High demand in Europe, the Middle East/North Africa and some sectors of the North American market is driving growth in the fixed-service satellite sector, helped along by a bevy of new satellite slots in Canada and projects in emerging markets. However, the influx of new national players is likely to limit efforts to reduce market fragmentation.
The looming consolidation of carriers in the U.S. may not yield the financial salvation the airlines have hoped for, and it could ripple throughout the aerospace industry to affect aircraft makers, believes International Lease Finance Corp. CEO Steven F. Udvar-Hazy. The head of the large aircraft leasing business says integrating airlines will be a greater challenge than is currently appreciated. Moreover, such moves could stall fleet modernization plans, hurting the likes of Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier.
Ralph (Skip) Boyce has been named Singapore-based president of Boeing Southeast Asia. He succeeds Douglas Miller, who had been Boeing Integrated Defense Systems vice president and leader of the Boeing Singapore office, and Paul Walters, who has led Boeing’s business activities in the remainder of Southeast Asia based in Malaysia. Both are retiring. Boyce was U.S. ambassador to Thailand from 2005-07. Naveed Hussain has become Boeing’s vice president in India for engineering and technology. He was director of flight engineering for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.
Karl Wickizer (see photo) has been appointed business development manager in Huntsville, Ala., for EADS North America Test and Services . He was head of electronic warfare program execution and business development at the Sierra Nevada Corp. and was Rolls-Royce’s program manager for special technologies and the T63 and CTS 800 engine product lines.
If the Pentagon’s Fiscal 2008 supplemental request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is funded in full, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), appropriations for military operations and other related activities in the war on terrorism will rise to $188 billion this year and to a cumulative total of $752 billion since 2001. Last year, Congress approved $86.8 billion of the Bush administration’s total $189.3-billion Fiscal 2008 request. Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants Congress to appropriate the remaining $102.5 billion.
More to the whole concept of airport hubs (AW&ST Jan. 14, p. 41), the U.S. would do well to consider what the Europeans and others around the world are doing to link major airports with distant cities and strategic intermediate points using high-speed rail networks.
The National Mediation Board (NMB) will be deciding the fate of Delta flight attendant wages and benefits, in a manner of speaking, now that the Assn. of Flight Attendants has filed for an election. The union filed a petition to represent the Delta flight attendants last week. After years of trying to organize the carrier’s flight attendants, the AFA in recent weeks has seen interest surge as the attendants heard more about potential mergers with Northwest or United. The NMB will now determine if an election is warranted, which typically takes 60-90 days.
Asian aircraft projects are multiplying at a rate that can only alarm industrialists in Europe and the Americas who like to think of their regions as the real home of aviation technology.
Jenn, a talking virtual assistant, debuted Feb. 6 on Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air web site. The carrier says it’s the first airline to adopt the ActiveAgent tool developed by Spokane, Wash.-based NextIT, and beta testing indicated it would help reduce the time required for customers to complete an online task. About half of Alaska’s ticketing is sold through its web site, according to the carrier. After the Jenn bar is activated, the homogenized face of a young woman appears on a section of the monitor screen and welcomes inquiries.
In an effort to promote its businesses, which range from telecommunications to oil to aircraft engine-making, Russia’s AFK Sistema has opened an office in New Delhi, the Moscow-based company announced last week. Sistema controls Russia’s largest mobile phone company, and plans to build a wireless network in India. The Russian company controls 51% of Indian mobile operator Shyam Telelink, and has noted that it will invest up to $7 billion to roll out a pan-Indian network.
The space shuttle Endeavour that will carry major new Canadian and Japanese hardware to the International Space Station is to be rolled to Launch Complex 39A on Feb. 18. This is three or four days earlier than previously envisioned, now that minor technical issues have been cleared. The early rollout will enable the normal month-long period of pad processing to keep pace with plans to launch Endeavour on the STS-123 mission as early as Mar. 11. Endeavour was moved from its Orbiter Processing facility bay into the Vehicle Assembly Building on Feb.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. (GAMA) and other organizations are forging a list of agenda items to deliver to the U.S. presidential candidates. The goal: to put GA on their radar screens and remind them it is an important aviation sector. GAMA says general aviation contributes more than $150 billion to the U.S. economy each year and employs more than 1.3 million. GAMA is working with FAA Acting Administrator Bobby Sturgell to convey that message when a transition team starts forming. Have any of the current candidates evinced interest in GA issues?
Air France-KLM would financially invest in a merged Delta-Northwest to strengthen the company and boost operating margins for transatlantic partners. The size of the investment hasn’t been announced, but a commitment would come if the two U.S. airlines decide to merge. Air France Deputy CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon says a combination of Delta with Northwest would be “very good news.” No investment would hit the Air France-KLM books until next year.
U.K. aerospace executives may take comfort from knowing the government has a renewed space strategy, but industry remains hazy as to how politicians plan to provide funding to fully support its aspirations through 2012.
Solid revenue growth, coupled with an increasingly healthy balance sheet and a weak dollar, are whetting Safran’s appetite for acquisitions, but management also remains interested in consolidation within France.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace is planning a components repair facility in China as its next move in a strategy to serve the country’s potentially enormous budget-airline sector. The company is taking a fairly long view, since the highly regulated Chinese market now has few budget airlines, and rules issued during the past year have made starting them harder.
Buffalo, N.Y.-born Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) became chairman of the House air and land forces subcommittee last year when Democrats won control of Congress. Aviation Week & Space Technology Congressional Editor John M. Doyle spoke with him in his cramped Capitol Hill office about the need to reconcile defense spending with long-term defense strategy and readiness. AW&ST: Considering the trouble Congress and the White House had last year reaching agreement on legislation, are you less optimistic about getting anything done this election year?
Mesa Air Group attributes its $2.8-million, first-quarter net loss to costly aircraft transitions and a revenue-damaging reduction in operations as its fleet declined in the calendar year to 183 aircraft from 200. During the quarter, Mesa posted a $90-million cash bond—the lion’s share of its restricted cash—as security for a court judgment. The court ruled against Mesa last fall and in favor of Hawaiian Airlines in a breach of confidentiality case. The alleged breach was reported to have occurred during Hawaiian’s bankruptcy. Mesa is appealing the ruling.
I was troubled by the Jan. 21 “Inside Avionics” column in which it is noted that soon “aircraft control functions and inflight entertainment will be running on the same server on a passenger jet.” I cannot understand why aircraft designers want to do it this way. To save money? How expensive can servers be? Any savings or efficiencies realized from the use of a common server will be negated by the trouble and expense involved in hack-proofing the system. A common server will never be 100% hack-proof and is just a disaster waiting to happen.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air hosted its first invitation-only Air Service Conference Feb. 5-7 to meet representatives from existing and potential airport destinations, eliminating the need for the carrier to attend multiple air service-related conferences. Allegiant operates a fleet of MD-80 aircraft to provide low-cost service to U.S. leisure destinations such as Phoenix, and Orlando, Fla.
A large infrared sensor designed to detect rocket plumes will equip a high-flying surveillance drone that the Japanese defense ministry proposes to build as a counter to missile threats from North Korea and China. The aircraft, which would operate at a higher altitude than the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, would also use an active electronically scanned radar to detect cruise missiles.
International Aero Engines’ first V2500 SelectOne engine is poised to begin test and certification flight tests on the prototype Airbus A320 in Toulouse.
Indonesia proposes to tighten capital requirements on airlines, mandating that they own at least two of their aircraft. The others can be leased. The regulation will apply to companies that are already operating and is expected to go into force next month.
