Koko - Civil Aviation (AU) - Page 8

Very nicely looking design.

Thanks

KHS/EAC-80:

Emboldened by the success of the KHS-50-200 -which sold as many airframes in six years the 50-100 did in fifteen- Kokunai started the developement of a new turboprop model. Concieved to compete with the French-Italian ATR-72 the new aircraft was designed to offer more range, payload and cabin space, thanks to 24cm more fuselage width over the ATR. Launched as the KHS-80, the aircraft moves to an high-wing configuration with a T-tail. It is capable to seat between 71 and 78 passengers and is 29,06m long, has a wingspan of 28,73 and a MTOW of 26.287kg. The engines are two P&W Canada PW127 turboprops, fitted with six bladed propellers that give the plane a cruise speed of 520 km/h. Service Ceiling is 7.620m and range 1.795km. The KHS-80 entered service in 1993 with launch customer Koko Airways. The airline had ordered 20 with an option for another 20 to replace its NAMC-YS-11 turboprops, but financial problems led Koko Airways to take only seven airframes and cancel the others. Coupled with the Asian Economic crisis this caused a slump in orders that turned a profitable project into jeopardy. The Koko Airways deal cancellation was a particulary heavy blow as it was the long awaited large breakthrough into the domestic market the Manufactured had long hoped for.
Eventually, production rebounded after KHS merged to form EAC. The 80-100 is still manufactured under the new EAC denomination and has seen its best year in 2017 with 18 airframes delivered. Overall, 227 have been produced so far: 45 for domestic airlines, 179 for foreign operators and 3 for the military. Another 17 are currently on order.

In 2003, to compete with the Bomardier Q400, the newly fomed EAC launched the upgraded 80-200 model. Many modifications were introduced, like upgraded cockpit instrumentations featuring LCD screens, redesign cabin layout, stenghtened landing gear and a new APU. The fuselage was stretched for a new overall length of 33,27 meters allowing to seat 91 to 98 passengers, making it the largest turboprop plane beign currently in production. The wingspan was increased as well to 30,56 meters by fitting a new segment at the root. Upturning wingtips were also added, effectively working as winglets. The tail area was also enlarged with more rudder surface and a new, larger, horizontal stabilizer. More powerful P&W Canada PW150A turboprops with newer six-bladed propellers replaced the PW127B, increasing cruising speed to 601km/h despite the increase of MTOW to 29.942kg. Service ceiling remains at 7.620m although drop-down oxygen masks are offered as an option, allowing it to be raised to 8.200m. Range is slightly increased to 1.806km thanks to the extra fuel capacity created by the larger wings.
The EAC-80-200 began passenger service in late 2003 with Air Tenji, which had also been the launch customer of the KHS-50-200. Sale has going steadily up, turning the 80-200 into the Kokoan best-selling airliner. 260 have been delivered so far, with the best year being 2017 as well, with 30 airframes built. 43 ended flying with Kokoan airlines, 202 with foreign operators, especially in the southeast Asian regional market. Kokoan armed forces also recieved 15 units thus far, replacing their older YS-11 and KHS-50 models. 41 orders still fill the book, plus another 9 for the Military and four to be built for water-bombing in fire-fighting operations.

Furthermore, to keep offering an up-to-date product to it clients, EAC announched the launch the new 80-300 model in April 2017. The aircraft is an update of the 80-100, incorporating all technological and aerodynamic improvements of the 80-200. The basic -100 airframe recievd the same APU and enlarged tail surfaces of the -200 for better manouverability, resulting in an increased overall length of 29,51 meters. Flight-deck instrumentation was updated to the same fly-by-wire standards of the 80-200. The wingspan was increased to 30,56 meters with the addition of a new segment at the root and upturning wingtips like on the -200 series, increasing fuel capacity. The original PW127B turboprops were replaced with more powerful PW127G ones, also fitting improved six-bladed propellers. Altough passenger capacity remained the same as the -100 series, MTOW was raised to 27.587kg. Thanks to the newer engines and improved aerodynamics speed increased to 567kmh/h, and the extra fuel capacity allows for a range of 1.990km. First flown in December 2017 -and supposed to enter service in late 2018 with launch customer Megami Koku- the EAC-80-300 will replace the -100 series in production once the older model's backlog will be emptied. By the end of 2017, the new model has already allotted 32 orders.

Overall, production of the KHS/EAC-80 stands at 487 airframes with 103 unfilled orders. All but 32 airframes are still in service (198 of the -100 series and 257 of the -200s), 76 with Kokoan airlines, 18 with the Military and 361 with foreign operators.

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Its nice to see some home-grown designs in this AU.
Both designs look good, plausible with nice lines.

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Hello BB1987!

Excellent drawings, I just grabbed them (don't know if you use dropbox, so I hurried). Will probably appear one day in an AU livery, when I think of a really freaky colourful one.

Greetings
GD

No, I'm with Imgur since Majhost exploded, so for now all my entries will be safe from the Dropbox public folder issue.

Anyway, glad you guys liked those turboprops. The next airline (Koko Airways) should start appearing within a week.

Koko Airways:

Based at Hoshiguma Airport, what was for over four decades Koko's second largest airline, was born under the guidance of Mitsuharu Kudo, Chiarman of Hoshiguma air System, one of the many airlines established ater the US-imposed ban on Kokoan domestic aviation was lifted in 1949. Kudo's vision was to provide competition against the state-owned Koutei Koku, which was monopolizing domestic routes. The first step in this process was the consolidation of many smaller operators into a single entity. In october 1961, Hoshiguma Air System officialy acquired Moriya-based Chuhou Kido (Central Airways), with the airline resulting from the merger beign renamed Koko Airways. Shortly after, in January 1962, the newborn Koko Airways also acquired Kimmei Koku (Kimmei Airlines). A takeover bid for Megami Koku presented shortly after didn't went through however (although it took a few decades to surface, it is now well known that some bribery coming from 'a certain other airline' helped Megami's CEO in his decision to decline the offer). Despite this setback, Koko Airways still emerged as Koko's second arline by fleet size, operating 24 aircrafts, comprising DC-3s Convair-240s and De Havilland Doves and Herons. The airline retained HAS green cheatline livery with a green rudder on an otherwise unpainted plane.
Now effectively competing against Koutei Koku on central and southern domestic routes -plus some island connection that Koutei lacked completely from its network- Koko Airways was able to start its expansion plan. Betwen December 1962 and January 1963, the airline recieved its first jetliners: two Convair-880s after a bargain deal with a Manufacturer that was desperate to sell a few jets after Boeing and Douglas had literaly eaten all the market. The introduction of the 880s led to a minor, but significant liverey change: the tail was entirely painted green (not just the rudder) with the letters K and A (initials for koko Airways) with a stylized bird/plane amidst them. The 'green tails', a nickname of the airline, were born. Koko Airways put the Convairs o the Hoshiguma-Kumoi and Hoshiguma-Toumachi routes, then placed a large order for the Japanese Namc YS-11 as to replace its entire piston-gengined prop fleet. In 1967 the jet fleet was expanded with the delivery of the first DC-9-30. With Convair out of the picture Kudo's airline went for Douglas, for simple reason that -at the same time- Koutei was going for Boeing. The larger DC-9-40 followed in 1971.
The 'green tails' entered the widebody age in 1974 with the delivery of the first DC-10-10 for high-density routes on domestic market, which replaced the CV-880s. With the trijet introduction, Kudo decided it was the right time to renew the airline image, with the goal being to stand out. Loosely inspired by Braniff "end of the plain plane" policy, all aircraft had the entire fuselage painted green -although the interiors were kept more sober than those of the Texas-based carrier-. The stylized bird/plane logo was moved on the fuselage near the airline name and the logo on the tail itself was reworked with a bright orange sun added between the letters K and A. The sun added a touch of colour within the green-dominated paintscheme, but also simbolized a stylized letter O that tied to the airline name (KOko Airways), getting the KOA denomination born. 1976 then saw the inauguration of the airline's first international service, when the first DC-10-40 started flying to Tokyo. KOA/green tails growth countined both on the domestic and international market, with the introduction of the MD-81, MD-87 and DC-10-30 (a forced choiche after the DC-10-40 production line had been shut down). Koko Airways planes served many complementary domestic routes to Koutei Koku, also directly competing on the most trafficked ones, and the airline also flew internationally to Tokyo, Osaka and San Francisco (with a stopover at Honolulu). New routes to Seoul and Hong Kong were opened in the late 80's. An old Mitsuharu Kudo retired from his CEO position in 1987, one of his last actions beign the order of a sizable number of MD-11s to open new routes to the United States.
When in 1990 the Gulf War berifly jeopardized air travel and fuel prices for nearly all airlines, KOA new CEO choose to not defer the MD-11 orders and exploit them to open new routes to the southeast-Asian market, moving the older DC-10s to fly towards the US (even so, only Los Angeles was added as a new route). The airline then ordered the MD-90 and domestic-built KHS-80 to renew and expand the short-haul fleet: the first was to replace the DC-9s, the latter the YS-11s. With McDonnell-Douglas acquired by Boeing Koko Airways placed its first order with the Seattle-based Manufacturer when it purchased the 777-200 as a partial replacement for its ageing DC-10-10 fleet. The year 1997 marked both the high point of KOA and the beginning of its downfall. That year the airline operated a fleet of 121 planes and served 46 domestic and 12 international destinations. Then, the now limping airline finances suffered a heavy blow when the Asian economic crisis hit in full force during the second-half of 1997. Nearly all international routes served by KOA hit the red, as the airline had neglected the US market. As a result of this KOA cut most of its southeast-Asian routes, then retired all remaining DC-9s and half of the MD-81 fleet as a cost-cutting measure. Deliveries of the KHS-80 were deferred as well.
After cutting 15 aircraft and a sizeable part of its workforce Koko Airways attempted to regain its image: the all-green livery was ditched and replaced with an Eurowhite scheme that left only the iconic 'green tails' in place. The airline name on the fuselage was enlarged and the stylized bird/plane disappeared. The MD-11 fleet was almost entierely moved to serve newly opened routes to the United States: Seattle, Chicago, New York (other than the existing Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco). This way, Koko Airways was just geting out of the red when 9/11 happened. Having now neglected the Asian market as it was emerging from its recession and focused on US route, unluckily, at the wrong moment KOA cash flow was hit hard once again. And again fleet and workers cuts followed: the airline canceled its oustanding KHS-80 orders (a move that almost killed KHS as well) and retired half of its YS-11s and all remaining DC-10-10s. The move had some effect, but was not as decisive as it was before, as by 2004 the airline started to face other problems like the age of its fleet. Due to its red budget the airline had not ordered any new airplane since the 777-200 in 1997 and it was in no condition to do it anytime soon. Its remaining DC-10s were too much of a fuel guzzler for the airline unsteady finances and the YS-11s averaged 35/36 years of age. Still in the red and with cash hitting rock bottom KOA's CEO looked for a takeover bid for the airline, but no Kokoan operator could afford the burden of picking off the remains of the once proud 'green tails' , except one: Koutei Koku. With no surprise, Koutei recused the possibility of a merger. Not only from a principle resulting with the long-lasting rivalry between them, but also from a technical point of view: KOA and Koutei had no aircrafts in common except for the 777-200, plus Koutei was a loyal General Electric customer for its jets powerplants while KOA used Patt&Whitney engines -the only exception being KOAs 21-year-old DC-10-30s, a model that Koutei had just finished retiring-.
As a desperate last ditch-attempt, Koko Airways withdrew its remaining fleet of YS-11 and DC-10s, then also started selling its MD-81s but to no ultimate avail. Koko airways collapsed under its debts on july 9th 2007, stopping to fly that same day after nearly 46 years of operations.
Worth to be noted is that most of its planes ended up flying with other operator for many years after the airline folded instead of being stored indefinitely or ending up to scrap: United Airlines bought the 777-200s, Delta the MD-90s, Air Philippines the KHS-80s, the MD-87 were split between Spanair and Iberia and the MD-11s -once converted into freighters- went to UPS. Plus, despite suffering a few hull-losses during its operations, Koko Airways never had a passenger fatality.

Operated aircrafts:
DC-3 (1961-1968)
DH-104 Dove (1961-1968)
DH-114 Heron (1961-1972)
CV-240 (1961-1973)
CV-880 (1962-1974)
Namc YS-11 (1965-2006)
DC-9-30 (1967-1981)
DC-9-40 (1971-1998)
DC-10-10 (1974-2003)
DC-10-40 (1976-2004)
MD-81 (1981-2007)
DC-10-30 (1986-2007)
MD-87 (1988-2007)
MD-11 (1991-2007)
KHS-80 (1993-2007)
MD-90 (1995-2007)
B-777-200 (1997-2007)

Douglas DC-3:

Koko airways operated seven DC-3s during it first years. A mix of former military C-47s and C-47As, three were in service with Hoshiguma Air System and another four were added after the merger with Kimmei Koku. The type was progressively phased out between 1965 and 1968 as the Namc YS-11 entered service.
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De Havilland DH-104 Dove:

Three DH-104 were inherted from Chuhou Kido and kept operating routes between Moriya, Hoshiguma and Toumachi with the new airline. Just like the Dc-3s they were retired by 1968 and replaced by the much more capable Namc YS-11.
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De Havilland DH-114 Heron:

Another batch of aircrafts previously belonging to Chuhou Kido, the five Herons were used by Koko airways for flights towards minor islands like Kammu, Nijo and Nanto owing to the redundancy of the four engines for flights over water. Even so, one of the dh-114s was forced to execute a ditching in 1966 just off Yuryaku island. Everyone on board survived. The remaining four airframes kept serving their island conncection task until 1969 when two were retired. The last pair saw service as far as 1972.
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Koko - Civil Aviation (AU)

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