Fokker deal near agreement

Press, 26 July 1978, Page 15

Fokker deal near agreement

PA Auckland Air New Zealand is nearing agreement with the Dutch aircraft firm of Fokker for the assembly in New Zealand of Friendship airliners. The project, if pursued, would mean the saving of millions of dollars in foreign exchange. The deal could be expanded to include maritime reconnaissance versions of the Friendship for the Royal New Zealand Air Force, as well as the replacement Friendships which will soon t? required by Air New Zealand.

Both the airline and Fokker consider the proposal to assemble completely knocked down Friendships at Christchurch is feasible. The main detail still to be hammered out is the point of production at which the aircraft would come off the Fokker line in the Netherlands and how much foreign exchange would be saved. Fokker will send a senior executive to New Zealand in September to work towards agreement on these points. "We are not interested unless we can cut the price

to us from Fokker by at least SIM an aircraft," said Air New Zealand’s general manager, technical, (Captain A. C. Kenning) in Auckland. A Friendship costs about 54.5 M.

Air New Zealand is studying replacement contenders for both its international fleet and for a fleet which would serve domestic trunk routes as well as some regional Pacific routes. The long-haul contenders are the existing DCIO 30 series, a stretched drawingboard version of the DCIO, and the Boeing 747. The aircraft being studied for domestic and regional use are in 170 to 190-seat range.

The main contenders are the Douglas DC9 series 80, the Boeing family of new jeri based on the wide-bod-ied 767 and the narrow-bod-ied 757, and the new 810 version of the European Airbus wide-bodied aircraft.

In addition, the newly announced B.A.C. 146 has come into the field as a short-haul contender. Seats 70 to 100 passengers, five or six abreast and is intended as a replacement for twin turbo-prop aircraft.