Word: tristar
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Business sense won out over pride last week, as the Lockheed Corp. announced that it was stopping production of its spectacularly unprofitable L-1011 TriStar wide-bodied jetliner. The California aerospace giant has lost $2.5 billion on the TriStar since 1968 and, with airlines currently mired in a three-year-long slump, it could see no relief in sight. Chairman Roy W. Anderson said that there was "no other choice but to begin now to phase the TriStar out in an orderly manner." The company will now concentrate mainly on defense production...
Trouble struck Lockheed's TriStar just after the first of the 300-passenger jets rolled off the Palmdale, Calif, assembly line. Production temporarily stopped in February 1971, when Britain's Rolls-Royce, the prime engine supplier, went bankrupt. The British government took over Rolls-Royce's aero-engine division, but demanded proof that Lockheed was financially sound before providing the equipment. Lockheed was indeed in trouble, but Congress approved a controversial $250 million loan guarantee for the company. The first TriStar was delivered to Eastern Air Lines in April 1972, about six months later than scheduled...
...military and business positions. The jumbo jet even gave Lockheed headaches when times were good. Orders poured in so fast in 1978 and 1979 that the company was forced to pay premium wages and materials prices to meet the unanticipated demand. The result: Lockheed lost $199 million on the TriStar last year, and the company's overall earnings fell...
...vigilance in the past, had not been properly supervising the maintenance procedures used on the DC-10. Before appearing on the Hill, Bond ordered a precautionary inspection of the engine pylon mountings on three other wide-bodied jets operated in the U.S.: the Boeing 747, Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and the European-built A300 Airbus...
...over the DC-10 again raises the question of whether federal regulators work too closely with the industry they regulate to remain as critical as they should be. Certainly the DC-10 was rushed into production in the early 1970s in a successful race to catch up with the TriStar, its main rival. Were corners cut by both the manufacturer and its watchdogs in the heat of competition...