More than 20 scheduled carriers now vie for a share of Indonesia's commercial air transport market, with intense price competition and more regulatory requirements the order of the day. But such conditions will eventually force some airlines out, says Rusdi Kirana, head of Lion Air, the country's largest domestic airline. He foresees a massive shakeout through mergers and business failures, leaving just four airline groups to serve the world's largest archipelago, within the next 6-7 years.

An item in the Who's Where column last week (p. 12) incorrectly stated Tom Horton's job status. He remains chairman, president and CEO of the AMR Corp.

Boeing's decision to lower costs and increase efficiency in its defense operations by shifting work at its huge Wichita facility to elsewhere in its network may well be the first of many plant closures this year as U.S. military spending dries up.

SNPL France ALPA, France's leading airline pilot union, says its members will not report to work Feb. 6-9 as part of a retaliatory initiative against a proposal to revise rules governing walkouts in the airline industry. Eric Diard, a right-wing member of parliament, is proposing that unions be required to give carriers notice 48 hr. before a walkout to make it easier for airlines to plan contingency flight schedules. The proposal also calls for alerting air passengers about cancellations no later than 24 hr. before departure dates.

AERONAUTICS/PROPULSION •The AeroVironment Nano Air Vehicle Team developed and unveiled a tiny remotely piloted air vehicle, the Nano Hummingbird. Looking and flying like a tiny bird, it is designed to record video with an onboard camera and send color video to a hand-held controller.

“Find the niche and fill it” is a venerable maxim and one Butler National

“Mr. President, congratulations. You're a tough adversary. No hard feelings, old pal. It's a great two-party system we have. We gave our best and you outdid us. As a matter of fact you stunned us. I never figured you could beat us that badly. I want to wish you all the success in the world.” Those words were spoken three decades ago by then-U.S. House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill, a liberal Massachusetts Democrat, to President Ronald Reagan, a conservative Republican, after the chief executive prevailed in a tough budget battle.

Russia's United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) has reported assembly of the first Ilyushin Il-476 flight prototype, a modernized version of the Il-76MD heavy transport aircraft. The prototype was shown publicly for the first time at the Aviastar-SP production facility in Ulyanovsk in mid-December. A UAC representative told Aviation Week the official rollout will be in early 2012, with first flight expected in the spring.