur during engine out after takeoff train- ing than from real incidents, and encouraged operators to conduct such training in simulators.

Airbus to consult Airlines on 600 Seater:

Airbus Industrie intends holding preliminary talks with selected airlines this year on their requirements for a 600 seat high capacity long range airliner. Dubbed the A3XX, Airbus is studying a 500 to 600 seat airliner with a range of 5000 to 7500nm (9265 to 13,900km). With a go ahead decision not expected till 1997/98 a design concept has not been settled upon, but proposals range from double deck designs to ultra widebody single deck designs with a twin tail empennage. While Airbus says it has the technical ability to build such an aircraft, it would need additional partners, such as Japan, for financial reasons.

The Airbus design study is not linked with the Very Large Commercial Transport (VLCT) talks currently being undertaken by Boeing and Airbus’s four partners – Aerospatiale, BAe, CASA and Deutsche Aerospace.

 Airbus to Establish Chinese Training Centre:

China’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) has accepted an Airbus Industrie proposal to create a pilot training centre for Airbus aircraft in Beijing.

Airbus was due to conduct negotiations on a business plan with CAAC in late December to open a simulator centre to train aircrew for the A300/A310 and A330/A340 families. If negotiations are successful the centre, which would involve a $US100m investment, would train 100 cockpit crews each year for each of the aircraft families. To be operated by Airbus’ training arm Aeroformation, the facility will need a staff of 80 to 100 people. The centre will be similar to Aeroformation’s North American training centre at Miami.

The first priority for the training centre will be the installation of an A300/A310 simulator to support 12 such aircraft currently operated in China, plus 24 that are on firm order. Chinese airlines have also ordered a number of A340s.

 Watermist Fire Control a Pipe Dream?:

Cost constraints are likely to make the use of watermist fire control systems in commercial airliners unlikely.

US Federal Aviation Administration and UK Civil Aviation Authority studies in cabin watermist systems have found that while watermist is a very effective fire control medium, the high costs of such systems are likely to make installation in airliners uneconomic. The UK’s CAA has calculated that such systems would cost the airlines $US20m to $30m per life saved. Improvements in cabin safety through the use of fire materials has also reduced the need for watermist systems.

The weight and the heavy cost of plumbing aircraft make such systems uneconomic. UKCAA and FAA programmes into watermist systems will continue however, with the FAA conducting a full scale watermist system test on a Convair 880 fuselage.

 Mid Year Launch of Atr 82?

ATR hopes to launch its 78-80 seat ATR 82 by mid year, with first deliveries in 1997.

Predevelopment work is currently underway on the slightly stretched version of the ATR 72, with both turboprop and turbofan powerplants having been studied. A turboprop powered ATR 82 would cruise at 335kt (620kmh), while a turbofan powered version could cruise as fast as 400kt (740kmh). With the increase in speed over short sectors insignificant, and a preference for turboprops in this seating category, it seems the turboprop version will receive the go ahead.

While more than a minimum change stretch over the ATR 72, the consortium aims to keep development costs down to $US500m, while a third partner, possibly Japanese, may be involved in the programme. ATR aims to sell 300 ATR-828 over a 15 year period.

Order Rebound Slow:

Growth in airline orders through to the end of the century is likely to be lower than the manufacturers predictions according to both Moody’s Investor Services and Standard & Poors forecasts.

Labelled as pessimistic by the manufacturers, the forecasts point to a number of factors that are likely to keep new orders lower than those predicted by Boeing, Airbus and McDonnell Douglas. Moody’s sites the reasons for low orders will be the high number of airliners already in storage waiting to be returned to service; on average, low economic growth rates in industrialised countries in the next five years; airlines inability to finance purchases; and increasing cost competition from Russian manufacturers.

The agencies also note that while their forecast demand of 500 aircraft units per year is higher than the average of 410 delivered annually in the 1980s, the increase in deliveries will be shared by a larger number of models.

 Local Avionics Firm Doing Well in China:

Australia’s Collins Avionics Service Centre is continuing to develop its export markets to China with the signing of new contracts for service and training with three Chinese airlines.

The new customers are China Southern Airlines, China Northern Airlines and AMECO (a joint venture between Air China and Lufthansa) while an existing contract with Xiamen Airlines has been renewed.

The agreement with China Southern covers avionics contract maintenance for its fleet of 737s, 757s, 767s and smaller air- craft while the agreement with China North- em is to provide training in Australia for Airbus A300 engineers. For AMECO, Collins will train personnel on the company’s 700 series of avionics in Beijing and the Xiamen contract renewal covers depot level maintenance of the Collins avionics on the airline’s 7378 and 7578.

The new contracts mean that 65% of Collin’s Australian office’s total business will be generated from overseas.

 Boeing Checks Strut Bolts:

Boeing is to ask the operators of some seven hundred 747s and 767s to check for mistorqued internal bolts on engine struts. The check only effects aircraft with struts built at the company’s Wichita factory and is not considered to be a problem of safety as one of durability with high cycle aircraft. Boeing will pay for the inspections, which affects some 747s built from 1975 and 767s manufactured after 1984.

Each strut assembly has more than 100 bolts which need to be checked for over torquing, and only those found to be substantially over the limit will need to be replaced.

 Dornier Looks Offshore:

Faced with declining sales, a $US200m loss in 1992, predicted further losses for 1993 and heavy job cuts, Deutsche Aerospace (DASA) is looking at the possibility of moving production of its Dornier 228 19 seat and Dornier 328 33 seat regional turboprops elsewhere.

The 228 has already been earmarked for production in China by Harbin, while production of the recently introduced 328 could be moved to Mexico, where lower costs and the North American Free Trade agreement could be advantageous to the aircraft’s prospects, particularly in the USA.

DASA is also looking at renegotiating its contracts with the 328’s major subcontractors, Daewoo of Korea (fuselage shells) and Aermacchi (fuselage assembly/mating) with a view to reducing its costs.

It appears the smaller 228’s days may be numbered, a victim of the virtual drying up of the 19 seat unpressurised regional market which has affected all manufacturers of aircraft in that class. Sales of the 228 have reached 226 since 1984, but most recent sales have been in ones or twos of specialist versions for governments and their agencies. Licence production of the 228 in India by Hindustan Aeronautics is also nearing completion.

Us Aerospace Sales Down:

1993 sales by the US aerospace industry fell by a massive 10% ($US14bn) compared with the previous year, and a further drop is predicted.

Analysts are expecting sales to be reduced by another $US8bn in 1994, of which $US6bn is expected to come from the civil sector. Despite these large decreases in revenue, profits are expected to reach a record $US5bn this year, largely as a result of deep cost cutting. Much of this has been achieved by reductions in employment.

The industry cut 131,000 jobs in 1993, bringingtotal employment down to 909,000, and a further 49,000 jobs are expected to be lost this year. The remaining employment level of 860,000 will represent a fig- ure 35% (or 470,000 jobs) lower than the peak of 1. 3 million reached in 1989.

Reduced defence spending both in the US and elsewhere plus a general decline in civil sales accounts for the reduced turnover. US military purchases fell by 7% to $US48bn in 1993, the sixth successive year to see a decline in this area, while airliner production is also expected to fall from 414 aircraft in 1993 to 325 this year. Refer this Newsdesk for news of Boeing’s latest round of production cuts.