Stop Press

Another ex Australian senior executive is Paul Edwards who has also just defected from Ansett to become Qantas’ Executive General Manager, Pricing,Scheduling and Yield Management. Mr Edwards was formerly the manager for airline planning at Ansett.

Certainly the intel these senior executives would take from one airline to the other is virtually priceless and indeed represents a major coup for not only Qantas but for James Strong in particular.

 Eagles for Israel:

Israel has announced it will purchase an unspecified number of F-15E Strike Eagles in a deal thought to be worth more than $US2bn.

The Israeli Strike Eagles, to be known as F-151s and customised to Israeli requirements, were selected after a three aircraft contest involving it and the F/A-18D and F-16C. While the F/A-18D was earlier favoured, the successful peace accord with the Palestinians and Syria has allowed Israel to focus (with full US consent) on longer range threats such as Iran and Iraq, hence shifting the emphasis towards long range deep interdiction strike.

While exact aircraft numbers have not been announced $US2bn would involve approximately 25 to 28 F-158.

 Tasman code sharing caled Down:

Qantas and Air New to reduce the number of code shared flights they operate between Australia and New Zealand under the Air Share agreement.

Both airlines will operate theirown services between Sydney/Auckland and Brisbane/Auckland from April, with the agreement remaining in place for another six months on remaining routes. The new arrangements will see total capacity rise by 1400 seats, with Qantas introducing three new Auckland/Sydney frequencies per week, while Melbourne/Wellington services operated by Air New Zealand under the codesharing arrangement will be reduced to meet seasonal demand.

Another change includes Air New Zealand’s substitution of two 747s over two 767 flights on the fast growing Brisbane/ Auckland route. Changes to flights still covered by code sharing include Sydney! Wellington, Brisbane/Christchurch and Brisbane/Wellington gaining one 767 frequency per week each.

Qantas and Air New Zealand both credit the changes to market development that justifies each airline operating its own services, plus the imminent arrival of the single aviation market. The original air share agreement was signed in 1991 and is due to expires in April. Industry insiders though see it as the first crack in the facade of fraternalism that engulfed thesmaller carrier once Qantas gained a 19. 9% ANZ. British Airways 25% investment in Qantas now worries the Kiwis who feel they might be left out on a marketing limb (or taken over totally) in years to come. An in depth update on Air New Zealand will appear in our April edition. . NEW F-16s FOR OLD: Lockheed and the USAF are investigating a plan which could see the USAF ‘trading in’ up to 400 early model F-16A/Fighting Falcons for 100 new F-16C/Ds, the manufacturer then offering the earlier aircraft for sale on the export market.

Even with some upgrades incorporated, the price of the used and refurbished F-168 will be under $US10m each and Lockheed has identified several potential customers in South America, Eastern Europe and among current operators of the aircraft.

The aircraft involved are due to be withdrawn from Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard Units and if the plan is implemented it will provide Lockheed with an extension of F-16 production for the USAF until the end of the decade and help the USAF fill a predicted shortfall in fighter numbers.

 British Industry Jobcuts:

The UK aerospace industry lost more than 1000 jobs in the space of a week during January, British Aerospace’s Avro Regional Jets subsidiary and Short Brothers being affected.

Avro will lose 580 of its 2500 workforce, mainly from the Woodford plant but also from Hatfield, where some product support staff remain. BAe will continue to support Avro even though the proposed cooperation deal with Taiwan Aerospace is now regarded as being unlikely to proceed. Avro has a backlog of 29 RJ/1468 which will allow it to produce 13 aircraft this year, the same number as in 1993.

Belfast based Shorts is also to make 440 workers redundant, about half of them from the company’s missiles operation, now part of a joint venture with France’s Thomson CSF. Shorts says that delays in placing new defence contracts is to blame, but points out that its successful nacelles division could create some new jobs during the year.

Shorts, which is owned by Canada’s Bombardier, also performs much airframe work for Canadair and Learjet in addition to building the wings of the Fokker 70 and 100. In fact, there is actually more British content in the Fokker Twinjets than there is in the Avro RJ.

 Air Pacific Expands:

Fiji’s national carrier has committed – the Nadi/Los Angeles route from July this year, reports Julian Green.

The route, which had presented a conundrum for Air Pacific, was finally added to the network after the board of directors determined in December last year that the commencement of services was appropriate- ate given a number of changes in the airline’s direct operating environment.

Andrew Drysdale, CEO and Managing Director of Air Pacific, said about the commencement of services, “This is an exciting development for Air Pacific, and one which clearly demonstrates the volatility of the current aviation environment and Air Pacific’s ability to rapidly respond to strategic changes.

The changes referred to include Continental’s withdrawal from South Pacific routes and the increase in yield and load factor market.

for carriers remaining in the Qantas has also recently announced that it would replace the four weekly Boeing 747-200 Combi Sydney/Nadi/Honolulu/LA services to two weekly 747-400 Sydney/ Nadi/LA services (refer Airline Affairs).

These issues, coupled with a38% growth in US arrivals into Fiji over the past year has led the airline to operate a weekly 747 service with rights to increase totwo services per week as the market dictates. The 747 will become available after the re-scheduling of slot times at Air Pacific’s profitable Narita destination.

“The addition of Osaka and LA to our route structure during 1994 and the change of the existing 767-200 to a 767-300ER in September will make 1994 a busy, demanding and exciting year for Air Pacific,” said Andrew Drysdale.

Operations to Australia, however, are becoming increasingly difficult due to the predominance of very competitive domestic holiday packages, resulting in the airline inaugurating a TV campaign aimed at increasing passenger numbers and Air Pacific’s market share.

An in depth profile on Air Pacific appeared in our September 1993 issue. .

 British Aerospace Profit From Roversale:

Ailing British Aerospace has been boosted by the sale of its Rover car division to Germany’s BMW.

the then ailing Rover Group for just £150m ($A320) in 1988 and will thus realise a much needed financial windfall from the sale to BMW which has paid £800m ($A1. 7bn) for the now profitable vehicle manufacturer. As -where in Newsdesk, BAe was also discussing the possibility of building Rover cars in Indonesia, something that, like their long hoped deal to build Avro jetliners in Taiwan, will drift intohistory.

The cash injection, coming on the heels of sale of the corporate jet division, will assist the company in further reducing debt and increasing its longterm potential for profitability.