THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 27, 1996 TAG: 9605250411
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
LENGTH: 54 lines
It just so happens that the two air carriers building reservation centers in Tidewater have among the oldest airline fleets in operation in the United States.
ValuJet of Atlanta has stocked up with the venerable DC-9. Its fleet, the oldest among newly chartered airlines, has an average age of 19.8 years.
Trans World Airlines of St. Louis has the oldest fleet among major U.S. carriers, with an average age of 19.8 years.
Another established carrier serving Norfolk International Airport, Northwest Airlines of Eagan, Minn., also relies on the vintage DC-9. Consequently, Northwest, which endured the heavy debt of a leveraged buyout in '89 and the sales slump in the recession of '91, has the second-oldest fleet in the majors with an average age of 19.1 years.
In the wake of the recent Valujet DC-9 crash in Florida (that particular DC-9 first flew about 27 years ago in 1969) it remains to be seen if the new reservations centers will suffer. ValuJet is opening a center at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, while TWA, which recently emerged from bankruptcy protection, will staff a new building in Norfolk.
The recent revelation about the freight in the cargo hold may exonerate the aircraft itself, considering a freight customer inadvertently loaded oxygen tanks on the DC-9. Subsequent explosions in the oxygen tanks may have caused the airliner's crash.
Despite the age of ValuJet's fleet, it's common knowledge in places such as the Air Combat Center in Hampton that many Air Force B-52s are considerably older, in some cases older than the pilots who fly the bombers. The Air Force still relies on B-52s that began flying in 1956.
The bombers, like the DC-9, last because of solid design and construction, said Barbara Beyer, president of Avmark Inc., an aviation marketing and consulting company.
Often, the only original equipment that remains on a geriatric jet is the fuselage and frame, said TWA spokesman John McDonald. With regular maintenance, he said, ``You have basically rebuilt the airplane into new equipment.''
Buyouts: About 5,500 state employees have taken early retirement. The buyouts, which represent about 5 percent of the state government workforce, are part of Gov. George Allen's plan to prune government.
Virginia Commonwealth University, the first public university in Virginia to participate, has reduced its business school faculty by 14 percent with 14 business professors taking the buyouts.
Revenue sharing: The Virginia Peninsula Economic Development Council, the Peninsula's marketing agency, is raising $300,000 from the private sector. It'll get another $700,000 from Peninsula municipalities.
VPEDC president Julius A. Bud Denton said the group and Forward Hampton Roads in Norfolk tend to court the same business prospects. But more joint efforts are planned, including some advertisements in Fortune and Wall Street Journal. by CNB