Airbus has broadened the airframe work that Spirit AeroSystems will complete for the A350XWB to include the wing leading edge, which will be produced mainly at Spirit’s Prestwick facility in Scotland. The contract, for which no award price was given, also includes the composite front spar, to be manufactured in Kinston, N.C., and composite subassemblies, to be turned out at the Spirit Malaysia facility at Subang, near Kuala Lumpur. Spirit made its A350 breakthrough in May with a contract to build the airplane’s center fuselage section.
Germany’s anti-trust authority Bundeskartellamt is expected to block the planned merger of Air Berlin and leisure carrier Condor, opening opportunities for a new round of talks among various industry players. The authority told Air Berlin in March that it will likely not allow it to take over Condor as planned, as the two airlines would gain a dominant position on leisure routes from Germany to Southern Europe. However, Air Berlin argues the combination would enhance competition on long-haul routes.
The Russian air force would like to field 48-72 Sukhoi Su-35s multirole fighters as an interim until its fifth-generation combat aircraft enters service, if the government will approve funding for the acquisition. The first prototype of the Su-35 derivative of the Su-27 Flanker was presented in front of senior air force officers last week. So far, the aircraft, Bort 901, has chalked up 20 test flights since it was first flown in February. Air force chief Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin says the service wants 2-3 regiments of the Su-35.
Michael Mecham (North Charleston, S.C., and Wichita, Kan.)
After months of headlines featuring 787 delays, the news from Boeing now heralds milestones being achieved. Factories still are not pulsing as they’re supposed to, but the large-assembly production system that is at the heart of the new airplane’s global supply strategy is beginning to gel.
Graham Warwick (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
The boom in demand for business aircraft may be passing its peak in the U.S., if not elsewhere, but manufacturers are already looking beyond the current cooling toward the next upswing of the cycle by building orderbooks for aircraft that will not enter service before early next decade.
Gloomy headlines may proclaim oil around $150 a barrel, but Boeing says travel is so essential to the world’s economy that airplane sales should top $3 trillion in the next 20 years. And, besides, it figures oil prices will average only half current rates. In its annual market review, the company forecasts demand for 29,400 new airplanes through 2027 valued at $3.2 trillion, an uptick over last year’s prediction of 28,600 orders valued at $2.8 trillion.
The pilot hiring picture remains bleak. Southwest Airlines is the only U.S. major airline still hiring pilots, according to Atlanta-based FLT.ops, an aviation career consulting firm. In the last six months, airline shutdowns resulted in the permanent loss of 2,377 pilot jobs. About 2,000 pilots, mainly from American Airlines, are now on furlough, with another 3,000 expected to be laid off by the year-end.
Amparo Calatayud (see photos) has been named manager of FlightSafety International ’s Learning Center in Lafayette, La. Barbara Taylor has been promoted to manager from assistant manager of FSI’s Bell Helicopter Learning Center in Fort Worth. Calatayud has been assistant manager of the Dallas/Fort Worth Learning Center. Taylor succeeds George Ferito, who will remain director of rotorcraft business development.
Simon Maurer (see photo) has been appointed chief safety officer for Geneva-based Skyguide . He will succeed Jurg Schmid, who will be retiring at year-end. Maurer has been deputy aviation safety officer for the Swiss Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications Dept.
EADS Astrium says the second Galileo test satellite, Giove B, has successfully completed in-orbit testing. The spacecraft is intended to validate key technologies of the European satellite navigation system, notably a passive hydrogen maser clock, and to provide test signals that replicate the actual frequencies and formats that will be used in the operational system (see p. 70).
Ludwig Hamburger has been appointed director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for AirBridgeCargo Airlines . He was European manager for Air New Zealand.
Michael Allouche of Israel Aerospace Industries’ Malat Div. is among the seven winners of the Catherine Fargeon Award from the Paris-based Unmanned Vehicle Systems (UVS) International , in recognition of his contributions to the work being undertaken in EUROCAE WG73. The award recognizes promotion of the insertion of unmanned aircraft into non-segregated airspace and/or the general promotion of the future use of unmanned aircraft.
Charles Pineo has been promoted to executive director/chief operating officer from vice president-business development/director of sales and marketing of The UND Aerospace Foundation of the Odegard School at the University of North Dakota . Associate Prof. Kimberly Kenville has become graduate program director for the Aviation Dept.
In 1962, between two election defeats, Richard Nixon wrote a memoir entitled Six Crises. It wouldn’t be a bad title for a book on the airline industry today.
An online business travel network has created interactive Travel Lounges to keep members abreast of who could be on the same flight, a tool that could prove useful to both travelers and crew. Members can sign up for free and use multiple tools geared toward business travelers from restaurant guides to entertainment forums. Pick the airline on which you’re traveling and add upcoming trips. If there are members going to the same destination, you will be sent an automatic e-mail alert. One click on “Sky View” displays who is in what city and attending what tradeshow.
F. Suzanne Jenniches, sector vice president and general manager of the Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Baltimore-based Government Systems Div., has received the Chair’s Award from the American Assn. of Engineering Societies for her “continued advancement of the engineering profession.’’ She is credited with leading the association’s transition to a member- and program-focused engineering organization.
The U.S. and partner nations have a smorgasbord of weapons they have aspirations to put in—or on—the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Few of these from the partner nations, if any, will make it into the Block 4 program that is now being hammered out, and at least some will eventually fall by the wayside completely.
Low-fare carriers Vueling and Clickair will become a stronger force in the Spanish air transport market after agreeing to a long-expected merger. The two airlines will comprise the third largest group in Spain after Iberia and Spanair. But they will become a particular threat to Spanair, as Iberia will hold a 45% stake in the new entity. The company will keep the Vueling brand and will continue to be based in Barcelona. Vueling will have a fleet of 45 Airbus A320s operating 300 daily flights on 112 routes.
Robert Crandall’s comment about airline labor rates being “far more generous than those for comparable skills in other industries” caused me to gag on my Hamburger Helper. I have a master’s degree, type ratings in four transport aircraft, flown for a major airline for 22 years and make less than a city bus driver. Crandall needs a grip on reality.
EgyptAir has become the 21st member of the Star Alliance. It is the second airline in Africa to join the alliance after South African Airways. Star’s 22nd member is expected to be Air India.
Boeing has teamed with a Canadian company to develop a commercial heavylift aircraft that combines a 300-ft.-long neutrally buoyant airship with four Chinook rotor systems to lift a 40-ton payload over 200 mi. Calgary-based SkyHook International is paying Boeing’s helicopter division in Philadelphia to design the JHL-40 and build two prototypes for Canadian and U.S. certification in 2012. Privately owned SkyHook will be the only customer, and plans to set up an operating division to offer heavy-lift services to the energy, forestry, mining and construction industries.
Boeing has set July 14 for the first flight of the 777 Freighter, the sixth model to the twin-engine series. Chief test pilot Suzanna Darcy Hennemann is expected to have the 766,000-lb. aircraft in the air for about 3 hr.
The International Federation of Air Line Pilots Assn. (Ifalpa) is urging the French ministry of justice to drop charges of involuntary manslaughter in the 2000 crash of Air France Concorde Flight 4950. Ifalpa last week labeled the charges as “fundamentally flawed,” arguing that to file such charges, prosecutors must demonstrate there was “intent to cause harm or a disregard for a high probability that harm would occur.” As there is no evidence of such intent in the accident investigation records, the charges are without foundation, concludes Ifalpa.
Ken Eiken has become vice president-sales and Tony Queenan vice president-speciality product sales for Houston-based Universal Avionics . Eiken was director of sales and service for Jeppesen, while Queenan was senior director of sales for Arinc Direct.
