22
GA
/ Vol. 5 / No. 2 / FEBRUARY 2013
International Flight Clearances
Tel:
+27 76 983 1089
(24 hours)
Tel:
+27 11 701 2330/1
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+27 11 701 2334
Email:
flightops@flyifc.co.za
Website:
www.flyifc.co.za
Address:
Hanger 201, Gate 7 Ring Road, Lanseria
Airport. We are located in the Elite Jet Offices.
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We can get you anywhere!
Advert 21 Nov.indd 1
5/28/12 6:27 PM
By Mike Wright
Business News
Fastjet to operate
in South Africa
With Fastjet, subject to regulatory
approval, set to operate in South Africa
skies soon we felt it would be a good
idea to give our readers a bit of history
about this operation.
Fastjet is a low-cost pan-African
airline established by Stelios Haji-
Ioannou, known for founding the
low-cost, short haul airline, easyJet,
that aims to provide the same
service as its European counterpart
to the African continent. The
airline was initially created with
the acquisition Fly540, an airline
operating in East Africa, and flights
in Fastjet's own name commenced in
November 2012.
Initial proposals seem to indicate
that Fostjet would be competing
against Easyjet, it was later revealed
it was a proposal for a low-cost
African airline.
By June 2012 the plans had
become clearer. To start the operations,
Rubicon Diversified Investments Plc
(later renamed Fastjet Plc) completed
the acquisition of Lonrho's airline
division for a transaction value of
US$85.7m, satisfied by the issue of
Rubicon ordinary shares to Lonrho.
Key shareholders in the enlarged
company would be Lonrho and
Sir Stelios
Haji-Ioannou, through his
easyGroup Holdings Limited
("easyGroup"). The airline division
acquired included the African regional
airline Fly 540, operating in Kenya,
Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, which
would form the platform for the
development of a low cost carrier for
Africa, branded 'Fastjet' under the
terms of the easyGroup brand licence
agreement.
The airline chose Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania, as its first operating base in
Africa, with flights from Julius Nyerere
International Airport commencing on
29 November 2012. (December 2012)
flights operated between Dar es Salaam
and Kilimanjaro, and between Dar es
Salaam and Mwanza. Further routes
will be added in the coming weeks,
both domestically and to other East
African destinations. FastJet will move
its operation office from Tanzania to
Kenya, once it has approval to operate
in Kenya. Once established in East
Africa, FastJet has plans to launch in
Ghana and Angola.
On 19 December 2012 Fastjet
announced that it had entered into
an option agreement to buy the
entire issued share capital of 1time
Airline from its parent company,
1time Holdings Limited, for ZAR1
(US$ 0.12). By acquiring the shares,
Fastjet would gain the right to operate
domestic and regional air services in
South Africa; it plans to take over up
to three of the 12 MD series aircraft
that were in the 1time fleet when
the business went into provisional
liquidation, all on new operating lease
agreements, with initial services on
domestic South African routes serving
Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban,
Port Elizabeth and East London.
Initial plans are to re-fleet with
A319s as soon as possible. ·
We take a look at these devices and
in particular the differences between
winglets and raked wingtips.
Wingtip devices are usually
intended to improve the efficiency of
fixed wing aircraft. There are several
types and though they function in
different manners, the intended effect
is always to reduce the aircraft's
drag by partial recovery of the tip
vortex energy. Wingtip devices
can also improve aircraft handling
characteristics and enhance safety for
following aircraft.
They increase the effective aspect
ratio of a wing without materially
increasing the wingspan. An extension
of span would lower induced drag,
but would increase parasitic drag and
would require boosting the strength
and weight of the wing. At some
point in the proceedings, there is no
net benefit from further increased
span. There may also be operational
considerations that limit the allowable
wingspan because of the width
available at the parking bays.
Wingtip devices increase the lift
generated at the wingtip (by smoothing
the airflow across the upper wing near
the tip) and reduce the lift induced
drag caused by wingtip vortices,
improving lift to drag ratio. This
increases fuel economy and studies
indicate that a given improvement in
fuel efficiency correlates directly with
the causal increase in the aircraft's
lift-to-drag ratio.
Winglets
The term "winglet" was previously
used to describe an additional lifting
surface on an aircraft, e.g., a short sec-
tion between wheels on fixed undercar-
riage. Richard Whitcomb's research in
the 1970s at NASA first used winglet
with its modern meaning referring to
near-vertical extension of the wing tips,
The upward angle (or cant) of the wing-
let, its inward or outward angle (or toe),
as well as its size and shape are critical
for correct performance and are unique
in each application. The wingtip vor-
tex, which rotates around from below
the wing, strikes the cambered surface
of the winglet, generating a force that
angles inward and slightly forward,
analogous to a sail boat sailing as
close to the wind as it can. The winglet
converts some of the otherwise-wasted
energy in the wingtip vortex to an ap-
parent thrust. This small contribution
can be worthwhile over the aircraft's
lifetime, provided the benefit offsets
the cost of installing and maintaining
the winglets.
Another potential benefit of
winglets is that they reduce the
strength of wingtip vortices, which
trail behind the plane and pose a
hazard to other aircraft. Minimum
spacing requirements between aircraft
operations at airports is largely
dictated by these factors. Aircraft
are categorised by weight uplift (e.g.
"Light," "Heavy," etc.) because the
vortex strength grows with the aircraft
lift coefficient, and thus the associated
turbulence is greatest at low speed and
high weight.
The drag reduction permitted by
winglets can also reduce the required
take-off distance.
Winglets and wing fences
increase efficiency by reducing vortex
interference with laminar airflow
near the tips of the wing, by 'moving'
the confluence of low-pressure (over
wing) and high-pressure (under wing)
air away from the surface of the wing.
Wingtip vortices create turbulence,
originating at the leading edge of the
wingtip and propagating backwards
and inboard. This turbulence
'delaminates' the airflow over a small
triangular section of the outboard wing,
which destroys lift in that area. The
fence/winglet drives the area where the
vortex forms upwards away from the
wing surface, since the center of the
resulting vortex is now at the tip of the
winglet.
Saving precious fuel - wing tip devices
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