Commercial Aircraft Sales

McDonnell Douglas has predicted that the worldwide air cargo market will continue to develop at levels greater than passenger traffic growth and that nearly 2300 freighter aircraft will be in service by 2013 from new production and conversion sources. With global economic growth projected at 3.5% annually, worldwide air cargo is forecast to expand by 7.3% annually through to 2013, compared with 5.7% for passenger traffic, according to the manufacturer. McDonnell Douglas puts the rapid growth down to the increased globalisation of the world economy and the effects of recent trade accords such as GATT. The greatest growth is expected within and to the Asian and Pacific Rim markets at a rate of between 8.5% and 11.6%. To meet this demand MDC expects the air freighter fleet to more than double from 1034 jet aircraft at the beginning of 1994 to 2265 by 2013. The greatest expansion will be shown at the top end of the market, the fleet increasing from 143 aircraft (mainly 747s plus some MD-11s) to 743, a more than 500% increase. Much of this growth will be tied to the expected expansion of the intercontinental market to Asia. The medium freighter fleet (DC-8s, DC-10, A300s, 707s) will nearly double from 365 to 709 aircraft, while the smaller capacity fleet (727s, DC-9s, BAe 146s) will grow more slowly from 526 to 813 aircraft. Of interest is Boeing’s world air freight forecasts for the same period. It predicts a total fleet of 2080 aircraft by 2014, comprising 790 large capacity, 479 medium capacity and 811 smaller capacity jet aircraft.

Qantas And Ansett To Fit Tcas

Both Qantas and Ansett are to fit traffic alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS) to their entire domestic jet fleets over the coming 18 months. The move follows a recommendation from both airlines’ safety departments after an increase in the number of air misses in Australia, several of which have occurred over the last few months. These include a Qantas 737 and British Airways 747 over central Australia in August, two Qantas aircraft (a 747 and a domestic aircraft) over Northern Australia in September, a British Airways 747 and a light aircraft over Perth and an All Nippon Airways 747 and an Air Niugini A310 over the Coral Sea. In all but the Perth incident, TCAS equipment installed in the international aircraft alerted pilots of the risk of collision. The eight month period between September 1994 and May 1995 has seen 57 cases of separation standards breakdown in controlled airspace in and near Australia plus a further 29 outside controlled airspace. Of those within controlled airspace, 10 involved aircraft with TCAS, the equipment alerting pilots of the situation in each case. Ansett and Qantas’ international fleets already have TCAS installed and fitting it to the airlines’ domestic jet fleet will cost each carrier about $10m.

Two Crew 727 Cockpit

A two crew cockpit for the Boeing 727 — eliminating the flight engineer — is being offered by US companies AeroWorks and Gull Electronic Systems. Called the ‘DuoDeck’, the conversion is largely based on the proven reliability of the Boeing 737 twinjet cockpit. The first conversion is due to fly in January 1996 for certification and talks with several potential launch customers are reported to be underway. It is claimed the conversion will save operators $US350,000 to $650,000 per aircraft per annum in labour and support costs compared with the 727’s standard three crew cockpit.

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