France, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway are hustling to assess the impact of a revised production schedule for NH90 naval frigate helicopters. The latest delays mean the militaries will not receive their first NFH90s until well into 2009. This setback is not sitting well with customers, who say they urgently need the new helicopters and are unhappy with the prime contractor. The revised schedule was presented last month by NH90 prime contractor NH Industries (NHI) at the NH90 Steering Committee meeting, which was chaired by the Netherlands.
A bit ahead of plan, Finmeccanica has completed the acquisition of the 25% stake in Selex SAS capital that BAE Systems still held. The transaction involves a €400-million cash ($532-million) payment--agreed to back in 2005 when Finmecanica took an initial 75%. A further payment by Finmeccanica to BAE Systems on the order of €12 million is still pending to settle some final adjustments, such as undistributed Selex SAS profits.
A week after Australia's Qantas Airways moved to increase domestic capacity, rival Virgin Blue has ordered three Embraer 170s and three 190s, with deliveries to begin later this year.
BAA plans to spend another $78.6 million under its "Putting Passengers First" plan to reduce queues at security checkpoints in the seven U.K. airports from which it operates. BAA will hire another 1,400 security guards and open 22 new security lanes at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Southampton airports. Once the hiring is completed, the company has pledged to keep security line wait times to 5 min. or less for 95% of the day.
Los Angeles International Airport's newly reconstructed Runway 25L/7R is open for business. Its 11,095-ft. length is the same as the former 25L/7R, which was demolished and relocated 55 ft. south in a $250-million reconstruction. The project is part of the airport's $333-million South Airfield Improve- ment Program aimed at reducing runway incursions. LAX in 2000-03 had the highest number of incursions among U.S. major airports; in 2006, it had eight, two of which had the serious potential to lead to accidents.
Alenia Aeronautica and Russia's TsAGI aerohydrodynamics institute will cooperate on future commercial aerostructures research and development, beginning later this year.
Randy Znamenak (see photo) has been appointed vice president-service sales and marketing for the Hawker Beechcraft Corp., Wichita, Kan., the former Raytheon Aircraft. He was vice president-sales and marketing for Stevens Aviation. George Sellew has been named vice president/treasurer. He was director of international sales finance in Raytheon's Corporate Treasury Dept. Ted Farid has become vice president-new business development.
Craig Covault (Redondo Beach, Calif., and Cape Canaveral)
China is beginning an unprecedented surge in the flight test of new ballistic missiles at the same time that the U.S. is starting a lengthy transition of missile-warning satellite systems, critical for providing intelligence on this test activity. The current Defense Support Program (DSP) missile-warning spacecraft and new Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) spacecraft, just starting to be launched, have a primary job of attack warnings.
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Bradley Perrett has been listening too much to Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson. Perrett writes in "Super Stopgap" that the "big old F-111s are getting harder to maintain and increasingly dangerous to fly" (AW&ST Mar. 12, p. 29).
General Electric has become the second largest investor in Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holding in a shares swap with SES. GE now holds 34.1% of AsiaSat. China's Citic Group investment arm has the largest share, 34.8%.
About 20-30 protestors showed up last week for the final day of the annual Washington-based exhibition sponsored by the U.S. Navy League. They congregated with anti-war signs at a subway stop outside the conference hotel, and showgoers filed by them uneventfully as they came and went. At least two of the peaceful protestors sitting in the hotel's lobby were asked by security to leave. The small group handed out flyers that said the conference, named Sea Air Space, should be called "Sea Power to Secure Violence . . .
Finnair is looking at "a share issue or various forms of mezzanine financing" (a mix of debt and equity financing) to strengthen its balance sheet, says Chief Financial Officer Lasse Heinonen. "In this way, we will clearly remain on the better side of our own limits and those set by our financers." Finnair wants to offset its investment spending in the coming years, after having committed to a raft of purchases of Airbus and Embraer aircraft. The spending level in each of the next three years is pegged at €300 million ($399 million).
Alitalia has pushed reporting its 2006 results until May 23, although preliminary indications are that there will be a pre-tax loss of €405.2 million, on operating revenue of €4.72 billion. The loss is significantly worse than in 2005. The airline may yet reassess the book value of its fleet, which could double the loss to beyond €800 million. Alitalia management is holding off on reporting earnings until privatization steps are completed.
Volvo Aero is starting a three-year $18-million study on lightweight engine components, funded equally by the Swedish government and the company. Tagged as an environmental project, it is being performed under the "Aviation Technology and Demonstrator Program," or Flud, using the Swedish acronym.
Islas Airways is buying six new ATR 72-500s. The Canary Islands-based carrier currently operates older turboprops, one ATR 42-300 and four 72-300s. The -500s are to be delivered at a rate of two a year, starting this year.
Sea Launch continues to insist that its heavy-lift booster will return to flight before the end of the year, in parallel with the introduction of its two-stage Land Launch derivative, despite continued skepticism among operators.
The U.S. Commerce Dept. is touting a turnaround in international visitors to the U.S. based on record-breaking travel receipts, but the Discover American Partnership, a coalition of hotel and travel executives, takes exception. Visitors to the U.S. spent $107.4 billion in 2006, up 5% from a year earlier, the highest ever. International travelers increased 4% year-over-year to 51.1 million, nearly matching the peak in 2000. And the Commerce Dept. is now projecting a 21% increase in U.S.
Installation of sensor packages in Lockheed Martin's unique Cooperative Avionics Test Bed (CATBird) will begin this month and continue through 2008, transforming the airliner into a flying laboratory to scrutinize performance of F-35 mission systems.
Government and industry in the U.K. are struggling to align the bureaucratic process of funding civil aerospace research with the long-term needs of the sector.
Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group will use the Dassault Systemes' Catia composites design tool to develop its future aircraft. "Catia Composites Design has enabled us to shorten our manufacturing design cycle time by 50%," Youyi Wen, director of composites at Chengdu Aircraft says, according to Dassault.
Boeing has set a series of 787 program milestones as it continues to march toward delivery next May to launch customer All Nippon Airways. The company will celebrate the opening of its 787 final assembly line in Everett, Wash., on May 21. Rollout will occur on July 8--07/08/07, get it? First flight is expected in late August.
Top cadets at the four U.S. military service academies AW&ST annually gives special awards to Tomorrow's Leaders: top students at the U.S. military service academies who have shown exemplary leadership and academic skills and plan to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace. They received Breitling Aerospace watches, courtesy of Breitling USA and presented by its president, Marie Rodman.
The U.S. Navy is finally accepting proposals for stealthy unmanned combat aerial system (UCAS) vehicles that can demonstrate a capability to operate from carriers. The technology, if eventually embraced and purchased, could alter how carrier aviation is employed by extending the reach of U.S. surveillance and enabling strikes on remote locations without relying on nearby land bases.
