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n e w sAIRPORT EXTRAAirlines to beoffered incentivesfor Pudong moveSHANGHAI’S new Pudong InternationalAirport is gearing up for a bigincrease in international flights thisyear as more services are transferred fromthe old Hongqiao Airport.According to Du Chuncai, executive vicepresidentof the Shanghai Airport GroupCompany, nearly half of the flights operatinginto Hongqiao will be moved to Pudongduring the coming summer.The two facilities had a combined totalof 451 daily flights during 1999, a figureexpected to rise to 480 in 2000.Mr Du said the company will soon recommendnew policies to the Civil AviationAdministration of China (CAAC) to encourageairlines to make the move to Pudong. Itwill include a suggestion to increase ticketprices for flights at Hongqiao while reducingprices for flights at Pudong.Despite the opening of Pudong last year,Honqiao will not be closed. It will undergoa major renovation this year.Pudong Airport will eventually havefour runways capable of handling 320,000flights and about 80 million passengersannually. After refurbishment, HongqiaoAirport will have the capacity to handlemore than 30 million passengers a year.Inchon hopes to cashin on casino planTHE Korean Government thinks it mayhave hit on a gilt-edged idea to attract moretravellers to Seoul’s massive new airport atInchon, scheduled to open at the beginningof 2001.It may allow casinos to be built at thefacility, adding gambling to the lures it hopeswill help the airport become the new air hubof northeast Asia.The Ministry of Construction and Transportationhas confirmed a request has beenmade to the Ministry of Culture and Tourismto allow casinos at the airport.An official said casinos have beensuccessfully implemented at several internationalairports, including Amsterdam’sSchiphol as well as several airports in thestate of Nevada in the U.S.The ministry’s proposal calls for the operationof small casinos at the airport’s passengerterminals. If the plan wins approvalit may take some time. Several regulationsin the Tourism Promotion Law may have tobe rewritten.Under the law, casinos for foreigners canonly operate at five-star hotels in the country’smajor tourist centres, including Seoul,Pusan, Inchon and Cheju Island.February 2000 | Orient Aviation | 51
g e n e r a l a v i a t i o nContaminated fuel creates havoc in AustraliaCASA grounds 5,000 planesBy Tom BallantyneContaminated fuel has ravaged easternAustralia’s general aviation (GA) sectorwith at least 5,000 aircraft groundedand dozens of small companies facing closureamid mounting losses.At press time, the Civil Aviation Safety Authorityof Australia (CASA) disclosed the planeswould remain grounded for at least anotherweek, despite earlier hopes that a fuel safetytest might have been available quickly.CASA ordered the groundings on January10 – the second time it has taken such actionin two months – after a problem involvingcontaminated fuel from oil giant Mobil,first discovered in December, had not beenresolved.The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association(AOPA) believes the crisis could cost theindustry more than US$30 million and threaten7,000 jobs.The acting Prime Minister and TransportMinister, John Anderson, said he respected therecommendation of an independent scientificexpert, Professor David Trimm, that planes staygrounded. “We don’t want to get this wrong.The consequences could be disastrous,” saidMr Anderson.Mobil has already put together a compensationpackage. The external relationsmanager for Mobil, Ms Samantha Potts, saidthe delay in the development of a safety testfor fuel made the company’s A$15 million(US$9.75 million) compensation packageeven more important. “We totally supportthe decision that the planes stay groundeduntil everyone is satisfied we have the righttest,” she said.A CASA spokesman, Peter Gibson, describedthe contamination as possibly theworst in the world.The big airline’s jet fleets are notaffected.The fuel involved is Mobil 100/130 Avgas,used in piston-engined aircraft. Mobil producesmore than 30% of Australia’s aviationfuel and the tainted supplies come from the‘There are hardly anyaircraft left flying inthe eastern states’company’s Altona plant, near Melbourne.Hundreds of businesses throughout Australia’seastern states, from crop sprayers topilot training schools, freight operators, smallair commuter firms and charter companies,had their operations brought to a standstill.“This whole thing is so serious and thefinancial ramifications are horrendous. Thereare hardly any aircraft left flying in the easternstates,” said AOPA president Bill Hamilton.He said it could take months before allcontaminated aircraft were ready to fly again.The crisis was costing the industry A$5 million(US$3.25 million) a day, with many businessesforced to close down.The problem first arose after a light planesuffered engine failure during take off at anairfield near Melbourne. After an investigationCASA grounded aircraft and ordered ownersand operators to look for black deposits in fuelsystems as evidence of the contamination,now identified as Ethylene Di-Amine. The depositsform when the contaminant in the fuelreacts with the copper in aircraft fuel systemparts made from bronze or brass.But after thousands of aircraft had theirfuel systems drained and businesses putplanes back in the sky, problems re-surfacedearly in the New Year.CASA is working urgently with Mobil todevelop a standard field test that engineerscan use to determine if aircraft have beencontaminated. It also is urgently developingprocedures for cleaning the contaminationfrom fuel systems, but said this might takesome time.None of this helps small aviation companiesforced to meet the costs of operations.The crisis could not have come at a worsetime for crop spraying firms and farmers, whoare in the middle of the spraying season.And Victoria’s largest flying school, theRoyal Victorian Aero Club, is typical of trainingestablishments. In December club president,Peter Dwyer, estimated the cost of groundingthe fleet of 20 planes at around US$26,000.With the latest grounding that will soar intohundreds of thousands of dollars in losses,he said.52 | Orient Aviation | February 2000
Page 1 and 2: VOL. 7 NO. 4 FEBRUARY 2000MAGAZINE
Page 3 and 4: P U B L I S H E R ’ S L E T T E R
Page 5 and 6: N E W SRegional round-upMAS winging
Page 7 and 8: N E W Scarriers you can kiss your n
Page 9 and 10: and huge war chest, could be a new
Page 11 and 12: m a i n s t o r yBattlefield Austra
Page 13 and 14: e x e c u t i v e i n t e r v i e w
Page 15 and 16: A s i a n A e r o s p a c eAA 2000
Page 17 and 18: visits for DC-10, MD-11, A310 and A
Page 19 and 20: a i r p o r t smay be hit with fee
Page 21 and 22: a i r p o r t sOver 100 flights a w
Page 23: a i r p o r t swould continue to ca
Page 27 and 28: f e a t u r e25 years after the fal
Page 29 and 30: pick me up. I was never interviewed
Page 31 and 32: n e w sJapan Express: JAL is doubli
Page 33 and 34: s p e c i a l r e p o r tThe two ai
Page 35 and 36: the rest of its global business, th
Page 37 and 38: s p e c i a l r e p o r tImproved y
Page 39 and 40: - Qantas Airways, Cathay Pacific Ai

OAMag-V7N4-Cover [Converted] - Orient Aviation

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