Preparing for the Superjets

Bigger, faster and more efficient than today's planes, the upcoming generation of jumbo jets and supersonic transports will enable airlines to fly the skies more economically than ever. Economies will be hard to come by, however, when such planes are on the ground. Rather than go it alone in footing the bills for servicing and overhauling, Eastern Air Lines and Trans World Airlines embarked last week on a joint project designed to reduce the cost of maintaining their future superjet fleets.

Under the plan, which must be approved by the Civil Aeronautics Board, TWA will handle aircraft maintenance and the training of ground and pilot crews--but not stewardesses--on both airlines' 490-passenger Boeing 747 jumbo jets, due for delivery starting in 1969. Meanwhile, to cut capitalization costs as well as facilitate joint servicing, TWA will work with Boeing to make sure that design specifications on both fleets, covering everything from cockpit layout to cabin color schemes, are the same.

Eastern will perform the maintenance and training role for both carriers' Concordes, the Anglo-French SST that will be rolled out publicly next week in preparation for 1971 delivery. Eastern will probably also service the Boeing SST when it becomes operational in 1974. In addition, the airlines plan to get extra mileage out of their respective peak traffic seasons by leasing jumbo jets from each other. During its heavy winter runs to Florida and Mexico, for example, Eastern might use TWA planes; TWA in turn could add Eastern jumbos on its busy summertime transatlantic flights.

Parts Pool. The Eastern-TWA deal is not the first instance of cooperation between cost-conscious airlines. In fact, with aircraft maintenance bills already exceeding $1.4 billion a year, or one-quarter of the total operating budgets of U.S. carriers, sharing of maintenance costs has become increasingly common. Airlines flying Boeing 707s utilize the same spare-parts pool. United Airlines in San Francisco services jet aircraft for ten other airlines. In San Diego, "Pacific Southwest Airlines operates a training program for pilots from such lines as Nippon, Alitalia and Braniff.

The advent of the superjets makes such cooperation even more essential, and no airline is in a better position to benefit than TWA. Currently engaged in a $33 million expansion program that will make its Kansas City base the world's largest jetliner maintenance operation, TWA plans to offer those facilities to other airlines on much the same basis as its deal with Eastern.

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