Word: 747s
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...tent? Economics. Pan American World Airways, from which the White House charters the press plane, is under bankruptcy proceedings and is in the process of selling its assets. If Pan Am goes under, no other airline appears both willing and able to replace it as the official purveyor of 747s to the press corps. "No other airline wants to do it," says Gary Wright of the White House Travel Office. "The bottom line is the airlines don't make enough money out of it, and the p.r. value is negligible...
...airline, staying in business is a gesture of defiance. As Kuwait's flag carrier, it represents a continuing national presence abroad even as Saddam's army attempts to obliterate the country's identity. When Iraqi troops crossed the border, eight Kuwait Airways jets (four 747s, three 727s and a 767) and more than half the carrier's 5,500 employees were abroad, scattered from London to Bangkok. Managers set up temporary headquarters in Cairo, contacted enough employees to crew their remaining jets and pressed ahead with flights to Jidda, Dubai and Bahrain...
...currently. Since TWA boss Carl Icahn failed to move quickly enough to replace his aging aircraft, the airline is stuck with a fleet that is particularly thirsty and costly. New Boeing and McDonnell Douglas passenger jets are as much as 25% more fuel efficient than the older 747s and DC-9s that fill TWA's hangars...
...latest example of perestroika, a new airline called ASDA is being formed to compete with Aeroflot. Staffed by Soviet air force veterans and disgruntled Aeroflot pilots, the carrier will fly rented Boeing 747s on long- haul routes connecting such far-flung points as Kiev, Kamchatka, Moscow and Minsk. A straight-faced Soviet news report promised that the new airline will raise the level of passenger service. Travelers can only hope...
Cash-strapped Pan Am, by contrast, cannot afford to purchase new jets. ! Instead, the airline is overhauling its 35 747s. But keeping older planes in good running order is also costly. Pan Am spends an average $815 in maintenance costs for every hour that a plane is carrying passengers, vs. $377 for Delta, which has a newer fleet and advanced maintenance equipment. Some experts and airline employees have contended that cash-strapped airlines will be tempted to skimp on maintenance. But when the FAA conducted an intensive probe of one such carrier, Eastern, no serious faults were found...