Something must be right with the business model for Eos Airlines, a “boutique” carrier serving corporate travelers between New York JFK and London Stansted airports. “In a challenging economic and credit environment . . . when much of the airline industry is mired in misery,” CEO Jack Williams says that, effective May 5, Eos will secure an additional $50 million from one of its current investors. The capital is expected to take the carrier to profitability in 2009, he says.
In line with ongoing economic development in India, Lufthansa is expanding services. Starting July 1, the carrier will offer all-business-class, six-times-weekly nonstop flights to Pune. The fast-developing city in western India is an automotive center as well as home base for IT, biotech and biochemistry companies. PrivatAir will operate the aircraft, an Airbus A319 refitted as a 48-seat Lufthansa Business Jet.
CAE in the next four years plans to recruit and train more than 600 pilot candidates for Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways, Mumbai’s Kingfisher Airlines and Central Europe’s Wizz Air.
Airbus and Boeing have decided to set aside their rivalry in the field of air traffic management. The two aircraft makers will work together to ensure transatlantic interoperability as ATM systems are modernized in the U.S. and Europe. The agreement inked last week ensures Boeing will have a voice as Europe moves the Sesar program into the development stage; Airbus will also be assured input as the U.S. NextGen project moves forward.
Canada’s CAE is to build a prototype flight training device for Alenia Aermacchi’s M-346 advanced jet trainer, after being selected as preferred full-mission simulator supplier for the Italian aircraft. Part of the M-346 initial training capability, the fixed-base device will feature a CAE Medallion-6000 image generator driving a dome display with LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) projectors. Selex Galileo, a Finmeccanica-owned company like Aermacchi, will be responsible for the simulator cockpit and instructor operator station.
David J. Gorney has been promoted to senior vice president of Space Systems Group of The Aerospace Corp. , El Segundo, Calif., from vice president-space programs operations. Bernard W. Chau has been named vice president of National Systems Group. Rand H. Fisher will become senior vice president-systems planning and engineering, based in Rosslyn, Va., on June 1. He will succeed Donald R. Walker, who will be retiring. Jerry M. (Mike) Drennan has been appointed senior vice president-operations and support. He has been head of the company’s operations in Colorado Springs.
Airbus engineers hope a series of test flights Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan (GTF) engine later this year will answer questions engineers have about the turbofan’s promised fuel burn savings.
French aerostructures provider Daher and Oklahoma-based Nordam Group have been tapped to be part of the Gulfstream G650 supply chain. Stork-Fokker, a risk-sharing partner on the project, has named Daher to build the upper part of the vertical tail for the new business jet. The prototype structure is to be delivered in December; serial production is set to start in 2009. Nordam has been assigned the manufacture of fairings, landing gear doors and wing tip lenses. The components will be delivered ready for installation.
Japan’s Mitsui Seiki has developed a drilling machine for aero-engine cooling holes that combines a laser with the massive, precise construction of a high-grade mechanical tool. The company says it developed the drilling machine, called the VLD-300, in cooperation with component makers of aero-engines that were seeking faster, more precise laser drilling than is now available. The VLD-300 will aim its Nd:YAG laser within 0.001 mm. (0.00004 in.) of the specified point on the metal piece to be worked on.
SpaceX will be on tap to launch scientific and other spacecraft from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity NASA contract potentially worth $1 billion. The contract covers launches on the startup company’s planned Falcon 1—seen lifting off on its second, ultimately unsuccessful demonstration orbital mission Mar. 20, 2007—and Falcon 9 vehicles. The contract period ends June 30, 2010, for small- and medium-class expendable-vehicle launches through December 2012.
John J. Walsh has been named president of Sypris Electronics , Tampa, Fla. He succeeds Robert Sanders, who resigned. Walsh was executive vice president-strategy, technology and development for Ducommun Inc. and president of subsidiary Ducommun Technologies.
Boeing expects to perform proof-pressure tests of the 146 X 124-in. main deck cargo door on the first 777 Freighter early this week as it readies the 103-ton payload aircraft for its roll-out ceremony in late May. The test is expected to be conducted at the same time as the standard production “high-blow” pressurization test to which all new-build aircraft are subjected before delivery. First flight is due in June with deliveries starting by year-end.
Washington’s Dulles International has become the 12th airport in the U.S. to go operational with the FAA’s new Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model X (ASDE-X) system built by Sensis Corp. ASDE-X gives air traffic controllers a display that tracks all aircraft on runways, taxiways and ramps to improve safety and efficiency.
The future of the embattled C-17 airlifter is about to be decided by a series of intersecting funding and program decisions, but Boeing is quietly confident that a new clutch of orders could provide a lifeline to development of a short takeoff and landing (STOL) C-17B variant.
Ukrainian travelers will have access to a low-fare startup airline starting July 11, when Wizz Air Ukraine plans to commence operations. The carrier will operate Airbus A320s in a 180-seat configuration, and be based at Kiev’s Boryspil Airport. The initial network includes seven routes.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investing $8.5 million in BAE Systems to develop a mobile communications network that will be intrinsically secure from cyber attacks. The package is to support all aspects of network communications and data. The project is part of the research agency’s Intrinsically Assurable Mobile Ad Hoc Network program, which has become a priority since mobile elements of integrated networks such as missile launchers and vehicle-mounted radars have become primary targets for network attack.
Siemens PLM Software’s launch of its Teamcenter for MRO suite was kicked off by a purchase from BAE Systems. The Teamcenter is an integrated logistics records management capability tool that takes logistics planning out of the niche world and puts it on a backbone platform. The goal is to overcome a major headache—structuring data to meet common industry/military standards. This addition inserts logistics planning into the product and processing databases that engineering, manufacturing and after-market services commonly share.
Lockheed Martin will not show targets at ranges greater than 80 naut. mi. to pilots visiting its F-35 simulator, but radar specialists say the fighter’s radar range is around 125 naut. mi. Raytheon is already testing variants of the AIM‑120 Amraam that can reach into space to kill ballistic missile warheads. Tactical scenarios show F-35 pairs flying in trail with a separation of 80-100 naut. mi. with the first aircraft keeping its radar passive while the second aircraft’s 140-deg.-field-of-view radar provides active jamming and false target generation to cover the leader.
Two years ago, we stood here questioning whether aviation’s environmental problems are perhaps bigger than just noise and emissions. I remember some of you were appalled when I hinted that our industry might be in danger of becoming a social outcast, a pariah, the next “tobacco industry.” At that time, I posed a difficult question: Were we—the aviation industry—confident we had permission from society to proceed with our growth strategies?
An automotive industry veteran will assume the top spot at Bombardier’s aerospace business. Guy C. Hachey will become president and chief operating officer of Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace on May 12. He succeeds Pierre Beaudoin, who was promoted to president and CEO of parent company Bombardier Inc. Hachey began his career 30 years ago at General Motors and most recently was a top executive at auto parts supplier Delphi.
A Russian MiG-29 took off from an air base in Georgia’s separatist Abkhaz territory, shot down a Georgian air force unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and then crossed into Russia, say Georgian air force officials. The attack was filmed by the UAV’s onboard camera which was recovered from the wreck and shown on television. The UAV is thought by analysts to have been an Israeli-made Hermes 450, which was struck by a Russian-made R-73 (AA-11 Archer) air-to-air missile.
The General Accountability Office (GAO) revealed National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) strengths in support of its Fiscal 2009-11 reauthorization request for increased funding, staff and statutory changes. Continuing analyses of safety board responses to the watchdog office’s recommendations show nothing that would diminish NTSB’s position as the “gold standard” of accident investigations—so testified GAO Director-Physical Infrastructure Gerald L. Dillingham at last week’s House aviation subcommittee hearing.
During the hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee mentioned in your editorial “Trust But Verify” (AW&ST Apr. 14, p. 90), Herb Kelleher, Southwest’s executive chairman suggests compliance with airworthiness directives (AD) might be more effective if they were simplified. He was referring to 1,100 pages of six ADs covering Boeing 737 fuselage cracks. Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) thought that unwise, given the complexity of aircraft. The hearing was premised on the trusted validity of the ADs by all in attendance.
Russian investigators will review their conclusions about why Soyuz TMA-10 had an uncommanded ballistic reentry last fall after its follow-on—Soyuz TMA-11—went into the same steep trajectory Apr. 19 after six months at the International Space Station.
