On April 10, British Airways and Air France each said they would stop flying their Concorde fleets and retire the historic aircraft by the end of October.

The world’s only operators of the Concorde blamed rising maintenance costs and a drop in passenger demand during the current airline economic slump (see related story, page 14).

"Detailed discussions over an extended period with Airbus, the aircraft’s manufacturer, confirmed the need for an enhanced maintenance program in the coming years," said a statement by British Airways, which added it "has decided that such an investment cannot be justified in the face of falling revenue caused by a global downturn in demand for all forms of premium travel in the airline industry."

Air France chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta said that carrier "deeply regrets having to make the decision to stop its Concorde operations, but it has become a necessity. The worsening economic situation in the last few months has led to a decline in business traffic, which particularly weighs on Concorde’s results." He said maintenance costs increased substantially since its Concordes returned to service November 7, 2001, following the crash in Paris, France on July 25, 2000.

He praised the Air France crews and maintenance teams "who spared no effort to get the Concorde back in the air after the accident. Its return to service was an exemplary technical feat, and I well imagine their sadness today. We shall never forget this aircraft just as we will never forget those who, by contributing to the Concorde service for almost three decades, enabled Air France to write one of the finest pages in the history of aviation."

British Airways’s plans for its Concordes include making some available for display in museums. So far, no one has come forward to inquire about purchasing a used Concorde for use as a high-speed corporate jet, according to an Airbus spokeswoman. Obviously the technological, operational, and regulatory hurdles to the business application of a used Concorde would be formidable. But, then again, it could make a certain amount of sense because the market for a supersonic business jet is anticipated to be quite small. Why build a new supersonic jet when there is already a fleet of proven used ones readily available?

AvCraft Buys Fairchild Dornier Program

Maintenance and completions company AvCraft Aviation has purchased the 328 program from Fairchild Dornier’s state-appointed German bankruptcy administrator. The deal includes production and customer support facilities, type certificates for the 328JET and 328 turboprop, and model 428 intellectual property.

AvCraft, which has facilities in Tyler, Texas, and Akron, Ohio, also adopted the Fairchild Dornier name and will be headquartered at the 328 manufacturing site in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Sales and marketing staff will be located in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

AvCraft did not purchase any of the San Antonio, Texas Fairchild Dornier facilities, which is where the 328 wing was built. As yet, AvCraft has not decided where the 328 wing will be manufactured, according to a company spokesman.

AvCraft’s Akron, Ohio location will be the focal point for service activity, and Tyler will continue to do completions work, although its role in the 328 program has yet to be determined. Employment at the Tyler facility is now about 20 people. Ben Bartel, AvCraft CEO, said that the company’s Akron workforce should increase to about 200 people this year, up from 80.

As part of the acquisition, AvCraft will henceforth operate under the Fairchild Dornier name. The purchase included 18 ready-to-deliver aircraft, and five in the final assembly stage. AvCraft will continue to support older Dornier aircraft, including the models 228, 128, 127, 28, and 27.

Lufthansa Technik Ekes Profit From 2002

Lufthansa Technik managed to grow profits during 2002, despite a drop in sales and significant cutbacks in airline operations and parking of aircraft. Overall demand for MRO services dropped by 15 to 20 percent, according to chief financial officer Peter Jansen. But by shifting focus to modern aircraft and engine work and watching costs closely, Lufthansa Technik managed to have a good year.

"We were able to limit the shrinkage of our sales by focusing our services on the most modern aircraft and engines," Jansen said. "Those are the last to be affected when airplanes are being decommissioned or temporarily deactivated because of being uneconomical to operate."

A significant contributor to Lufthansa Technik’s successful financial situation was the company’s "D-Check" effort, which, the company stated, is a "project aimed at safeguarding the Lufthansa Group’s future by raising its productivity and lowering its costs.

Despite the good news, Jansen added, there is a risk of an "adverse effect on 2003 earnings," due to the precarious financial condition of many airlines. "Overall, the demand for MRO services is shrinking," the company stated. "The resultant overcapacities are compelling providers to quote prices so low that they no longer fully cover costs."

Air Canada Restructures

On April 1, Air Canada filed for protection under Canada’s Companies Creditors Arrangement Act laws, which permits the airline to restructure and seek large changes to labor costs, collective agreements, and work rules. The airline continues to operate during the restructuring, similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy rules in the U.S. The goal of the restructuring is to allow Air Canada to become "a leaner, more efficient, lower-cost airline through savings obtained mainly from aircraft lessors, lenders, bondholders, and labor groups," according to an Air Canada statement.

In addition to seeking what it called "a radical wholesale revision to work rules and changes under the collective agreements covering the company’s 31,000 unionized employees," the airline will eliminate some of its smaller fleets including the Boeing 747-400 and 737-200 and the BAe 146. Air Canada does plan to add to its fleet of CRJ-50s and introduce a 90-seat regional jet.

Air Canada has secured $700 million worth of debtor-in-possession secured financing from General Electric Capital Canada. The financing is secured by Air Canada’s unencumbered assets. General Electric Capital Canada is part of General Electric, a division of which manufactures the CF34 engine that powers the CRJ-50.

The restructuring shifts each business activity of Air Canada into a separate business unit under the umbrella of a new parent company called Air Canada Enterprises. Air Canada Technical Services, which Air Canada had offered to sell recently, will be one of the business units.

Gulfstream Adds G200 to Mx Program

Buyers of new Gulfstream G200 jets can now participate in Gulfstream’s five-year maintenance and training program, which covers scheduled maintenance for five years or 2,500 hours, whichever comes first. This program was first made available to G400 and G550 buyers.

The program covers all scheduled maintenance, including parts and labor, and any inspections mandated by service bulletins. All work will be done at Gulfstream service centers or General Dynamics Aviation Services facilities, which will also provide parts. The program and initial and recurrent technician, pilot, and cabin crew training is included in the price of the G200.

Help Wanted: Small Fleet, High Mx

How do you assess the maintenance of a small, advanced, aging fleet like NASA’s space shuttle? A commission set up by the space agency confronted just that question as maintenance questions cropped up in its search for clues to the February 1 loss of the orbiter Columbia and its crew of seven. One answer may lie in the venerable Concorde now slated for retirement by British Airways and Air France.

The panel headed by retired Navy Admiral Harold W. Gehman, Jr. is reviewing how well NASA structured and executed a maintenance program to ensure its oldest orbiter could fly safely. Columbia first flew in 1981.

Key components under scrutiny–reinforced carbon-carbon leading-edge panels on its wings–were original parts, according to one official close to the investigation. Experts believe the panels were breached somehow, allowing hot gases to enter and destroy Columbia’s left wing during re-entry. The commission wants to look at how NASA monitored degradation of critical parts like the leading-edge panels, particularly given the harsh environment in which the orbiters operated.

The Concorde may offer parallels that help the panel explore that issue. Only a small number were built—20 Concordes, six shuttle orbiters. (The shuttle is, technically, the whole system: the orbiter that carries the crew and payload, the engines, the solid-rocket boosters, and the external tank. Each aircraft was technologically advanced at inception. Each operated in a unique environment of speed, temperature, pressures, and radiation, though clearly the orbiters did so at an extreme end of the scale.

Given those parallels, the Gehman commission last month was looking for Concorde maintenance experts who might testify at one of its public hearings on the approaches used in maintaining the supersonic transport and adjustments made in those approaches to account for the aging of the aircraft.

Such an exploration is sure to pique some NASA spaceflight folks, who view themselves as a breed apart, in every respect, from those involved in more rudimentary flight activities. Their hubris may have been warranted when NASA was lofting tiny capsules hundreds of thousands of miles to the Moon. But when they got into more scheduled operations, airline maintenance techniques might have offered some lessons. After all, the Earth-to-moon shuttle in the sci-fi classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" was painted not in the livery of NASA, but of Pan Am.