AIR TRANSPORT

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++ CityFlyer Express has taken
delivery of its fifth Avro RJ100, and
has placed orders for two further
aircraft for delivery in mid-1999.
The airline, which operates British
Airways franchise services from
Gatwick, has also placed two
options. ++ Atlas Air has placed a
third 747-200 freighter with a con-
sortium of South American airlines
led by the Colombian carrier LAS.
The freighter was previously
leased to British Airways, but has
been replaced by Atlas' first
747-400F. ++ Six ex-Garuda MD-
11s have been returned to Boeing
and are stored in Marana awaiting
delivery to Vasp (two) and Varig
(four). ++ British Aerospace
Asset Management Turboprops
(AMT) has placed an ex-Wings
West BAe Jetstream 32 EP with
Auckland, New Zealand-based
charter airline Air National. In a
separate deal, BAe AMT has
placed an ex-Flagship J32EP with
Australian Jet Charters for oper-
ation on corporate and charter
flights from its Sydney base. The
aircraft will be delivered in October.
++ Pacific Aircraft Holding has
placed an 18-year-old Boeing 737-
200Adv, recently returned by
British Airways, with Aerolineas
Argentinas. ++ Meridian Jet-
prop is remarketing eight of
Continental Express 30 ATR 42
300s and the airline's three ATR
72s, which are being replaced by
new ATR 42-500s and Embraer
ERJ-145s. ++ debis AirFinance
has delivered the first of three addi-
tional Fokker 100s to Brazilian car-
rier TAM. The remaining two
aircraft will arrive by the end of
August. All three aircraft, previous-
ly operated by Merpati, are on 59-
month leases. ++ The three Airbus
A300B4/C4s owned by Al Rajhi
Bank and which Mahan Air is in
negotiations to acquire, were pre-
viously operated by Thai, rather
than Philippines as reported {Flight
International, 22-28 July). ++
Impulse Airlines has placed
orders for six Raytheon Beech
l 900Ds. The new aircraft will
boost the Australian regional carri-
er' s 1900 fleet t o 18 and will be
used to increase frequencies.
/tyres expects th e G E CT7-powered L-610 to gain US approval with in th e year
Ayres set to complete L et deal
A
YRES, THE US cargo and
agricultural aircraft manufac-
turer, expects to complete its acqui-
sition of a 93 % controlling stake in
Czech aircraft builder Let Kuno-
vice from Aero Holdings by the
end of July.
"We have signed everything and
are only waiting on US Govern-
ment technicalities," says company
president Fred Ayres. The deal was
approved by the Czech Govern-
ment in late April (Fligh t Inter-
national, 6-12 May).
Let is already building the proto-
type wings and empennage for
Ayres' LM-200 Loadmaster utility
aircraft, as well as parts of the aft
fuselage. Fred Ayres says that plans
to use parts of the Let L-410 design
in the Loadmaster are at an ad-
vanced stage, and the company has
"completed detailed design" incor-
porating "parts such as control
wheels, rudders and a good bit of
the cockpit, engine inlets and some
of the exhaust system". He adds that
Kunovice will supply "about 50%
of the aircraft" by value.
Orders for the $4.25-4.75 mil-
lion Loadmaster have reached 75,
with deliveries of 50 to launch cus-
tomer FedEx to begin in 2000.
Ayres says a further 25 orders have
been taken, including five from a
Dutch operator, four from South
Africa, three for Corporate Air of
Billings, Montana, and two for
WestAir of Fresno, California.
The company is now "starting to
put parts in the shop" at its plant in
Albany, Georgia, says Ayres, with a
large fuselage section now under-
going structural tests. Let will
deliver the first wings and empen-
nage "by the end of December" and
the Alli'son/AlliedSignal LHTEC
company will deliver the first
2,000kW (2,700shp) CTP800-4T
engine in December. First flight is
due by the "end of the first quarter
of 1999". It is available in freighter,
combi and passenger versions.
Let also produces the L-420, a
Westernised L-410 that received
US certification in May, and the
General Electric CT-7-powered
L-610G, of which Ayres says: "We
expect to develop the 610 and get it
US certification within the year."Q
Chinese study European ov erhaul proposals
C
HINA SOUTHERN Air-
lines is reviewing plans to
invest in an engine test and over-
haul facility while it considers sep-
arate joint venture proposals from
MTU and Sochata. SR Technics,
in the meantime, is pursuing a
maintenance joint venture with
China Eastern Airlines, as Hong
Kong Aircraft Engineering
(HAECO) and Shandong Airlines
begin a study into a new narrow-
body aircraft facility.
MTU of Germany and Snecma
subsidiary Sochata have entered
into separate talks with China
Southern to establish a new engine
support partnership in Guangzhou.
The proposals are seen as an alter-
native to the carrier's joint venture,
Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance
Engineering (GAMECO), which is
also planning investment in its own
independent propulsion centre
(Fligh t International, 15-21 Oc-
tober, 1997).
China Southern, with its two
GAMECO partners Lockheed
Martin and Hutchison Wampoa,
had been planning to invest $108
million in the centre. This has since
been revised down to $60 million
because of concern over the health
of the local air transport market
and the centre's projected losses
during a mandatory first five-year
period of depreciation.
The GAMECO Propulsion
Centre is now on hold pending a
decision by the airline's board.
China Southern is initially looking
to establish a CFM International
CFM56 and Rolls-Royce RB211
support capability. This would lat-
ter be expanded to include the
International Aero Engines V2 500
and possibly General Electric's
GE90 series.
Swissair engineering subsidiary
SR Technics is hoping at the same
time to move forward shortly with
longstanding plans for a mainte-
nance joint venture with China
Eastern. The two airlines have co-
operated closely since 1989, per-
forming heavy C and D checks on
Airbus A300s and Boeing MD-82s
and MD-1 Is. It is understood that
discussions have been complicated
by the Shanghai carrier's insistence
on management control.
Elsewhere in China, Shandong
Airlines and HAECO have entered
into a feasibility study to establish
the country's first narrowbody air-
craft maintenance joint venture.
10 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 29 July - 4 August 1998