USAir Sale of 20 Planes Part of McDonnell Douglas Deal

NEW YORK —  USAir said Thursday that it had sold 20 British-made BAC 1-11 airliners to McDonnell Douglas Corp. “in conjunction” with its recent purchase of new McDonnell Douglas jets.

USAir declined to say how much it was paid for the 24-year-old BAC 1-11s, but Paul Turk, an official of Avmark Inc., an airline consulting firm in Arlington, Va., that closely follows airplane prices, said USAir is understood to have received about $400,000 for each plane. He said the current value of a BAC 1-11 is about $1.25 million.

He speculated that USAir, in return, probably got a lower-than-average price from McDonnell Douglas for the 20 MD-82 jets it ordered and the 20 others on which it took purchase options in a recently announced transaction with a potential value of $1.3 billion. USAir said only that Thursday’s transaction was “made in conjunction” with that purchase.

USAir will lease back 10 of the BAC 1-11s from McDonnell Douglas for short periods between now and August, when the last one will be turned over to the giant aerospace firm. David Shipley, an airline spokesman, said: “This is a normal phase-out of these planes.”

USAir acquired most of its BAC 1-11 fleet--all of which is being sold to McDonnell Douglas--in 1972 when its predecessor company, Allegheny Airlines, merged with Mohawk Airlines, a regional carrier in New York. Since then, the 74-seat, twin-engine jets primarily have flown the shorter routes of USAir’s hub-and-spoke system, carrying passengers from smaller cities to the larger hubs.

The deal announced Thursday was arranged by USAir Leasing & Services, which like the airline is a subsidiary of USAir Group.

Turk said McDonnell Douglas would probably refurbish the planes, then sell them as private corporate jets. Braniff Airways is the only other airline in this country that uses the planes.

Though the BAC 1-11 no longer is manufactured in Britain, there is a version being built under contract by a Romanian firm.

USAir Leasing said it will continue to stock and sell spare parts for the planes and will offer pilot training in its BAC 1-11 flight simulator, the only one in North or South America.