Steven Aliment (see photo) has become Munich-based vice president-European sales for Bombardier . He was head of sales for Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. Kevin J. Smith has been appointed vice president-sales for the Americas. He was vice president-international sales. Smith also will be interim senior vice president-sales for Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, succeeding James E. Dailly, who has retired.
Ukraine’s air transport sector is heading for fundamental changes, as privatization and liberalization efforts take shape and airlines struggle for survival. The Ukrainian government will sell all the major shares in the country’s airlines. It holds 61% of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), 22% of Aerosvit and 90% of Dniproavia. Additionally, Austrian Airlines may dispose of a 22% stake in UIA as part of its own sale process to Lufthansa. Austrian has held the shares since the mid-1990s.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will host a high-level meeting on international aviation and climate change Oct. 7-9 at its headquarters in Montreal. The meeting, which stems from a resolution passed at the 36th session of the ICAO Assembly in September 2007, will focus on the organization’s efforts to provide leadership to the international civil aviation community to reduce emissions contributing to global climate change.
France also has agreed to use stimulus funding to upgrade simulation facilities to the Rafale F3 multirole standard now being introduced, and to acquire 15 additional 20-mm. cannons for Cougar and Caracal helicopters. The €63-million simulator upgrade, awarded to Dassault Aviation and Thales, will go to installations at the St. Dizier air force base and Landivisiau naval air center. The €22-million cannon contract, issued to Nexter Systems and Eurocopter, will reinforce the survivability of the helicopters in urban wafare conditions.
Aegean Airlines signed a follow-up airframe maintenance contract with Lufthansa Technik for 19 additional aircraft. Lufthansa Technik Malta and Shannon Aerospace, both owned by LHT, will perform C checks on 14 Airbus A320s, three A321s and two Boeing 737s between this December and February 2011. LHT performed heavy checks on three Aegean A320s and three 737s last year.
British Airways subsidiary BA CityFlyer has taken delivery of its first Embraer 170 regional jet and will inaugurate service at London City Airport this month. The airline has ordered 11 Embraer 170/190s to replace Avro RJs that will be phased out by next May. The final Embraer jet is scheduled to arrive in June. CityFlyer projects a 27-28% improvement in fleet operational costs from the new aircraft with a fuel burn reduced by 56% compared to the Avro RJs. The Embraer 170 will be configured with 76 seats; the 190 will have 98 seats.
Jim Lovell is going to be surprised to find out he walked on the Moon on Apollo 17 (AW&ST Aug. 10, p. 29). I think you meant Eugene Cernan. Despite going to the Moon twice, Lovell never made it to the surface. (The reader is correct—Ed.)
France will begin a new-generation laser designator technology program under a €31-million ($45-million) project funded by the country’s fiscal stimulus plan. The demonstrator, dubbed Mastrid (Multi-context Airborne System for Targeting, Recognition and IDentification), will be derived from the Damocles pod and feature an improved daylight camera, enhanced detection/identification algorithms and a new geo-location function.
Peter K. Chapman (see photo), vice president/chief commercial officer of the AAR Corp., Wood Dale, Ill., has been awarded the French Medaille de l’Aeronautique (Medal of Aeronautics). The medal rewards the accomplishments of civilian and military personnel who have contributed to the development of aviation. Chapman has been president/CEO of United Technologies International and executive vice president of Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines; president/CEO of Dalfort Aviation; and president of Asia-Pacific operations for the then-McDonnell Douglas Corp.
Shanghai Airlines has begun operating Panasonic’s eFX inflight, fully digital entertainment system in 10 Airbus A321 aircraft on routes within China. The IFE installation, which features audio and video on demand, games and other entertainment options, is scalable with the capability to add advanced functions, according to the airline. In related news, Panasonic Avionics Corp. will maintain IFE systems on Singapore Airlines’ fleet for the next 10 years. Panasonic now supplies the carrier with IFE equipment and will work with SIA Engineering Co.
A new initiative at the FAA’s Joint Advanced Materials and Structures Center of Excellence (JAMS) located within the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita (Kan.) State University, is focusing on nine technical areas for ongoing study of aerospace metal and composite structures.
As summarized in your spot-on editorial “Aerospace’s Perfect Storm” (AW&ST Aug. 10, p. 70), money managers are now at the helm of competitors making proposals for aerospace products. Companies are obsessed with low-cost offerings to NASA, the U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy.
More than two decades after first being pitched—unsuccessfully—as a military airlifter, the BAe 146 is once again being touted for the role. This time, however, the cost is way below the initial asking price of $20-25 million. BAE Systems revisited offering a military transport version of existing BAe 146 regional jets at last week’s Defense Systems & Equipment International exhibition in London.
A year after the 2008 fight between Russia and Georgia, the shadow it casts on future wars continues to grow as details surface about the use of 21st-century weaponry—in this case, computer network attacks—in the conflict. New studies reveal that cyber-attacks orchestrated from Russia created a strategic economic impact. Civilians and criminal organizations in several countries were recruited to aid the military effort. Analysts also suspect that digital time bombs were embedded in Georgian networks to cause future damage.
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V orbited the U.S. government’s classified “PAN” communications satellite following a picture-perfect countdown and launch Sept. 8 from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla.
Falling demand and the concomitant decline in revenues, combined with expensive loans, is placing some Russian carriers in a tenuous financial position. The bankruptcy of KD Avia airlines highlights the fact that even government efforts to support the domestic airline industry cannot ensure its survival. As funding from disillusioned creditors dries up, the state’s involvement in the airline industry is growing.
The payload module for Europe’s second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Johannes Kepler, has been completed and is ready for shipment to Bremen, Germany, for integration and testing. The 4.6-meter-dia., 4-meter-long module, which weighs 4 metric tons, was produced at the Turin, Italy, plant of Thales Alenia Space. It will be integrated with the ATV propulsion and avionics bays at the Bremen site of EADS Astrium. The module is to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in mid-2010.
James S. Ross has been named vice president-preowned aircraft sales for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. , Savannah, Ga. He was head of preowned aircraft sales in the Western U.S. and Latin America. Ross succeeds Matt Hartnett, who has retired.
Don’t expect the Senate to vote on an FAA reauthorization bill before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. The Commerce Committee approved an FAA bill in July, and staffers now hope for a floor vote in six to eight weeks. The holdup is the Finance Committee, which must add its proposals on any changes to taxes and fees. That committee, however, has been tied up with the health care debate. The House passed its own version of the FAA bill in May, but there are significant differences between the two bills that could take time to reconcile after the floor votes.
Washington and Riyadh are near setting a framework that could ease the way for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) to acquire a further 72 Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles. Saudi Arabia has been seeking replacements for its F-15C/Ds for some time, with one area of sensitivity believed to cover what standard of Strike Eagle would be made available. It remains to be determined whether Saudi Arabia will commit to a single purchase, or acquire the replacement aircraft in batches.
The China National Space Administration says it will produce a space launcher called Long March 6 by 2013, around the time that it had been expected to deliver the Long March 5. The timing suggests the new rocket will be a relative of the Long March 5; in unconfirmed reports, the name Long March 6 has been associated with a lightweight launcher based on the side-mounted booster for the planned Long March 5. Officially, the Long March 5 is slated to go into service in 2014.
Hawker Beechcraft has flown the prototype AT-6 light-attack/reconnaissance derivative of its T-6A/B Texan II turboprop trainer. The company has also just received a contract for eight T-6As for the Iraqi air force, but the potential sale of up to 36 structurally strengthened and armed AT-6s to Iraq is still pending. The company recently began delivery of 25 T-6As to Israel and the first of 260 glass-cockpit T-6Bs to the U.S. Navy.
