The Personal Air Transportation Alliance (PATA)—formed by DayJet, Pogo, North American Jet and other operators of very light jets (VLJs)—is talking with the FAA about mounting an early demonstration of NextGen ATC technologies and procedures at the airports they serve. These on-demand air taxis serve small airports other than the 35 busiest ones covered in the FAA’s Operational Evolution Partnership.
International demand continues to drive world air transport growth, according to Airports Council International (ACI). The world’s airports, which had a 4% increase in total world traffic in January, showed “solid growth” of international world passenger traffic compared to the same month last year, says Andreas Schimm, ACI director of economics. Meanwhile, domestic traffic worldwide remained flat, at 1%. U.S.
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is slated to examine the state of the aviation industry later this week. Air carriers continue to face significant challenges, despite earning an estimated net profit of $3.5 billion last year, according to the committee. Among those challenges: high fuel prices, growing competition, severe congestion and delay problems. The Mar. 13 hearing is expected to focus on the long-term economic outlook as well as the current financial state.
An anticipated £450-million ($904.5-million) jump in its fuel bill to £2.5 billion is likely to contribute to a drop in British Airways’ operating margin to 7% in the 2008-09 financial year from around 10% this year. Moreover, Chief Financial Officer Keith Williams says BA will struggle with “a sharp slowdown” in the U.S. and U.K., and a less severe downturn in Europe and Asia. Revenue for the next financial year is expected to grow by 4-4.5%.
NASA has started reconfiguring the space shuttle Atlantis—just back from delivering Europe’s Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station—to prepare for what may be its final mission. Atlantis is targeted to carry the last planned crew of on-orbit repairmen to the Hubble Space Telescope for a servicing mission before the end of this year. That will require it to be configured differently from orbiters working on ISS assembly.
International Launch Services has landed two more launch awards—for a pair of Sirius digital audio radio spacecraft—after winning a contract just days earlier to orbit a mobile TV satellite for United Arab Emirates startup S2M (AW&ST Mar. 3, p. 18). One launch will carry Sirius FM-6, under construction at Space Systems/Loral, planned for the fourth quarter of 2010. The second has not yet been revealed. The orders reflect a strong recovery for ILS since a September 2007 Proton M/Breeze M mishap sidelined the launcher for two months.
Introduction of China’s new-generation Long March 5 space launcher has slipped about a year to 2014. At one time, it was considered a potential carrier for the second Chinese lunar probe, Chang’e 2, which is now due to be launched “sometime around 2009.”
Rolls-Royce has opened its first University Technology Center in Asia at Pusan National University in South Korea. The focus will be thermal management, specifically development of high-efficiency lightweight heat exchangers.
Korean Air’s budget offshoot, Air Korea, will probably begin operating in May, the transport ministry says. At least three no-frills carriers are planning to start operations in the country. The others are Asiana’s Air Busan and a franchisee of Singapore’s Tiger Airways with majority South Korean ownership.
Asia-Pacific airlines have expanded capacity by 40% in the past five years, putting this region on the brink of becoming the world’s largest airline market by passenger flow. But when it comes to profitability, the area’s transport industry is in a stall.
Congress has made it clear that the submarine-based, conventionally armed Trident missile (CTM) is “a capability they would not like to see deployed,” says USAF Gen. Kevin Chilton, chief of U.S. Strategic Command. On the other hand, “we’re learning more as we continue to develop the technologies we need for prompt global strike that could be land-based.” A new analysis of alternatives is considering a land-based option; a forward-deployed, shorter-range mobile option; a sea-based option; and then a very-high-velocity, air-breathing delivery mechanism, he says.
Rolls-Royce has begun assembly of a redesigned compressor for the Europrop International TP400-D6 engine for the Airbus Military A400M airlifter. The work is required to make the compressor “more robust, particularly in low-altitude, high-power conditions,” says a company executive. The redesign is “essentially a manufacturing change to improve durability,” rather than a fundamental change caused by a “design flaw,” according to Rolls-Royce. The present compressor configuration “is fit for the purpose for test-flying requirements,” the executive adds.
Stephen Spengler has become executive vice president-sales and marketing and Thierry Guillemin senior vice president/chief technical officer of Intelsat Ltd. , Pembroke, Bermuda. They succeed James Frownfelter, who resigned as chief operating officer. Spengler was senior vice president-Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific sales, while Guillemin was vice president-satellite operations and engineering. Kurt Riegelman has been named senior vice president-global sales and Tobias Nassif vice president-satellite operations and engineering.
The European Space Agency was poised late last week to launch the first Automated Transfer Vehicle to the International Space Station on board an Ariane 5 ES rocket. Liftoff of the 20-metric-ton freighter/space tug, initially targeted for Mar. 8, was delayed 24 hr. because of a problem with a fitting on the separation system grounding straps.
European business aviation company NetJets plans to recruit another 200 pilots this year, with staff numbers likely to climb above 2,000 by December. The workforce has grown by 33% since 2006. The company recruited 341 pilots in 2007, for a total of 908 by year-end.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Douglas Barrie (London)
The Chinese military is morphing its traditional virtues of mass, endurance and simplicity into forces capable of waging short-duration, high-intensity conflict against capable adversaries, according to the Pentagon’s latest report to Congress.
Atlanta’s city council has unanimously approved plans to build the $1.6-billion Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr., International Terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. The terminal, scheduled to open in 2011, had been delayed over a lawsuit filed by the city against the original design team over $140 million in cost overruns. Delta Air Lines, which is focusing more on international destinations, offered its tentative support for the new terminal, but has nixed the inclusion of a $110-million increase in the project’s contingency fund.
Eurocopter and Sikorsky stand to benefit from Australia’s cancellation of its disastrous Kaman SH-2G(A) Super Seasprite naval helicopter project, with a competition for a replacement program likely to be launched within a year. More immediately, Australia will look for ways to upgrade and improve the availability of its fleet of 16 Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk naval helicopters to fill the gap before 22 to 24 new aircraft arrive next decade to replace both types.
David Reith (see photos) has been named vice president/controller and Gregory A. Schmidt vice president/general manager of strategic planning and operations for the Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Technical Services Sector , Herndon, Va. Reith was controller of the company’s Newport News Sector, while Schmidt was vice president for radio frequency combat and information systems in the Electronics Systems Sector.
U.K.-headquartered aerospace and defense company Cobham has released preliminary results that show increases in both revenue and pre-tax profit. Turnover was up 4.5% to £1.061 billion for 2007, with underlying pre-tax profit up by 12.9% to £206.5 million. The company continues to be acquisitive, with the purchase of U.S.-based Sparta Inc. for $416 million in January.
The sky is falling at the Boeing Co. At least that’s what one might be led to believe by recent news. The company’s stock is down about 25% since peaking at $107.15 last Oct. 2. First delivery of the 787 jet has been delayed at least nine months to early 2009 after three flight test delays. And now Boeing has royally botched its bid for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-45 refueling tanker, with the $35-billion contract shockingly awarded to a Northrop Grumman Corp.-EADS team that based its design on a European Airbus A330 (see p. 20).
Controllers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) expect to complete the transfer of Winds—“the world’s fastest” Internet satellite—to its geostationary orbital slot above Japan on Mar. 14 following its Feb. 23 liftoff on an H-11A from the launch facility on Tanegashima Island. The Wideband InterNetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite is described as generally healthy. But as they were deploying its multibeam antenna on Mar.
The Polish air force will receive the Rockwell Collins F-16C modular simulated aircraft maintenance trainer in April. The system-specific device is made up of off-the-shelf hardware and employs both immersive and interactive virtual image-based approaches to teaching. The design supports classroom-based training for novice and advanced F-16 maintenance workers. This marks the company’s second foreign sale for this trainer; the Egyptian air force opted for the system last year.
