Aviation law will benefit Air N.Z.

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 2

Aviation law will benefit Air N.Z.

PA Auckland Air New Zealand will be one of the big winners after an imminent United States Federal Aviation Administration ruling on long-range flights by big twin jets such as the Boeing 767, an airline executive says.

Airlines must now route the twins so their flight paths are never more than 120 minutes flying time on one engine from a suitable airport. The jets must be certified for such flights, known as EROPS (extended range operations), with extra fire-suppres-sant, equipment-cooling and generating systems installed. Air New Zealand has made almost 8000 EROPS flights with its three-year-old Boeing 767 fleet, mainly to Australia, Singapore and the Pacific Islands and is looking for more scope for the 8000 km-range airliner. The F.A.A., after months of investigation and talks with airlines and aircraft manufacturers, will soon announce new regulations allowing 767 s and the bigger Airbus twins to fly 180 minutes away from airports.

The plane-makers and airlines welcome the move, which they say will increase flexibility to their fleets and allow better frequency on long routes. With the new 180-min-ute rule, 767 s will for the first time fly from the United States West Coast to Hawaii. Air New Zealand is among the world’s top three EROPS operators and, with ’the new rules, could use the 767 on the Auckland-Honolulu service.

The Air New Zealand Boeing 767 fleet captain, Bryan Wyness, has been working with the airline

and manufacturer committee advising the F.A.A. on the time extension. Captain Wyness said that all twin-engined aircraft must be able to climb should one engine fail during take-off, giving the present generation of jetliners’ enormous power. But, he says, maximum thrust is seldom used — even with a fully loaded 767 — and the aircraft usually cruises at about 75 per cent power. Jet engines have become extremely reliable, with the industry in-flight shutdown rate for the General Electric CF680A2 engine on Air New Zealand’s 767 s as low as 0.03 for every thousand flying hours. Captain Wyness said all twin-jets were restricted by either the United States 60-minute rule or 90 minutes in Britain until the 767 s and A3oos entered the market in the early 1980 s.

“Once Airbus and Boeing found a market niche for the big twins, carrying between 200 and 250 passengers and with enough tanks in them for a 747 s range, they had a problem — there were no rules for them.

“All the authorities got together and arrived at the 120-minute rule, accompanied by a document covering every aspect of EROPS flying. “We have more power than we need and extremely reliable engines, but this is still an emotional issue — hanging up there with only one engine isn’t funny.”