Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
FedEx has converted options on 25 additional Ayres Loadmaster freighters to firm orders. Ayres will produce the turboprop-powered aircraft, for the airline's European operation at Let in the Czech Republic, says president Fred Ayres.
The package carrier already holds orders for 50 Loadmasters to be used in its US operations. These aircraft will be produced at Ayres' new Dothan, Alabama, plant, Ayres says. FedEx holds options on a further 175 aircraft.
Ayres hopes to fly the Loadmaster in November and certificate the aircraft a year later, enabling deliveries to FedEx to begin in December next year - a year later than originally planned, Ayres acknowledges.
Wings and empennages for all Loadmasters will be produced by Let, which is owned by Ayres. Fuselages for aircraft assembled in the USA will be produced in Dothan, while those for Czech-assembled Loadmasters will be produced by Let, Ayres says.
While the company plans to begin deliveries from the Dothan line in December, Let is not scheduled to begin delivering aircraft until March 2000, to allow additional time for European certification of the Loadmaster.
Deliveries to FedEx are scheduled at two a month from the Dothan line and one a month from the Czech line, says Ayres. FedEx will account for half the planned US output, while the production rate at Let will depend on sales, he says. Aircraft on order for customers in Switzerland, South Africa and the Netherlands will be delivered from the Let line.
Ayres' purchase of the Czech manufacturer has allowed the company to use the vertical stabiliser of Let's L-410 and horizontal stabiliser of its L-610G on the Loadmaster. Let will supply the complete tail section as well as the air inlet for all Loadmasters.
Ayres says the timing of a first flight will depend on when the LHTEC CTS800TP twin-turbo-shaft/single-propeller powerplant is released for flight testing. Taxi trials are scheduled up to 45 days ahead of the first flight, using a ground-test powerplant.
Source: Flight International
