Southwest has drastically reduced its fuel hedges for the next five years—a huge change for a carrier that made a commitment to fuel hedging nearly a decade ago as an “insurance policy” against oil price increases and saw that initiative pay off with billions of dollars in savings during the past few years. Hedging saved the low-cost carrier more than $3.6 billion from 2005-07 and the first nine months of 2008; it had hedged 75% of its future purchases at approximately $73 per barrel of oil for 2009, 50% at $90 for 2010 and 40% at $93 for 2011.
NASA’s Orion program is drawing on the findings of a special investigation team formed by the agency to study the final moments of the space shuttle Columbia crew, in an attempt to improve the chances of future crews surviving emergencies.
Almost every time Aviation Week editors pause to consider which people have had the greatest impact—positive or negative—on aviation and aerospace in the preceding year, there is a spirited internal debate. More often than not, the debate continues externally—among our erudite readers—after the Person of the Year is named and our feature published.
NASA’s two Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) contractors have a new incentive to finish developing their ISS supply spacecraft—separate contracts worth about $3.5 billion together to deliver cargo to the station through 2016. Neither Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) nor Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) has flown the vehicles they are developing with almost $500 million of federal seed money under the COTS development effort.
A Chinese aircraft carrier force, extending Beijing’s reach at least as far as the northeastern entrances of Indian Ocean, looks almost inevitable following endorsements from senior officials.
Funding delays have forced postponement of the final findings of a congressional commission examining the nation’s strategic posture. But in a 12-page interim report, the panel says nuclear terrorism poses a “growing threat” to the U.S. The 12-member panel also warns that if Iran and North Korea continue, unchecked, developing nuclear arsenals, it could lead to a “tipping point” in nuclear weapons proliferation.
The price of European Union emission allowances (EUAs) under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme stabilized in December, after losing ground throughout most of November. With the Dec. 1 expiry of EUA forward contracts for December 2008 delivery on the over-the-counter market, December 2009 became the front-year contract, attracting the bulk of liquidity.
Michael Bruno (Washington), Amy Butler (Washington), John M. Doyle (Washington)
Robert Gates sits at the table, sandwiched in the cathedral-like hearing room between an antsy Senate Armed Services Committee and an anxious public. It’s December 2006 and if the Code Pink Iraq war protesters in the public seating are not providing enough volatility, the grim Senate panel in front of Gates is still reeling from an historic congressional election the month before, as well as the sudden firing of the larger-than-life man he has been tapped to replace.
The Italian government is assuring its aerospace, defense and other high-technology industries that the global economic crisis will not lead it to curtail research and development spending. During a recent meeting of the inter-ministerial committee on the development of the aerospace industry, the government approved a €900-million ($1.27-billion) package to support a range of aerospace and electronic programs.
Stephen Goddard (see photo) has become president/CEO of the TransPac Aviation Academy of Phoenix, the former Pan Am Aviation Academy. He was vice president of 3D Systems Inc.
NASA is completing measurements of supersonic shock waves to validate design tools for a potential supersonic passenger aircraft using the final flights of its canard-equipped F-15B testbed.
Slovakia is the latest nation to select Alenia Aeronautica’s C-27J tactical transport, and is negotiating to buy an expected two aircraft for delivery in 2011 to replace the Slovak Army’s pair of Antonov An-26s. The C-27J was selected over the EADS CASA C-295M and Lockheed Martin C-130J.
The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract to DE Technologies to continue development of “an offensive, directed-energy warhead.” The system would be used on the Compact Rapid Attack Weapon, a concept for a vertical take-off-and-landing launched weapon for anti-submarine warfare and torpedo defense.
Saab has secured a long-term contract to operate and maintain the Swedish air force’s Saab 105 (designated the SK 60) trainer aircraft in a deal that represents a new fee-for-service model for the country. The contract from the Swedish Defense Material Administration is valued at 900 million Swedish kronor ($117 million), not including options, and could include an increase in the number of flight hours and amount of revenue for Saab. The basic contract is for 6,500 flying hours per year.
Since airlines won’t fly if they can’t make money, I have no objection to paying extra for services that I can either live without or supply myself. However, as reader Curt Woodall pointed out (AW&ST Dec. 8, 2008, p. 10), water is not optional on long flights. But under the rather ridiculous current rules, bringing your own is not permitted. Some airlines exploit this by charging outrageous prices for mouthfuls of water. Giving the passengers a choice between being ripped off and enduring dehydration is morally repugnant.
David Turnbull (see photo) has been appointed chairman of Seabury Aviation & Aerospace Asia (Hong Kong) Ltd. He was chairman of Swire Pacific Ltd. and had been CEO/chairman of Cathay Pacific Airways. Turnbull remains executive chairman of Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd.
U.S. and European forces will run a new test next September to validate a cooperative target identification concept that could sharply reduce friendly losses during close air strike missions. The novel interrogation friend-or-foe concept, known as Reverse IFF, draws on signals emitted by tactical UHF/VHF radio systems, obviating the need to equip ground troops with expensive transponder networks. First trialed in September 2007 by U.S., Canadian and French forces at Nellis AFB, Nev., Reverse IFF showed the ability to query over a distance of 50 km.
Timing is everything, so goes the adage, and that certainly was the case a few months ago when I kicked off the process for Aviation Week editors to follow toward selecting our 2008 Person of the Year.
Top NASA spaceflight operations and exploration systems managers will gather Jan. 23 to decide whether it will be possible to launch the first flight test of the Ares I space-shuttle follow-on in July. In the complex transition between the retiring shuttle and Ares I, managers will decide if Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center can be turned over for modifications needed for the Ares I-X flight test, or must be held by the shuttle program until the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope is launched in May.
U.S Army Brig. Gen. (ret.) James Moran (see photo) has been appointed Washington-based vice president-Army solutions for Elbit Systems of America . He was an executive with Ideal Innovations Inc. and the Northrop Grumman Corp.
Effective Mar. 1, individuals wishing access to the airport operations area of commercial airports will have to meet new standards set by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in what it calls a “common sense” directive. A background check and finger- printing are among the requirements to obtain an identification badge to enter the secure identification display area. Airports Council International is working to resolve issues that present “significant challenges” to member airports.
Arianespace landed two additional launch contracts in the runup to the new year. One will see it loft Chile’s new surveiilance satellite, SSOT, into orbit atop a Soyuz booster from Kourou, French Guiana, in the first half of 2010. The other launch is for Egypt’s Nilesat 201, which will be carried into space by a Soyuz or Ariane 5 in the first quarter of 2010.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will use rocket-engine test facilities at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to hot-fire the Aerojet AJ26 liquid oxygen/RP-1 engine planned for the Taurus II medium-lift launch vehicle. Under development with seed money from NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) effort, and under contract to help resupply the International Space Station after the shuttle fleet retires (see p. 13), the Taurus II will use a pair of the modified Russian NK-33 engines in its first stage.
The European Space Agency will design a data link that could be used to enhance Europe’s air traffic management network. The radio-frequency satellite-based data link—called Iris but officially known as Artes 10—could replace very high-frequency systems as the primary means of communication between the ground and the cockpit, with VHF being relegated to backup. Iris could be used for both controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC) and air-to-ground airline data transfer.
When NASA Ames Research Center and Northrop Grumman won the right to build a low-cost penetrator for studying the Moon’s surface composition, they worked on a tight schedule. They had just six months to build and test the instruments and a mission budget cap of $79 million.
