Former FAA Associate Administrator William F. Shea of Woodland, Calif., has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Aviation Management Assn. He was the association’s first president, as commissioner of the Binghamton (N.Y.) Regional Airport.
Despite mounting aircraft cancellations and deferrals, French aerospace supplier Safran expects to maintain deliveries of engines at or near current record levels.
Previous letter writers have listed the direct benefits and negatives that offshoring produces, but none has mentioned the indirect economic pluses. Creation of jobs in other countries raises the standard of living there, increasing consumer demand, which eventually manifests itself as increased business for U.S. products, more commercial travel between partner countries, greater trade and a potentially lower trade deficit for the U.S.
Chinese commercial aircraft maker Comac has begun volume production of the ARJ21 regional jet, aiming to deliver five of the aircraft next year. A further 10 will follow in 2011 and 15 in 2012, the company says.
Hong Kong businessman Joseph Lau has canceled a 787 VIP order, reducing Boeing’s firm order count to 878 for the aircraft type from 53 customers. Lau’s cancellation was the 33rd for the program. It also left Boeing with 32 fewer orders for 2009 than it had at the end of last year. Boeing recorded a single 737 order from Alaska Airlines as of Feb. 19.
Better test ranges, more flexible threat simulations and the latest foreign surface-to-air missile systems will be needed to maintain the U.S. Air Force’s combat edge in the 21st century.
Snecma and Europropulsion, a joint venture of Snecma and Italy’s Avio, will supply the cryogenic propulsion system and solid rocket motors for 35 additional Ariane 5 launch vehicles. The venture’s $1.5-1.7-billion contract for the work was awarded by Ariane 5 prime contractor EADS Astrium, which received an award for the 35 launchers, known as Batch PB, in early February (AW&ST Feb. 9, p. 21). Snecma provides the Vulcain 2 main stage and HM7B upper stage for the Ariane 5 ECA—the object of the PB Batch purchase—along with main and upper-stage equipment and subsystems.
British and French naval experts are attempting to determine how two nuclear-powered ballistic missile-carrying submarines collided in early February, and how to prevent such occurrences. The French defense ministry indicated on Feb. 6 that the Triomphant—the first in a new generation of nuclear subs that will carry France’s new M51 ballistic missile—had been forced to return to its home port after striking an undisclosed immersed object. On Feb.
Reader Chip Lawson questions the water landing/ditching passenger information card found on Airbus A320s (AW&ST Feb. 2, p. 8). He says the card shows (or suggests) the A320 will float in a level position, but US Airways Flight 1549 ended up tail down, with water entering the aft portion of the aircraft when the rear door was mistakenly opened. Lawson forgets that one of the nacelles containing a big old, heavy CFM56 engine was ripped off during ditching, thereby drastically altering the center of gravity and making the aircraft immediately tail-heavy.
Sea Launch has postponed liftoff of Italy’s Sicral 1b military communications satellite until further notice because of unspecified payload issues. Launch of the spacecraft, built by Thales Alenia Space and partially financed by sister company Telespazio, already has been pushed back several times. Industry sources say an April launch is now likely.
Peter Lengyel has become vice president-business development support for Safran USA . He was director of naval affairs for defense cooperation in the Office of Defense Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Paris.
In another sign of these troubled economic times, JetBlue Airways on Feb. 17 became at least the second carrier—and the first in the U.S. market—to offer refunds to customers if they book tickets and lose full-time jobs before taking the flights. At least one European carrier—Flybe—initiated a similar offer in January and extended it for bookings through February. JetBlue made its offer good for bookings through June 1.
Kunming Airlines, a new subsidiary of Shenzhen Airlines, will begin flying from its base in the Chinese province of Yunnan on Feb. 15, only a month after plans for the carrier were announced. The newly launched airline is raising its sights beyond domestic operations, with plans to fly to the Southeast Asian countries adjacent to the southern province. The initial fleet is composed of two Boeing 737-700s and one 737-800 but the carrier plans to increase fleet size to 10 aircraft this year and to 30 within three years.
Douglas Barrie (Bangalore, India ), Neelam Mathews (Bangalore, India)
The Indian defense ministry and EADS are negotiating codevelopment of an active electronically scanned array radar. The discussions are part of a wider effort—including re-engining—to revamp India’s Light Combat Aircraft.
The new director of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is likely to come under pressure to change funding style. Critics say the organization has become too focused on short-term results under departing chief Tony Tether. Darpa’s longest-serving director, Tether had expected to stay in place until replaced, but last week was asked by the Obama administration to leave by Feb. 20, before a successor has been named.
I read with consternation the commentary by Pedro Rustan (AW&ST Jan. 12, p. 62) urging a refocus for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), whose mission is: “Maintain the technological superiority of the U.S. military.”
Japanese space agency JAXA says Ibuki, the carbon-dioxide and methane monitoring satellite it launched in January as Gosat, has acquired its first Earth image from its Fourier Transform Spectrometer. The full checkout is expected to take three months.
AirAsia X, the long-haul affiliate of Malaysian carrier AirAsia, is looking for up to five more Airbus A340-300s to support growth while awaiting the 25 A350s or Boeing 787s it is planning to order. The airline needs the aircraft to extend its network to such destinations as Germany, France and New Zealand.
Even before the financial crisis, the defense budget was “running out of gas,” according to Andrew Krepinevich, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Freely admitting his budget predictions are “merely informed speculation” until the real numbers are released in April, he expects near-term defense spending will not be cut back drastically. But “further out, things really do become grim,” he adds.
Textron Chief Financial Officer Ted French was ousted after investor concerns about the company’s liquidity pushed its stock price down more than 20% in a single day to an 18-year low. French also was chairman/CEO of Textron Financial Corp., the troubled commercial finance subsidiary. Losses at Textron Financial and slumping demand at Cessna Aircraft have offset strong performances at the Bell Helicopter and defense/intelligence units.
Eutelsat has boosted its full-year revenue outlook for 2008-09 to €910 million ($1.174 billion), from €900 million earlier, on the strength of a strong first half. Revenues grew 7.9% to €463.5 million; earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization climbed 7.4%, to €375.1 million; and net cash flow rose 24.1%.
Douglas Barrie (Bangalore), Neelam Mathews (Bangalore)
India and France are completing an agreement covering the co-development and production of MBDA’s Short-Range Surface-to-Air Missile air defense system, also known as Maitri. MBDA officials say they expect to have a contract for the weapon in the next few weeks. An aggressive development schedule is intended to see the missile fielded by 2012. Bharat Dynamics is MBDA’s industry partner on the program.
Embraer is eyeing an entry-into-service date in 2017 or 2018 for a new family of commercial aircraft that is likely to compete with the current Boeing and Airbus narrowbodies. Embraer President/CEO Frederico Fleury Curado tells Aviation Week & Space Technology that a decision on the action and the technological concept will not be made before 2011. “There are several moving pieces in this puzzle,” Curado says. “But there will be a convergence in 2-3 years.”
On Mar. 2, the Netherlands’ Martinair Cargo plans to add twice-weekly MD-11 freighter service to Sao Paulo (Brazil) Viracopos Airport from Amsterdam. Construction materials and electronics will be among the cargo on the direct flight to Sao Paulo. On return flights to Amsterdam, the hold of the 80-ton-capacity aircraft will be filled with flowers picked up at Quito and Bogota. Starting May 2, El Al Airlines plans to operate three times weekly passenger service to Sao Paulo from Tel Aviv using Boeing 777s.
