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UPDATE 
Week ending January 18, 1998
+++ German industry boosts sales +++ EU ends Frankfurt Airport ground handling monopoly +++ New commander for German air force VIP squadron +++ Augsburg Airways expands at Hamburg +++ Mir airlock problem still unsolved +++ Airlines cut flights to Asia +++ Lunar Prospector placed in lunar orbit +++ New cluster satellites to be ready in mid-2000 +++ Airliner prices to rise +++ Boeing 767-400 reaches design milestone +++ News in Brief +++

German industry boosts sales
Deutsche Luft- und Raumfahrtindustrie mit gutem 1997

According to the BDLI (German aerospace industries association), German aerospace companies will post a turnover of over 20 billion DM for 1997, the best results since 1992. This result comes after 15,3 billion in 1995 and 16,9 billion in 1996 and is mainly the result of the excellent order and delivery performance of the Airbus airliner range. According to Hans Eberhard Birke, president of BDLI, a further rise in 1998 is possible. He also pointed to the Eurofighter production decision as a good basis for the military side of the business for many years to come. Because of rationalisation efforts, employment was still a bit lower in 1997 at around 60000, but this just shows how competitive the industry has become, according to Birke. With a strong dollar, rising turnover will filter through to profits, the BDLI thinks. The next important step for 1998 is to restructure Airbus Industrie as a single company and make progress on industrial consolidation across the whole spectrum. Also, Birke declared it necessary that European Governments continue to push development funding for the industry which is still far below US standards.

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EU ends Frankfurt Airport ground handling monopoly
EU beendet Monopol bei den Bodenverkehrsdiensten am Frankfurter Flughafen

On Jan 14, the European Commission decided to act and end the groundhandling monopoly at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. The decision was taken in relation to complaints by Air France, KLM and British Airways that Frankfurt Airport was abusing its dominant position by not granting to airlines the right to provide groundhandling services nor giving access to third-party handling. Groundhandling includes baggage handling, runway operations, refueling, the handling of freight and postal service, cleaning, and provision of catering services. The commission, the executive body of the 15-nation European Union, decided to uphold the complaints and rejected Frankfurt Airport's arguments that constraints on space and capacity justified monopoly. The commission gave Frankfurt Airport three months to present a detailed plan as to how it intends to open the groundhandling market. The European Commission also decided to introduce legislation to liberalize groundhandling in all major EU airports handling a minimum of 1 million to 3 million passengers a year or at least 25,000 tons to 75,000 tons of freight a year.

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New commander for German air force VIP squadron
Oberst Mörsdof neuer Kommandeur der Flugbereitschaft

In ceremonies at the Köln-Wahn airport on January 15, Oberst Joachim Mörsdorf was introduced as the new commander of the Flugbereitschaft. He moves over from his job as chief of statt of the Luftwaffe air transport command at Münster and brings with him the experience of leading the air transport wing 63 at Hohn at the beginninof the 90s. Mörsdorf replaces Oberst Axel Tüttelmann, who will now serve as deputy to the armaments general in the Luftwaffe support command. During Tüttelmans three and a half years at the Flugbereitschaft, the unit has undergone some restructuring, including
  • retirement of the Mi-8 helicopters
  • retirement of two Boeing 707
  • new medical equipment kits for the Challenger business jets to allow ejecuation missions
  • build-up of a new helicopter squadron of Nörvenich to operate some SAR stations
  • build-up of a new squadron at Berlin Tegel in preparation for the move of the Government to the new captial
  • Introduction of the Open Skies activities
The tenure of Tüttelmann was overshadowed by two of the worst crashes in Luftwaffe history, with a UH-1 coming down near Dortmund and a Tu-154 colliding with a USAF Starlifter off Namibia last September.

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Augsburg Airways expands at Hamburg
Hamburg now second base for Augsburg Airways

Augsburg Airways has expanded 35 per cent with the opening of a new operating base at Hamburg airport, where 70 people were hired in the last few months. Scheduled flights started on January 12, when managing director Olaf Dlugi inaugurated the routes from Hamburg to Dresden (four round trips a day) and Leipzig/Halle (one round trip to complement Lufthansa CityLine services). All services are offered under an LH-number, so that passengers can use Lufthansa facilities and get frequent-flyer credits.
With delivery of a second Bombardier Dash 8Q-300 turboprop in February, frequencies will be boosted. A third Dash 8Q-300 is to come in March. It will probably be used on the route to Augsburg from the summer timetable.

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Mir airlock problem still unsolved
Leck an der Mir immer noch nicht geschlossen

After it first looked like the repair on the airlock hatch of Mir station's Kvant-2 module was a success, the Russian Mission Control Center now reported that the leak in the airlock hatch is still releasing pressure from the module. Mir 24 Commander Anatoly Solovyev and Flight Engineer Pavel Vinogradov had closed the airlock and the primary and secondary latches on 9 February during a five-hour space walk. The leaking hatch reportedly has no major effects on the station's function since the respective module is sealed off from the rest of the station. There are currently no further activities planned to seal the leak. The Mir crew is now focusing primarily on the docking with Space Shuttle "Endeavor", scheduled for 25 January.

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Airlines cut flights to Asia
Flüge nach Asien werden gestrichen

Several international airlines have in the past few months reduced or requested to reduce their flights to and from Bangkok as the economic crisis in Asia has affected their profitability. Thai Airways International (THAI), the Thai national flag-carrier, plans to cut its Bangkok-Seoul flights from 25 a week to 21, and Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh City from 15 to 13 a week. South Korea's Asiana has slashed its Seoul-Bangkok operations from nine flights to eight a week while Air Macau has reduced its Macau-Bangkok flights from four to three a week. France's Cors Air has cut down its Paris-Bangkok flights from two to one each week and the Germany-based Lufthansa Airlines has announced plans to reduce its operations between Germany and Thailand from 13 flights to 10 a week, effective from late March, for the summer season. From late February Australia's Qantas is to suspend its three weekly services between Brisbane and Bangkok and its twice weekly non-stop service between Perth and Bangkok. The slump in Asia's outbound tourism has forced airlines managers to reconsider their pricing strategies and revise route destinations to survive fiercer competition among airlines.

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Lunar Prospector placed in lunar orbit
Lunar Prospector hat Mond-Orbit erreicht

The Lunar Prospector has completed its journey to the moon on 11 January and has been placed in a low lunar orbit. The spacecraft will now be trimmed to circularize it to the desired 100 km +/- 20 km mapping orbit, with the spacecraft's spin axis perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. According to NASA's Ames Research Center, Lunar Prospector continues to operate nominally in its current 2-hour orbit and all of the science instruments are operating and collecting data as planned. As expected, the craft is experiencing data blackouts once each orbit when the orbit takes it behind the Moon and communications are lost. These occultations currently last for 41 minutes. During the times of no contact, the data is continually saved in the on-board 53-minute rolling-storage unit.

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New cluster satellites to be ready in mid-2000
Neue Cluster-Satellitenflotte soll Mitte 2000 startklar sein

A new cluster satellite quartet from Dasa's satellite business Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH (DSS) is supposed to be ready for launch in mid-2000. The contract was now signed by Professor Roger Bonnet, ESA's science director, and DSS managing director Dr. Klaus Enßlin. The company already had the industrial lead in the development and assembly of the first cluster quartet. However, it was destroyed during the failed first launch of an Ariane 5 rocket on 4 June, 1996. The new cluster satellites will be launched in pairs, spaced four weeks apart, with Russian Sojus launch rockets. The new cluster fleet will be comprised of three newly built satellites and one that is based on the existing structural model of the Phoenix satellite.

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Airliner prices to rise
Preissteigerung bei Verkehrsflugzeugen

According to the Airline Financial News newsletter, upward pressure on airliner pricing is mounting due to the dwindling availabilty of production slots for any new orders at either Boeing or Airbus for the next 18 months. The robust demand will spur the manufacturers to limit the discounts of 10 percent or more below list prices that they offer certain buyers to win orders, industry observers said. One potential mitigating factor is the possibility airlines in the Far East may seek to reschedule part of their deliveries due to financial problems stemming from currency and economic slides. Recent trends in list prices according to the newsletter are (in millions of US-Dollars):

   Type        1997       1996       Type         1997         1996

   A319        40-45      39-41      737-300      38-44        38-42

   -                                 737-700      39-46        39-46

   A320        45-48      44-47      737-400      33-39        33-39

   A321        55-58      53-57      737-800      48-54        48-54

   A310-300    73-81      71-79      767-200ER    82-92        82-93

   A300-600R   90-102     87-101     767-300      90-98        91-98

   A330-200    109-115    106-113    767-300ER    96-107       97-107

   A330-300    121-128    117-126    777-200A     128-148      128-144

   A340-200/8  123-132    119-128    -

   A340-300    129-138    125-134    777-200B     134-153      135-153

   A340-500    144-150    -          -

   A340-600    152-158    -          777-300      149-171      151-170

   A3XX-100    201-213    -          747-400      156-174      156-182

   A3XX-200    232-239    -          -
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Boeing 767-400 reaches design milestone
Konfiguration der 767-400 festgelegt

The largest Boeing 767, the 767-400 ER (extended range), achieved firm design configuration, Boeing sayd on January 15. To accomplish this milestone, Boeing and its airline customers reached agreement about the basic design of the aircraft, which is based on its predecessor, the 767-300ER. Now, engineers can begin releasing design information to Boeing factories and suppliers. This initiates fabrication of parts, tools and assemblies for the new derivative airplane. First delivery of the 767-400ER is scheduled for mid-2000 to Delta Air Lines.
Changes include a new flight deck incorporating six flat-panel displays, with a layout similar to that used on the 777. These digital displays will be programmable to display information as it appears in the existing flight deck, allowing for a same pilot-type rating with the current 767 fleet. The 767-400ER interior architecture, with newly sculpted side walls, ceilings and overhead stow bins, creates a feeling of spaciousness similar to the 777. The bins provide more stowage volume than existing 767s.

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NEWS IN BRIEF / KURZMELDUNGEN

In December, Daimler-Benz Aerospace Airbus has repayed 1,4 billion DM of launch aid for the A320 family, thus keeping its balance sheet clean of this burden in the run-up to the setting up of a single Airbus company. Total repayments for the A320 are put at 1,8 billion DM, more than the 1,35 billion the Government has handed out in the 80s. Airbus partners Aerospatiale and British Airways have also wiped A320 repayments off their books, but for all companies, the A330/340 debts remain.
+++
The opening of Hong Kongs new international airport will be postponed for more than two months to July 6 to await completion of the railway linking with the new airport, Financial Secretary Donald Tsang said. Noting that the completion date for the railway was June, Tsang said "There has been no delay in either the railway project or the airport terminal project." In earlier projections, the airport authority said a two-month opening delay would incur losses of up to 1 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 130 million U.S.dollars) from lost revenue and interest payments. But Tsang said there would be no "net loss" of revenue. Tsang said the new airport passenger terminal will be completed within budget and as scheduled by the end of April.
+++
A fuel shortage forced a British Airways supersonic Concorde on a flight from New York last week to request priority landing at London's Heathrow airport. Airline officials said on Jan 11 a huge storm forced flights to circle the airport for up to 90 minutes and the Concorde sent a Mayday alert warning it was low on fuel.
+++
Boeing has confirmed that BMW Rolls-Royce will remain the exclusive engine supplier for the 717-200 (previously MD-95). This opens new horizons for the company, which now only has the Global Express and GV business jets and the Nimrod 2000 as applications for its BR710/BR715 series of turbofans. Turnover will double from 500 million in 1997 to a billion DM in 1999, the company expects, and maybe in 2000 BMW R-R will report positive results for the first time.
+++
British Airways has entered a spreading fare war started by Virgin Atlantic Airways. The giant British carrier is offering round trip price cuts to more than 120 destinations, including a London-New York fare of 189 pounds ($304), and the price-cutting could provoke other major carriers, including Lufthansa (German) Airlines, United Airlines and KLM Dutch Airlines, to enter the fray, providing a boon for passengers in the slow post-holiday season.
+++
The Dasa AT-2000 advanced jet trainer and Eurocopters EC 135 twin-engined helicopter are among the items picked by South Africa for further consideration in its current search to modernise its armed forces. Both are part of a German "package deal" for a whole range of products including ships and submarines. The UK and others also are in the running. The manufactureres of the shortlisted items were invited to provide further details of their products and to stand by to answer questions from the procurement specialist.
+++
The European Space Agency (ESA) has assigned a contract to Italy's Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) to manage the building of two new nodes (2 and 3) for the International Space Station. The first node used with the station will be build by Boeing. Boeing was originally supposed to build all of the nodes. However, there were problems with the manufacture of Node 1. Reportedly, it had to be strengthened after pressure-testing difficulties.
+++
The UK low-fare carrier EasyJet is considering a bid for Air Holland to establish a new hub at Amsterdam. The move follows a deterioration in EasyJets relations with London's Luton airport, where most of its operations are based.
+++
Shareholders of BFGoodrich and Rohr, Inc. now approved the merger of the two companies. The value of the transaction reportedly amounts to approximately $1,3 billion. While BFGoodrich shareholders will keep their certificates, Rohr common stock will no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange as of 22 December, 1997. Rohr shareholders will receive 0,7 shares of BFGoodrich common stock for each share of Rohr common stock. Rohr will now be operated as the Aerostructures Group, one of four BFGoodrich Aerospace business groups.
+++
On January 15, Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said aviation and space research are the most promising fields of military cooperation between Russia and France. Sergeyev spoke at a press conference following his negotiations with his French counterpart Alain Richard. Among the joint projects currently considered is the production of trainer aircraft MiG-AT and transport planes AN-70 as well as aircraft of the future which would meet the toughest requirement by Russia, France and Europe, Sergeyev told reporters.
+++
Gustav Humbert, a senior manager with the German Daimler-Benz Aerospace Airbus GmbH, said that he expected the technical and finanicial problems concerning the super jumbo project A3XX to be clarified by the end of this year or the beginning of next year so that a final decision on whether to proceed with the project could be made in 1999.
+++
British Airways and Deutsche BA have signed a letter of intent to explore co-operation possibilities with Polish airline LOT. Similar deals are in the works with Finnair and Iberia, to counter the StarAlliance networks in Europe. Main points of the co-operation will be marketing and customers service areas, and code-share flights could start as early as the summer timetable.
+++
Pratt & Whitney and Seven Q Seven of Texas have signed an agreement to certify the JT8D-200 engine for service on the Boeing 707 as part of a re-engining program with a potential for more than 500 Boeing 707-320 and KC-135 models in service around the world. Seven Q Seven selected the JT8D-219 engine for its re-engining project after a competition with several other powerplants. First flight of a modified 707 with the updated Pratt engines is scheduled for the end of 1998 with Federal Aviation Administration certification in the summer of 1999. This new application will use the current MD-80 nacelle with some modifications to reflect the 707's under-wing engine position.
+++
Delta Air Lines and Sabena today announced they will expand service on May 15, 1998 between Cincinnati and Brussels from five times a week to daily. In addition to expanding service here, the two carriers announced they will add a second flight from Atlanta to Brussels on May 15, 1998.
+++
China's Zhejiang Airlines has signed an agreement with the European Airbus Industrie to purchase three A320 aircraft. This is the first order from Airbus Industrie in China this year. Two of the planes will be delivered to the air carrier in the next six months, and the third in 1999. The airline based in this capital of Zhejiang Province rented two A320
planes in September.
+++
BAA plc, the UK-based airport management and development company, has announced that the company's seven UK airports handled a record total of 103.3 million passengers in 1997 - an increase of 6.7% on 1996. The seven airports handled 7.3 million passengers in December - an increase of 3.4% on the same month last year. 1997 was a big year for Gatwick and Stansted, seeing their emergence as fully contributing members of a South East three airport system. Gatwick established itself as a major international hub, handling a total of 26.8 million passengers in the year - an increase of 11.2% on 1996. British Airways is now the biggest carrier at Gatwick, carrying approximately one quarter of the airport's passengers (7.4 million in 1997) followed by Monarch Airlines (2 million). Stansted increased by 11.5% in 1997 to handle 5.4 million passengers
+++

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Previous updates are still available:
Die News der letzten Wochen ist nach wie vor abrufbar:

*January 11, 1998

*December 21, 1997 *December 14, 1997 *December 7, 1997

*November 30, 1997 *November 23, 1997 *November 16, 1997 *November 9, 1997 *November 2, 1997

*October 26, 1997 *October 19, 1997 *October 12, 1997 *October 5, 1997

*January to September 1997 *September to December 1996

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