Citigroup analyst George Shapiro believes the roughly 25% drop in Boeing Co.’s share price during the last six months is about more than just delays in the company’s new 787 jet (p. 60) and its surprise loss of the U.S. Air Force’s tanker contract to an EADS-Northrop Grumman Corp. team. The primary reason for the swoon, he contends, is a weakening of demand for commercial aircraft.
Lawrence Metal Products’ pedestrian guidance system helps increase passenger safety and airport efficiency, according to the company. The system comprises heavy-duty posts with patented Tensabarrier retractable belt cassettes and can be useful at regional airports that have no Jetways. Self-contained on a portable trolley, the unit can be rolled into place, deployed and disassembled in a matter of minutes. The compact system is easy to store: the 41-in.-high trolley is about 40 in. deep and 30 in. wide. Total weight for a trolley with four posts is 150 lb.
Prof. Sir Martin Sweeting, chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., has won the 2008 Sir Arthur Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 U.K. Space Conference. The “Arthurs” honor those who have worked for the advancement of space exploration. Sweeting was cited for his pioneering development of small satellites that use low-cost engineering techniques.
The FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency have granted Pilatus type certification for the latest model of the PC-12, called the PC12NG (Next Generation). Deliveries will now commence. The NG features Honeywell Primus Apex avionics and a redesigned cockpit, with a configuration developed by BMW DesignworksUSA. The PT6A engine also has been upgraded to deliver more power.
ZC&R Coatings for Optics and Abrisa Industrial Glass have joined to produce display glass, LCD glass plates, overlay and bus bar printing production solutions for a variety of glass substrates. Precision-coated indium tin oxide (ITO) and index-matched ITO transparent thin films offer high transmittance and low resistance, according to the companies. The display glass coating capabilities include precision patterning of durable epoxy-based bus bars and thermoset or ceramic-based inks with 15 micron print-to-print accuracy in sizes up to 460 X 460 mm.
Boeing has begun final assembly on the first 777 Freighter at its Everett, Wash., wide-body headquarters and expects a rollout in mid-May. Based on the 777-200LR, the freighter is due to enter flight test this summer with delivery to launch customer Air France in the fourth quarter.
Frank Jackman (Washington), Lee Ann Tegtmeier (Washington)
The big will get bigger in the commercial aviation MRO market as aftermarket service companies spread their wings globally through partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions. Consolidation clearly will continue, partly because “the market is still highly fragmented,” says August Henningsen, chairman of Hamburg-based Lufthansa Technik (LHT).
The British Airline Pilots Assn., locked in an increasingly bitter industrial dispute with British Airways, last week wrote an open letter to the government and financial institutions criticizing airline management for the mess at Heathrow Terminal 5. The association and BA are in dispute over how the airline plans to provide flight crew for its proposed OpenSkies subsidiary.
British Airways and BAA officials have so far agreed to share the blame for the mess surrounding the opening of Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, but Balpa, the airline’s pilot union, isn’t being so unequivocal. Against the backdrop of a dispute over pilot pay related to the airline’s transatlantic startup venture, OpenSkies, Balpa squarely blames British Airways’ management.
Lockheed Martin has received its 12th and final annual production contract from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to manufacture components for Japan’s F-2 close air support fighter. The $250-million contract covers the last eight of the 94 aircraft ordered by Japan’s air force. Lockheed Martin, MHI’s principal partner in the program, is to provide aft fuselages, wing leading-edge flaps and stores management systems. It also will provide 80% of all lift wing boxes, avionics and avionics support equipment.
For “a couple of billion dollars” more, NASA might be able to cut the gap in its human spaceflight capability by almost two years—or eliminate it altogether in a longshot scheme to keep one shuttle flying every six months or so.
Worldwide commercial jet transport MRO spending is expected to jump to $45.13 billion in 2008 because of rising wage rates and other inflationary pressures, but that figure could shrink modestly if U.S. carriers follow through with plans to park older, more-maintenance intensive aircraft as a way to limit capacity growth.
Are you familiar with Latecoere? Perhaps not, unless you are intrigued by French aviation’s roots or are monitoring Airbus’s divestment scheme. But in a new growth initiative, Latecoere is acquiring two Airbus facilities that build aircraft nose and fuselage barrels. Looking beyond this domestic move, the Toulouse-based company is implementing a genuine globalization model while expanding at an unprecedented pace. It’s doing so to elude the expensive euro and Europe’s high labor costs, a strategy that’s setting new standards.
The British High Court ruled Apr. 10 that the Serious Fraud Office acted “unlawfully” when it halted an investigation into elements of the U.K.-Saudi Arabian Al Yamamah arms program involving corruption allegations related to BAE Systems. The inquiry was halted in December 2006, amid sensitive discussions to secure the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to Saudi Arabia.
Raytheon has launched Information Security Solutions (ISS). Under the wing of the company’s Intelligence and Information Systems (IIS) business, the new entity, based along with its parent group in Garland, Tex., will focus on advanced development in information security systems to protect customers’ critical information and infrastructures from the most complex cyber threats. Company veteran Steve Hawkins will head the endeavor.
When Embraer mounted a head-on challenge to regional jet powerhouse Bombardier in the 1990s, it received a swat from the World Trade Organization (WTO) for taking unfair subsidies from the Brazilian government. Now that it leads that market, Embraer is warning that similar behavior won’t be tolerated from another emerging aircraft builder, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Kevin McDonough has become vice president of sales and marketing for Sunburst Electronics , Erie, Pa. He succeeds Dennis Cantoni, who has retired. McDonough was vice president-business development for ACT Electronics Inc., San Jose, Calif.
Development of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries MRJ regional jet will cost about ¥180 billion ($1.8 billion), the company says, revealing the latest in a steady stream of rising cost estimates. First flight is expected in 2011 and first delivery, in 2013 or 2014. In December, President Kazuo Tsukuda said that MRJ’s development cost would be roughly ¥150 billion, already higher than the initial estimate. The figure quoted earlier in 2007 was ¥120 billion, which may now be exceeded by 50%.
A European Commission move to streamline the process of approving the use of mobile communications devices on aircraft should spur growth for the business, but concerns remain about implementation.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. tentatively decided Apr. 9 to provide antitrust immunity that would let SkyTeam alliance partners Delta, Northwest, Air France, Alitalia, Czech and KLM coordinate their operations, planning, pricing, capacity and marketing for transatlantic services—in effect acting as a single carrier for U.S.-Europe services.
The 8200 Rubidium Oscillator is designed for ground tactical, shipboard and airborne applications where frequency stability under diverse environmental conditions is required. It is designed around proven rubidium and OCXO technology that has been deployed in numerous airborne and ground tactical platforms for more than 30 years, according to the company. Available as a small, low-profile package, the oscillator provides 5- or 10-MHz. output, and multiple, high-performance, low-phase noise outputs support varied time and frequency applications.
Advanced flight control software from Lockheed Martin Space Systems for the Space-Based Infrared System passed an Apr. 2 integrated design review (IDR), after Lockheed Martin provided more robust command and data-handling, fault management and safe-hold capabilities for the geostationary, early warning missile defense system. The Pentagon decided to add fixes to Sbirs’s safe-hold system after a similar system failed on a National Reconnaissance Office satellite in orbit.
Michael Bissonette has been promoted to vice president/general manager of AeroVironment Inc. ’s Energy Technology Center, Monrovia, Calif., from assistant general manager. He succeeds Joseph Edwards, who will be retiring.
