FAX, the small Malaysian airline earmarked to operate long-haul budget services as an affiliate of AirAsia, is expected this week to announce its acquisition of 10 wide-body aircraft. A330s have been expected, since the airline wants to begin services this year, and other types would probably take longer to supply.
England's University of Bristol last week opened its Advanced Composites Center for Innovation and Science. ACCIS will bring together research in composite materials throughout the university and industry. The U.K.'s supply of composite materials is worth £1.5 billion ($3.07 billion) per year, according to university statistics. Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Smiths Aerospace, among other industry players, will collaborate on center-related projects. See www.bristol.ac.uk/composites for additional information.
Eighteen Lockheed Martin Corp. employees, six from the Northrop Grumman Corp. and eight from the General Dynamics Corp. have won awards for contributions to engineering, managerial and community service at the 2007 Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) conference. From Lockheed Martin, Paul Engola, director of program management for Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, received the President's Award. It recognizes individual accomplishments that result in high merit, broad effect on people in many disciplines and value to society as a whole. Engineers Jeremy L.
Atlanta-based airline career specialist Air Inc.'s latest summary shows that U.S. carriers hired 921 pilots in March. Domestic airlines did a majority of the hiring, signing on 393 new flight crews. The majors followed with 310. Air Inc. is forecasting that 8,500 pilot jobs will open up this year, with the majors hiring about 2,300. As for furloughs, the company reports that of 90,970 active pilots, 6,292 were on furlough as of Apr. 16.
At the insistence of Skybus Airlines, a Columbus, Ohio-based startup, Airbus will launch its first total support airframe maintenance package with a carrier this week. Airbus has long worked with a network of preferred maintenance suppliers but has left the selection to its customers. Skybus insisted that Airbus be the vendor so the new carrier could achieve a one-stop-shop approach for its 65 A319s. Airbus has subcontracted with Singapore Tech-neologies Aerospace's Mobile, Ala., facility for airframe work and Messier-Bugatti for landing gear maintenance.
Joris Janssen Lok (Cambridge, England), Douglas Barrie (London)
Initial flight tests of the engine for the Airbus Military A400M airlifter risk slipping into the fourth quarter of the year, at least six months behind the original schedule.
Avidyne and Southern Star Avionics have teamed to provide Envision integrated flat-panel cockpits for retrofits on most Cessna 300 and 400 twin-engine aircraft. Southern Star is also a dealer for the Alliant flat-panel cockpit developed by Avidyne and S-TEC for retrofit on Raytheon King Air 90 and 200 turboprops. And, Avidyne is offering an Envision integrated panel retrofit for pre-2002 versions of the Cirrus SR20 and SR22 single-engine aircraft and for experimental aircraft.
Israel's Israir Airlines is acquiring three Airbus A320s, giving the European airframe manufacturer a long-sought foothold in a market segment dominated by Boeing. The carrier will configure its aircraft in an all-economy class with 174 seats. Israir also operates Boeing 757s and 767s, and ATR 42s. Now that Israir has been authorized to serve international routes, it is attempting to grow from a domestic airline into a rival of El Al, Israel's largest carrier.
Completing a contract initialed in January, United Airlines is expanding line-maintenance services with Pratt & Whitney while picking up P&W's EcoPower engine wash technology for its fleet of 460 aircraft worldwide.
As the RTCA works on ways to give UAVs better access to civil airspace, it plans to define performance requirements for a new type of anti-collision technology that might change the way all air traffic is managed in the U.S.
Efforts by NASA and the FAA to promote space tourism and other new commercial space endeavors could run afoul of insurance risk issues, despite attempts by the U.S. government to write risk out of the contracts, insurers say. Concerns could be heightened by the shortfall of the second demonstration flight of the SpaceX launch vehicle late last month (AW&ST Apr. 2, p. 55).
Just as militaries use spacecraft to help fight wars, a former space-agency chief with wide experience in Earth observation sees spaceborne assets playing a key role in helping human populations adapt to the changing climate and cope with resulting natural disasters.
Exactly when Embraer's Phenom 100 very light jet will make its first flight is a $40-million question--literally. That's the sum the milestone event will trigger in progress payments from customers for the almost 400 aircraft on firm order. That day will be around mid-year, in just a few weeks' time, says Embraer Executive Vice President-Executive Jets Luís Carlos Affonso, who notes that customers have already paid $20 million in non-refundable $50,000 deposits.
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Three major accidents within 10 weeks, 123 deaths and now a safety warning from the U.S. have prompted tougher action from Indonesia, which says it will close airlines within three months if they fail to improve their operations. The country will also audit its airports. About half of the 19 main facilities don't comply with international safety standards, it says.
China has moved into operational deployment of its planned system of positioning satellites, with the launch of the first such spacecraft without the label "experimental." The Apr. 14 launch of the Compass 1M satellite may turn out to be just as important for the country's hard-pressed civil air traffic management system as it will be for the People's Liberation Army's ambitions to avoid reliance on the Pentagon's GPS.
David A. Fulghum (Tokyo and Washington), Douglas Barrie (London)
Top Japanese military officials are quietly but firmly insisting they want the U.S. to release the F-22 to compete for the air force's F-X fighter program, and are adamant about fielding the most advanced air-combat technology available. Tokyo wants a stealthy fighter equipped with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for cruise missile detection and wide-band data links to push additional information into Japan's increasingly sophisticated air defense system. For the moment, only the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor offers all these features.
China Southern Airlines made money last year for the first time since 2002, reporting a 188-million-yuan ($24.4-million) net profit, compared with a 1.8-billion-yuan loss in 2005. Appreciation of the yuan helped, because it decreased the value of the company's dollar-denominated debt. Operating profit was 0.6% of revenue.
I have every confidence that the Boeing 787-8 will be rolled out on July 8, since airworthiness is not an issue for rollout. However, for first flight to occur in August, it is. Limit static testing and 10% of fatigue life testing must be completed prior to flight. Neither test rig is near completion, let alone started actual testing.
The Russian air force plans to start acceptance trials of its next-generation fighter in 2012, while the government moves to provide badly needed support for the aircraft's weapons suite. First flight of the Sukhoi T-50, selected in 2002 to meet the air force's future fighter requirement (known by the Russian acronym PAK FA), is expected in 2009. PAK FA is a twin-engine fighter in the class of the Su-27 Flanker.
Arinc is providing 126 of its common-use self-service kiosks for passenger ticketing at the north wing of Narita International Airport's Terminal 1 in Japan, a follow-on contract to an earlier order for 126 kiosks for the south wing. Arinc says the two contracts constitute one of the largest deployments of such kiosks in the Asia-Pacific region. A dozen international airlines will have their passengers use the kiosks for check-in.
Cessna Aircraft Co. displayed the latest configurations of its Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) and Next Generation Piston (NGP) airplanes at the Sun 'N Fun Fly-In at Lakeland, Fla., last week. Company officials say the two aircraft are proofs-of-concept only, and are being evaluated for design specifics and potential business models. Production decisions are expected later this year.
Neil Mackay has been appointed president of EMS Satcom and vice president/corporate development of Atlanta-based parent EMS Technologies. Gary Hebb has been named vice president/ general manager of EMS Satcom. He was vice president-engineering and business development. David Smith has become vice president/general manager of EMS Defense and Space Systems. He was managing director/CEO of Metal Storm.
Defense and Homeland Security department officials, ironically empowered by a newly Democratic-run Congress, are starting to question major contractors' performance as so-called lead systems integrators. The results could alter who enjoys contractual incentives over new equipment such as the HC-144A Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPAs), at least one UAV and, most of all, ships.
ROCKWELL COLLINS WILL UPGRADE THE XIAN AIRCRAFT CO.'S MA60 turboprop, a 50-60-seat aircraft with a suite of Pro Line 21 avionics including five 8 X 10-in. active matrix liquid crystal displays and a suite of communications, navigation and surveillance equipment. The aircraft has a range of up to 800 km. (430 naut. mi.). Rockwell Collins also supplies Pro Line 21 avionics to AVIC1 Commercial Aircraft Co. Ltd. on the ARJ21 regional jet.
