Blog Archives

Ansett's Last Props: The F50 Euroglider

29/5/2017

The Fokker F27 had a long and distinguished career in Australia with the government airline, Trans Australia Airlines, and its private competitor Ansett. With the F27s reaching the end of their lives in the mid-1980s Ansett was casting around for a replacement and not surprisingly its modernised sister the Fokker 50 fitted the bill. Unfortunately the F50s were overtaken by events at Ansett and it wouldn't really be until they went out west that they found their raison d’être.

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Howard Hughes' Jetstreams: TWA L-1649s

26/5/2017

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Lockheed's Constellation programme was a great success both for civilian and military marks but coming towards the end of the 1950s the age of the piston liner was swiftly drawing to a close. Lockheed understood this but the airlines, locked in a battle for transatlantic supremacy, were keen to keep their foot full on the throttle and wanted bridging equipment. Both Lockheed and Douglas were in a position to provide it.

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KLM 3TENS: Intra-european Widebodies

17/5/2017

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The Dutch national airline, KLM, made an order for A310s in April 1979 but, unlike most of the type's European operators, the 3 tens did not see extended service and were sold after just over a decade. Their short KLM careers are however less a sign of problems with the type and more to do with changes at KLM itself.

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Six Survivors: Canadian Pacific's Versatile DC-6Bs

14/5/2017

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Canadian Pacific turned to the trusty Douglas DC-6B to carry it through the 1950s, but even though the type was replaced by new turboprops, and then jets, on the long haul routes it was reliable and economic enough to be repurposed. The Sixes provided an upgrade to passengers on the domestic routes and continued to serve CP into the late 1960s, a testament to the type's rugged excellence.

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Cramming Them In: HK Express' New Airbuses

10/5/2017

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HK Express has been a major factor in the infiltration of low cost travel options into Cathay Pacific's Hong Kong fortress. Operating from Hong Kong however has its problems namely high costs and restricted access to slots. HK Express is trying to combat both these problems and one way it has done this is to up capacity of its new aircraft.

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Peruvian Tristars in the 90s: Faucett/AeroPerú's L-1011s

7/5/2017

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As Peru entered the 1990s both its largest airlines, AeroPerú and Faucett Perú, had serious financial problems. These forced the competitors together, albeit briefly, before they went there separate ways again. Both would use the Lockheed Tristar but neither would be able to survive the changing political and competitive landscape of the 90s.

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Unshining Path: AeroPerú in the 1980s

5/5/2017

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During the 1970s the Peruvian military government had successfully built up its new flag carrier AeroPerú into a seemingly well run airline reconnecting Peru with the world after APSA's failure. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to keep an airline operating profitably if it must operate in a competitive environment with both economic and civil discord at home. Sadly AeroPerú would have to contend not only with economic instability but also growing civil war as it entered its second decade.

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Covering Peru Like the Sun: AeroPerú in the 1970s

2/5/2017

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The collapse of APSA in 1971 was rather humiliating for the Peruvian military government and left the country without a national carrier. This led to the creation of AeroPerú, which built a bright 1970s image and valiantly attempted to compete against the big US airlines for traffic to and from Lima. The airline built up its network and intoduced widebodies reaching its peak as the 1970s closed. In part 1 of this series we look at AeroPerú in its formative years.

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Ansett's Last Props: The F50 Euroglider

Howard Hughes' Jetstreams: TWA L-1649s

KLM 3TENS: Intra-european Widebodies

Six Survivors: Canadian Pacific's Versatile DC-6Bs

Cramming Them In: HK Express' New Airbuses

Peruvian Tristars in the 90s: Faucett/AeroPerú's L-1011s

Unshining Path: AeroPerú in the 1980s

Covering Peru Like the Sun: AeroPerú in the 1970s

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