Blow to DC10 hopes

Press, 12 July 1979, Page 1

Blow to DC10 hopes

By LES BLOXHAM, travel editor Dramatic developments in the DCIO saga have probably shattered all hope of an early resumption of Air New Zealand’s DCIO flights to the United States. The airline, encouraged by predictions that the Federal Aviation Administration would lift its month-old ban early this week, planned to resume its DCIO services to Honolulu and Los Angeles this evening. In the meantime, Air New Zealand will continue to maintain a limited service to Los Angeles with its DCBs. The backlog of passengers, estimated earlier in the week to be about 1000, will be down to about 600 by Sunday. However, the discovery of new cracks in the engine mounts of three more American DClOs — one owned by United Airlines. the other two by Trans International — has again clouded the issue with uncertainty and confusion. Although the cracks are reported to be minor and in “non-stress” areas, their discovery could sow further doubts in the mind of the F.A.A. and add fuel to the argument of consumer groups determined to fight in the courts to keep the DClOs grounded. Airlines fear that an America n-style legal wrangle could drag on for weeks, even months, as hearings and appeals are batted from one court to another.

In a surprise yesterday, Judge William Fowler of the United States Supreme Court, supported an airline application and ruled that he would uplift the grounding order in 48 hours unless his decision was successfully appealed against by the F.A.A. An attorney for the F.A.A., Mr Jonathan Howe, said he w'ould appeal against the ruling to a full safety board. But he said the DClOs would remain grounded under a separate order on June 7 that prohibited the aircraft from taking off or landing in the United States. A DC 10 flight from Auckland Airport was delayed on Tuesday for two hours after the discovery of a hydraulic defect.

Air New Zealand’s director of public and corporate affairs, Mr D. C. Saxton, yesterday described the fault as “relatively trivial,” The plane was on a flight from Auckland to Singapore.