International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) executives are right when they emphasize that the airline industry is entering into “the worst revenue environment in 50 years.” The U.S. financial crisis in the last few months rapidly expanded around the world in a dramatic illustration of the so-called domino effect. No economy seems immune to the soured state that originated in Wall Street and is now impinging on all developed countries.
Telesat says Space Systems/Loral has shipped Telstar 11N, a 39-transponder Ku-band telecom satellite, to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan where it will be orbited in the first quarter atop a Land Launch Zenit 3SLB booster. From its perch at 37.5 deg. W. Long., Telstar 11N will interconnect markets in North America, Western Europe and Africa and provide mobile maritime and aeronautical service across the Atlantic.
A. William Higgins has been named to succeed David A. Bloss, Sr., as chairman of Circor International Inc. , Burlington, Mass., upon his retirement in February. Higgins has been president/CEO.
Lawrence G. Kuntz has become sales director for the Park Electrochemical Corp. , Melville, N.Y. He was a consultant for Adhesive Product Development, South Hadley, Mass.
Avic has secured lines of credit totaling 176 billion yuan ($26 billion). The purpose of the funding has not been spelled out, but the specialist subsidiaries that Avic is forming, such as Avicopter, all have ambitious and costly plans to develop more advanced, commercially oriented products.
Pinnacle Airlines subsidiary Colgan Air will be adding 15 Bombardier Q400 NextGen turboprop aircraft to its fleet. In a contract valued at $432 million, Colgan on Jan. 15 converted 10 conditional orders and exercised five options placed by Pinnacle in 2007 with the Toronto-based aircraft manufacturer.
Delta Air Lines has awarded Pratt & Whitney contracts worth more than $1 billion that are designed to help Delta lower total costs and maintain engines more efficiently, according to Delta Air Lines’s Jason Adams, general manager-supply chain. A new 10-year, $1-billion contract covers material and parts repair for Delta’s fleet of about 80 PW4000 engines as well as for Delta TechOps’s PW4000 customers, with Delta continuing to maintain the engines. The airline also awarded a $50-million, five-year contract to Pratt to supply JT8D-219 parts.
Craig W. Anderson (see photo) has been named senior director of quality and product integrity for the Sabreliner Corp. ’s Southeast Missouri operations.
The third production VH-71 presidential helicopter made its first flight Jan. 12 at Yeovil, England. It’s the seventh presidential helicopter built for the program by AgustaWestland.
Ralph L. Phillips (see photos) has become president of Smiths Interconnect , Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was president of affiliate Tecom Industries and has been succeeded by Arsen Melconian. He was Tecom’s vice president-engineering/chief technology officer.
Paul Theofan has been appointed president/managing executive of GE Aviation Czech , which includes subsidiary Walter Aircraft Engines. He was vice president-marketing and sales of subsidiary Unison Industries.
Safeguarding cash is the primary marching order for EADS as it tries to navigate through the global economic turmoil going into a year where Airbus expects orders to fall sharply and come in below delivery levels for the first time since 2004.
Gwynne Shotwell has been appointed president of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, Calif. She was vice president-business development.
David D. McBride (see photo) has been named deputy director of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center , Edwards AFB, Calif. He succeeds Steven G. Schmidt, who is now director of the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility, Palmdale, Calif. McBride was associate director for programs.
EADS and Airbus are not only seeking years more time to complete A400M development, but additional financial support as well. Industry likely has one final opportunity to rescue the program before the patience of at least some partner nations is exhausted. Senior Airbus executives warn that they are unwilling to carry on with the A400M as presently structured.
The Royal Australian Air Force has moved a step closer to fielding an operational Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (Boeing 737-700) aircraft. One of the projected fleet of six aircraft conducted the design’s first aerial refueling at Edwards AFB, Calif., on Jan. 7 and received 14,000 lb. of fuel during two connections from a KC-10 tanker. On Jan. 10, the aircraft duplicated the feat with a KC-135 tanker. The Wedgetail was described by the test pilot Ron Johnston as “stable with excellent flying qualities and engine response behind the tanker.”
BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce are both picking up work on renewable energy sources from the U.K.’s Energy Technologies Institute. BAE Systems, and its naval joint venture with VT, BVT Surface Fleet, will work on Project Deepwater Turbine. Rolls-Royce will be involved with the testing of tidal turbines at the European Marine Energy Center.
The underground smuggling complex linking Egypt and the Gaza Strip—heavily used by Hamas— will continue to be pounded from the air by Israel and may be swept by ground forces to destroy additional tunnels and storage sites. But Israeli officials say privately that they will not be involved in prolonged ground combat in Gaza’s built-up urban centers, and they could be out of the area in as little as two weeks.
Slumping demand for commercial aircraft is forcing aerospace companies to lay off thousands of domestic workers and could add fuel to the debate over transferring jobs to low-wage countries. But the offshoring of aerospace jobs from the U.S. and Western Europe will continue in coming years for several key reasons, say partners at global business consultancy Bain & Company. Talent shortage.
On the verge of his planned departure from NASA, Administrator Michael Griffin is characteristically blunt when asked about what was perhaps the most controversial decision of his tenure—basing NASA’s next-generation Ares launch systems on heritage space shuttle hardware rather than on U.S. Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles or new rockets.
Airbus is kicking off the industrialization phase for the A350XWB, hoping to speed construction of its new twin-engine, wide-body transport. But the European airframer also aims to adjust the core program. Several important changes were identified during the recent “maingate five” review, which froze the design of the initial aircraft, the A350-900, and cleared the way to start building components. “We found some issues,” says Fabrice Bregier, Airbus’s chief operating officer.
Mike Turner (see photo) has been promoted to marketing and corporate communications director from corporate communications manager for StandardAero , Tempe, Ariz.
