Stop Start - I was at GAMCO a few weeks back and the Caledonian L1011s are fine - the Blue Scandinavian one has been earmarked as a counter-terrorism training ship; and the Air Lanka aircraft are in the process of being broken up, having been bought by Air Transat a year ago for spares.
Kapton is not a problem in the L1011s, according to the documentation I have and the discussions I had with LMSC 10 days ago.
RVSM, TCAS II, 8.33 MHz spacing, FM Immunity etc forecast at under US$100k per aircraft including installation.
Glueball - the aircraft we're looking at are powered by the latest version RB211-524B4Is, which have much improved fuel burn; little vibration due to new blade technology; long TBOs and cool hot sections.
Fuel burn advantage over the CF6-50C2 is, as I have stated, some 15 - 20%. Try up to
13,000 hours on wing (Delta's figures).
We could buy and refurb all of the Delta L1011s for the cost of a single new B767 - plus we don't have the ETOPS certification and maintenance problems (which was what caused Excel to lease in their ex BY 767s from Air Atlanta). Route structure we're looking at requires minimum of six and preferrably seven aircraft - again, we can do it viably with cheap lift and probably couldn't make it work with expensive aircraft.
Operating principle is simple - I can run lots of L10s at 150 - 200 hours per month average utilisation including their higher fuel burn for less than a similar level of utilisation with lower fuel burns with new aircraft (eg 767s). 767 owners are looking for 300 - 350 hours per month guaranteed utilisation per aircraft.
You're right about the back-up aircraft, though!
[ 26 July 2001: Message edited by: The Guvnor ]