The SkyTeam alliance plans to apply for transatlantic anti-trust immunity (ATI) within the next few months, hoping it can take advantage of the expected open skies regulatory regime between the European Union and the U.S.
Daniel A. Carp has been named non-executive chairman of Delta Air Lines, efffective upon the carrier's impending emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. He is retired chairman/ CEO of the Eastman Kodak Co. Other members of a newly constituted board of directors will be Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein; Richard H. Anderson, executive vice president of the UnitedHealth Group Inc. and former CEO of Northwest Airlines; John S. Brinzo, chairman of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.; Eugene I. Davis, chairman/CEO of the Pirinate Consulting Group; Richard K.
To handle the big growth in air traffic expected for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China intends to implement Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums nationwide by year-end. The Chinese have a lot riding on the plan, since it's the key to increasing the capacity of their ATC system in time to manage the traffic influx.
Southern China's Xiamen Airlines plans to order 60 Boeing 737s, state media say. Of that total number, 35 will enter service by 2010 and another 25 by 2013. Xiamen has 43 aircraft now.
Ramp controllers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) using new displays provided by Sensis Corp. will be able to "see" aircraft taxiing on the ramp and parked at terminal gates. The displays use data from the airport's Automatic Surface Detection Equipment Model X. ASDE-X relies on a special radar to surveil the airport surface and multilateration, which depicts aircraft in places where they would otherwise be in radar shadow. Controllers can also see ground vehicles, if they are equipped to interact with multilateration.
The military deploys commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) information technology with network-centric capability faster than ever to solve urgent wartime problems. David Wennergren, the Pentagon's deputy chief information officer, tells info tech executives at a symposium in suburban Falls Church, Va., that all military services, and even U.S. allies, are collaborating in unprecedented ways to share data. One example is Blue Force Tracking, a digital battlefield information-sharing capability that uses ground, air and over-the-horizon relays to avert friendly fire incidents.
Rolls-Royce sees signs that engine efficiency gains will accelerate in the coming decade, though it is not saying what technology might deliver that boost. "We are looking at radical new ideas," says Michael Forey, senior vice president for airlines. "Our difficulty is sifting out the ones that will actually work." Looking over the history of commercial jet operations, he cites the norm for improvement at 1-2% per year, and sees opportunities for that to accelerate.
Merger and acquisition activity for 2006 was at its highest in the aerospace industry since 2000, with deals worth $33 billion, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report released last week. It anticipates that this level of activity will be sustained during this year and 2008.
French ground spotters are helping guide allied show-of-force and training missions over Afghanistan while preparing to resume support for bombing runs if France decides to expand operations to combat areas.
The private takeover of Qantas now looks assured after the bidders, including Texas Pacific Group, dropped the condition that they receive 90% of the stock, cutting their requirement to 70%.
Boeing and Airbus have formally submitted proposals for the USAF Advanced Tanker competition. Boeing's is based on a new version of the 767-200 Long-Range Freighter. The Northrop Grumman/EADS competitor is based on the A330-200.
An International Launch Services Proton Breeze M rocket has orbited the Anik F3 spacecraft for Telesat Canada--its first launch of the year. The C-/K u-/K a-band satellite, leased to Echostar, was built by EADS Astrium and launched from ILS's pad at Baikonur, Kazakhstan. ILS plans to perform six launches this year, including the first mission with a higher-thrust Phase 2 Enhancement version of Proton in June.
Exploration, science and aeronautics managers at NASA will draw on years of studies to decide some basic questions this summer about how humans can travel to Mars. Doug Cooke, deputy associate administrator for exploration, says a broad architecture for Mars missions should be ready by August, addressing such issues as the optimum duration of a mission that will help planners set requirements for the hardware to carry it out.
Planning is underway for unprecedented observations at Venus using two different spacecraft simultaneously: ESA's Venus Express, now in elliptical polar orbit around the planet, and NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (Messenger), which will train its instruments on Venus during a June 5 flyby en route to Mercury. The dual observations will focus on the effects of solar wind on Venus's ionosphere and plasma dynamics near the planet, but Messenger's instruments may also aid an ongoing Venus Express study of the planet's violent weather.
The Netherlands will pursue an acquisition program for active laser countermeasures to protect its Boeing AH-64D and CH-47F helicopters against man-portable air defense systems (Manpads). The Defense Staff here made the decision for the AH-64D in late March following successful flight tests conducted by the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The Dutch move could spur interest among other Apache operators, including the U.S. Army, which is facing an increasing Manpads threat in Iraq.
EADS shareholders can't agree on key issues about the company's financial future, including how to raise money to support near-term development demands. With its annual general meeting scheduled for early next month, shareholders have already determined one issue--dividend payouts--will not be settled. French government officials want no dividend this year because of Airbus job losses looming under the Power8 restructuring plan, while German interests argue that denying dividend payouts could undermine the company's financial credibility.
Safran says first-quarter sales are up 3.3% as compared to 2006. Aerospace propulsion, fueled by CFM56 and other sales, continues to be the highest growth sector, with an 11.3% jump over a strong quarter last year. Aircraft equipment and defense security sales jumped 4.8% and 4.3%, respectively.
Christophe Dumas has been appointed vice president-strategy and marketing for the Land and Joint Systems Div. of Paris-based Thales. He has been head of strategy and business development for the division's communications equipment and optronics businesses.
IN A DIFFERENT ADVANCED NAVIGATION PROGRAM, Air New Zealand has won approval to fly its 737-700s using GPS guidance and custom-designed Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures to fly to the international airport at Queenstown, New Zealand, nearly surrounded by mountains. Naverus of Kent, Wash., developed the RNP procedures for the airline and was approved on Apr. 9 by the FAA to develop custom-designed RNP approaches for U.S. airlines as well. Qantas is also flying 737s into Queenstown with RNP procedures developed by Naverus.
Unions at Sogerma Services, the loss-making EADS maintenance, re- pair and overhaul facility taken over last year by TAT, have agreed to put in a 39-hr. week but be paid for just 35, as part of concessions granted in return for TAT's rescue of the facility.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Stearns [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068 Senior News Editor: Nora Titterington
Bigelow Aerospace will charge "sovereign customers"--nations wanting to send their astronauts into space--$14.95 million to spend four weeks in one of the company's proposed inflatable orbiting modules.
Britain is to deploy the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System to support forces operating in Afghanistan before year-end. The GPS-guided rocket system has a range of 60 km.
An item in Washington Outlook on ITT Corp.'s guilty plea in U.S. District Court for transferring classified material to China failed to note that it was documents, not hardware, that was transferred, and not sold (AW&ST Apr. 2, p. 27). The item also incorrectly stated that ITT is not a member of the Aerospace Industries Assn.
Brett Davis has become editor of Unmanned Systems magazine, which is published by the Arlington, Va.-based Assn. for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. He is a former editor of AVIATION WEEK'S AEROSPACE DAILY AND DEFENSE REPORT.
