Air Berlin is scheduled to receive the first of 10 Bombardier Q400s by year-end, with the remainder to be delivered in 2009. The turboprops will replace Fokker 100 jets operated by Germania for Air Berlin, and will be leased for service in the Air Berlin network. The airline holds options for 10 more Q400s.
One of Iberia’s biggest shareholders, Spanish bank Caja Madrid, has signaled it wants British Airways to put forward concrete commercial agreements to achieve a link with the Spanish airline. BA recently increased its stake in Iberia to 13.15% from around 10%. Management for Caja Madrid, which holds more than 20%, indicates that if talks with BA don’t progress in the next few months, the bank may approach Lufthansa to build a bridge with Iberia. Lufthansa has expressed interest in the Spanish carrier, largely because of its attractive transatlantic routes.
Once more, France’s transportation strategy remains firmly one-sided when broader, bolder initiatives should be considered. Airports complain about competition from TGV high-speed trains and their growing share in the domestic market, while Air France has expressed concerns about the future of several city pairs.
The Australian government is looking for savings in Defense Ministry administration worth A$1 billion ($920 million) a year that it could put into frontline forces and their equipment.
Boeing may enter Denmark’s F-16 fighter replacement competition with a bid based on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the Danish defense ministry says. Discussions with the U.S. aerospace company are ongoing to determine whether such a move would have merits for both sides, says Lt. Col. Anders Rex Christensen of Denmark’s new fighter aircraft project office. The talks with Boeing follow a decision late last year by Eurofighter to suspend its bid from the Danish (and Norwegian) competition, leaving just Lockheed Martin’s F-35A and Saab’s Gripen Next Generation as candidates.
More turbulence is rocking Airbus. The inability of Airbus parent EADS to sell off three German facilities is causing upheaval with industrial plans for the A350XWB. Airbus will have to carry more work on its balance sheet, and consequently pay a higher development bill. Although EADS officials note the company has ample cash to finance higher costs for the A350 program, it aimed to use that money to make a mid-size acquisition in the U.S. this year.
The chief of naval operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, says he won’t have any EA-18G Growlers to spare for the U.S. Air Force’s air expeditionary forces when the EA-6B Prowlers retire in 2012. But Air Combat Command chief Gen. John Corley thinks there’s still negotiating room with the Navy. “I’m confident all the services forces will contribute whatever is necessary . . . to make the joint force successful,” he says.
Pratt & Whitney has installed the Goodrich flight inlet and nacelle systems to prepare for the next round of ground-based testing of its geared turbofan (GTF) demonstration engine. Tests at P&W’s facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., are scheduled to begin next month. The GTF engine uses a PW6000 core and has logged 130 hr. in the test cell. The second phase will center on the engine’s performance, acoustics and nacelle validation. In related news, the FAA has issued supplemental type certificates to P&W to make certain parts for CFM-56-3 engines.
A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer operated the first supersonic flight fueled by a 50-50 blend of synthetic fuel and petroleum, on Mar. 19. Pilot Capt. Richard Fournier detected no difference in performance, comparing it to flights using a 100% JP-8-fueled, GE F101-powered aircraft. The crew completed a full complement of maneuvers at low speed and in the supersonic regime over White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The Air Force intends to certify its B-1B fleet for the 50-50 blend by early 2011 and plans to rely on domestic sources for fuel.
WorldSpace has received a Swiss license to operate hybrid space- and land-based digital audio radio services (DARS). The company already has a license in Italy and expects to add four more this year for the DARS service, to be introduced next year using its Afristar satellite. WorldSpace reported a net loss of $169.5 million in 2007, up from a loss of $128.6 million. The decline reflected a decrease of 3,478 subscribers in the fourth quarter, mainly in Europe and India.
Large fractions of modern passenger aircraft are made of composite materials. When they outlive their usefulness, they will face a disposal problem similar to that of the Trabant, the automobile inexpensively manufactured in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Trabant had body panels made of Duroplast, which was composed of recycled cotton or wool embedded in phenolic resins and not considered possible for recycling or safe burning. Perhaps a similar fate awaits expired 777s and other aircraft built with composites.
Andrew Broom (see photo) has become director of media and public relations for the Hawker Beechcraft Corp. , Wichita, Kan. He was director of public relations for the Eclipse Aviation Corp., Albuquerque, N.M., and had been manager of operations for the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. in Washington. Honors and Elections
Alaska Airlines is replacing its manual cargo tracking system with a scanner-based one that provides near-real-time information on the location of shipments. Once a package is scanned, the information is uploaded through a data management system to the company’s web site, alaskaair.com, where customers can access it. The system is in place at 80% of stations for Alaska and its sister carrier, Horizon Air. Full deployment is expected in May.
Boeing and Fuji Heavy Industries are building and testing a redesigned center wing box for the 787 to counteract structural weaknesses believed to have been encountered during validation and certification testing of the unit last year.
The military is still learning from the shootdown of an ailing satellite last month. For starters, “we didn’t predict an explosion,” says Rear Adm. Brad Hicks, the Navy’s manager of the Aegis air and space defense program. In fact, there was a huge one. Moreover, the targeted “hyzdrazine tank did burn for tens of seconds. [The impact] also created smaller pieces than we had predicted. What’s still up there [is so small that] it is not showing up in the debris field.” Hicks says the dead satellite was not stable.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Pierre Sparaco (Paris)
Latecoere hopes to conclude a deal for two French Airbus plants by mid-year in a move that would triple the size of the French aerostructures specialist overnight.
The U.S.’s top regional carrier in aircraft departures, topping 600,000 in 2007, SkyWest Airlines is bracing for a year of unknowns. It achieved first place by providing local traffic feed for major airlines (see p. 44). Largely a Bombardier CRJ operator, SkyWest will take delivery of 18 CRJ700s and four CRJ900s through 2010. Its parent, SkyWest Inc., is on the lookout for expansion opportunities now that the performance of Atlantic Southeast Airlines, acquired from Delta in 2005, meets expectations. SkyWest photo.
U.S. major airlines are launching yet another round of cuts to their fleets and domestic networks, as the industry hunkers down into survival mode in the face of spiraling oil prices and an economic recession.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is preparing for tests of the newly assembled flight clearance engine SJX61-2 that is destined to power Boeing’s X-51A hypersonic WaveRider demonstrator in 2009. The SJX61-2, also known as the X-2, is a hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet engine designed to power the X-51A to speeds between Mach 4.5 and Mach 6 plus. Four test firings will be attempted in 2009, with each vehicle being dropped from a B-52 mothership before being boosted by a rocket to scramjet operating conditions.
I guess the USAF reviewers of the Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS proposals are yielding to the so-called European fairness. While I have seen the justifications for why the Airbus tanker will provide more value, I am of the old school that believes “more is better.” The Airbus A330 derivative may carry a bigger load, but there is a penalty for the extra weight and limited landing places when the plane is “overkill” for many of the missions. If bigger is better, then why not a C-17 tanker or a 747 tanker?
Further flights trials of the Raytheon Paveway IV dual-mode precision-guided bomb are to be carried out in June, and are intended to clear the way for the weapon to be introduced into service with the British Royal Air Force in the second half of 2008. Initial problems with accuracy, and more demanding issues with the fuze, have slowed development of the weapon. Sled tests at the end of February to examine “fuze survivability and post-impact functionality” were satisfactory, according to Raytheon.
“Broadband Beaming” (AW&ST Feb. 25, p. 55) is one of many recent articles about promising new “killer applications” from the next generation of spacecraft operating at Ka-band frequencies. None of these articles discusses the new problems we will encounter when operating above the atmospheric water vapor absorption peak in K band around 25 GHz.
Australia has formally wound up its SH-2G(A) Super Seasprite naval helicopter program in an agreement under which prime contractor Kaman will take back the aircraft, training equipment and spares for resale. Australia will get half of the proceeds, or a minimum of A$39.5 million ($35.5 million). The government also will retain A$30 million of spares that can be used for its Sikorsky H-60s.
A British Royal Navy Merlin HM1 maritime helicopter has completed a circumnavigation of the globe while embarked on HMS Monmouth, a Type 23 frigate. The deployment, which lasted for most of 2007, included 30 ports of call and participation in numerous maritime and security exercises with a variety of host nations. Lt. Cdr. Ian Varley, the 829 Naval Air Sqdn. flight commander on the voyage, says the Merlin needed “very little additional support” for the deployment.
By Mar. 28, FAA principal maintenance inspectors expect to complete their initial review of airline airworthiness directive-compliance programs. The evaluation, ordered Mar. 18 by acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell, aims at confirming that carriers operating within the U.S. are in full compliance with ADs. The move was prompted by “one recent failure to comply with one such directive,” says Sturgell. The inspectors’ initial findings are to come days before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Apr. 3 hearing on FAA lapses in safety oversight.
