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Ba/Lufthansa Hiring Pilots

British Airways and Lufthansa have begun a pilot recruitment programme in an effort to beat an immediate shortage. Both airlines will be looking for direct entry and ab initio candidates while Lufthansa is also planning to employ foreign pilots including 150 Spanish pilots trained by the Lufthansa Pilots School on behalf of Iberia. None of these pilots have found positions with the Spanish flag carrier. Lufthansa is also looking to recruit Swissair pilots who have been partially trained by the German operator but who have not been offered positions. Lufthansa estimates it will need 300 new pilots in 1996 but will get only 60 from its own training school. BA’s needs come mainly from the fact that about 1000 of its pilots will be retiring over the next five years. It is planning to restart an ab initio training scheme and to employ graduates from previous courses who have not found jobs.

Poland Looks At F-16

Poland is considering buying 100 Lockheed F-16C/D fighters to replace its fleet of obsolete MiG-21s. Poland has over 200 MiG-21s in service in fighter, ground attack and reconnaissance roles, all of which have to be retired within three years. If Poland does purchase F-16s it would involve local industry participation in the aircrafts’ manufacture, initially of parts and then expanding into full airframe manufacture. The Dassault Rafale, Saab Gripen, MiG-29M and Sukhoi Su-27 are also in the running for a Polish order. The MiG-29 offer is the most financially attractive but is considered politically unfavourable.

Ansett Pushes Malaysian Services

The International Air Services Commission (IASC) has given Ansett approval to operate services between Australia and Malaysia in conjunction with MAS. An increase in the amount of capacity available to Ansett has also been approved. Ansett’s services begin this month on a codeshare basis on MAS aircraft. From November this year the codeshare operation will cover 11 flights per week, nine operated by MAS aircraft and two by Ansett aircraft. Ansett’s proposed schedule will provide Melbourne with daily services direct to Kuala Lumpur and Sydney with four direct services and three via Melbourne. 6 Australian Aviation September 1995 Traffic between Australia and Malaysia has been growing rapidly, averaging 13% per annum over the last three years.

Pacific Aviation Buyer Sought

Expressions of interest in purchasing the business or assets of financially troubled aircraft company Pacific Aviation are being sought by the company’s administrators. One of Australia’s largest general aviation companies, Pacific has six facilities, a payroll of 74 and a turnover of about $20m per annum, derived mainly from its spare parts and maintenance activities.

Indonesia To Develop Jet Airliner

Following the successful first flight of the IPTN N-250 development prototype on August 10, Indonesia’s President Suharto announced that the company had won approval to embark on a programme to develop a 100 seat jetliner. Project cost is anticipated at just under $A3bn in 1995 values with the aircraft entering service around 2004. IPTN, and the Indonesian Government, have already spent nearly a billion dollars on the N-250 programme. The 70 seat propjet is expected to enter service in 1998 with Indonesian domestic operators. The new 100 seat jet will be designated N-2130 and Indonesia is courting interest from the international aerospace community in becoming risk sharing partners in the project. Korea, China and Taiwan are already investigating similar proposals of their own (refer Newsdesk this issue) whilst existing and planned aircraft in this over subscribed category already include three versions of the Avroliner, Fokker’s 100, Boeing’s 737-500 and the proposed McDonnell Douglas MD-95.

Avalon Dates Selected

The dates for the next Australian International Airshow and Aerospace Expo at Avalon have been announced. The next show will run from February 18 to 23 1997. Running the airshow in February instead of March avoids a potential conflict with the Formula One Grand Prix, which will be held in Melbourne during March each year for the next decade. The 1997 event is expected to be run on a similar format to that of this year’s airshow and will include a large degree of international involvement.