Judy Cavanaugh has been appointed vice president-market analysis at Input, Reston, Va. She was vice president-business intelligence for the L-3 Communications Titan Group.
The Italian government has dumped embattled Alitalia Chief Executive Giancarlo Cimoli, hoping to ease the process of finding a buyer for the struggling Italian carrier. Cimoli's political support had become increasingly tenuous after he had little success in improving Alitalia's performance. A new management team has yet to be named, but first the government wants to reconstitute the board that has effectively been disbanded by resignations. New chairman Bernardino Libonati is to be confirmed at a shareholder meeting Feb. 22, along with four other new members.
I started flight lessons in 1992 when I was 17. Ever since, I've been told countless times there will be a major pilot shortage in the next five years. Fifteen years and thousands of small-jet hours later, I'm still waiting.
A move into the Australian domestic market by Singaporean budget carrier Tiger Airways will challenge the profitability of Qantas budget unit Jetstar, just as the Australian airline prepares to be taken over by private-equity buyers. Tiger's plan also means the airline--still a small business, but an ambitious one with the backing of big-name aviation investors--will run a narrow-body network stretching from southern China, to the Philippines, southeast Asia and across the Australian continent, which is itself about as big as the continental U.S.
Communications satellite operators, manufacturers and launch providers see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, as the industry emerges from a decade of stagnation.
Adam Isles has been appointed deputy chief of staff in the U.S. Homeland Security Dept. He has been counselor to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and was counsel to the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Dept.'s Criminal Div.
General aviation manufacturers, reporting a "spectacular" 2006, point to user fees as No. 1 among the challenges to continued growth in 2007. The General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. members last week reported 4,042 total aircraft shipments in 2006, a 12.9% increase compared with 2005, and a 24.1% climb in total billings to an all-time high of $18.8 billion (see chart)--a banner year, according to GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce. This is attributed to several factors:
U.S. Air Mobility Command officials say the primary causes of a C-130E accident at Al Asad AB, Iraq, on July 17 were pilot and crew error. The investigation determined that the crew from the 317th Airlift Group at Dyess AFB, Tex., used aggressive braking and taxied at a high speed after landing, which resulted in mechanical failure in three of the transport's four brakes and led to a fire in one of the wheel wells. There were no injuries.
Dassault Aviation is poised to launch a new mid-size business jet as sustained orders continue to strengthen the company's backlog. The aircraft--code-named the SMS--will be formally launched as soon as the ultra-long-range Falcon 7X deliveries begin in April, Chairman/CEO Charles Edelstenne said here last week. The unveiling would aim to build buzz going into the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibit in Geneva in May.
Oksana Bardygula has been named vice president-business development for Tectura's aerospace and aviation practice in Southern California. She was a junior partner in the aviation practice of Mercer Management Consulting.
Anatoly Serdyukov has been appointed Russian defense minister. He succeeds Sergei Ivanov, whom President Vladimir Putin has named as first deputy prime minister. Serdyukov was head of the federal tax agency.
General Electric was slated to conduct its first ground test runs of the GEnx on its Boeing 747SP flying testbed in Victorville, Calif., late last week. Flight testing is to start by early March. The first icing tests are to get underway this week, using GE's mobile test stand near Montreal.
Frederick A. Tarantino (see photo) has been named president/CEO of the Washington-based Universities Space Research Assn. He was vice president-operations for the Federal Services Div. of Burns and Roe Enterprises.
Researchers, using notional six-dimensional geometries predicted by string theory to map energy distribution in the infant Universe, hope Europe's upcoming Planck background energy mapper will give them some real data to work with. String theory hypothesizes six dimensions beyond the three we live in, plus time, in super-tiny shapes that occupy every point in the Universe. Scientists have used computers to visualize the shapes, like this example produced at Indiana University, but there's no way to test them for accuracy. Now researchers have published work in the Feb.
France plans to equip its Tiger attack helicopters with Lockheed Martin Hellfire II antitank missiles, in the latest setback to Europe's tactical weapon sector. The decision means that Europe's three main Tiger helo users have decided to go with different weapons, shattering a plan established early on to maintain commonality. Without naming the chosen missile, Francois Lureau, head of the French armaments agency DGA, says France is following Australia's lead in selecting the lowest-risk option.
Looking to boost financial reserves after a severe hit last year related to Airbus A380 delays, EADS has sold its 2.12% stake in Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer. The transaction generated €124 million ($161 million) in pre-tax revenue. EADS emphasizes that the deal is purely financial, saying ties with Embraer to cooperate where possible will remain. The company maintains several other industrial arrangements in Brazil.
DaimlerChrysler has completed the lengthy process of unloading 7.5% of its EADS stake in a carefully orchestrated deal to maintain a balance between French and German interests in the aerospace and defense company. Daimler will retain voting rights through mid-2010 to ensure that Germany and French interests remain balanced at 22.5%--the French interests are held partially by the government and Lagardere. The share sell generates $1.5 billion in cash for Daimler. Investors are to receive a 175% preference dividend on their 7.5% stake.
GE Commercial Aviation Services has formed an equally split joint venture with Lynxs Holdings to provide financial support for new air cargo facilities, to build its position in the air cargo facilities sector as rising global trade drives the demand for modern air cargo facilities at airports worldwide.
Peter Kleinschmidt has been appointed general counsel of Amsterdam-based EADS. He succeeds Diane de Saint Victor, who has resigned. He was an EADS senior vice president and had been general counsel of Airbus.
It's crunch time for Australia's disastrous Kaman Super Seasprite program, with the government poised to announce whether it will junk the project--11 years after it was launched, six years after the naval helicopters were supposed to enter service and four years before they are now expected to be operational. Eurocopter and Sikorsky stand to gain from project cancellation if the Royal Australian Navy turns to their NFH90 or SH-60 Seahawk helicopters, though another alternative would be second-hand Seahawks.
Canada is joining the U.S. and Australia in signaling its intent to build a nationwide ADS-B aircraft-tracking network. Nav Canada plans to initially install six ADS-B ground-based receivers to track airline aircraft flying over the Hudson Bay region to and from polar routes. The contract for the receivers has been awarded to Sensis Corp. of Syracuse, N.Y., which is also in the running for the hotly contested U.S. program.
China is steadily removing barriers that have prevented the country's potentially vast business aviation market from being more than a distant dream. It's getting easier to operate business aircraft in China, and the pace of progress is accelerating, manufacturers say. The market volcano hasn't erupted yet, and no one knows when it will, but the manufacturers can feel the rumblings.
Hellfire Systems took a $196.7-million U.S. Army contract modification for delivery of a range of Hellfire missiles in containers through 2011. Raytheon won a $24.2-million delivery order from Kuwait for Patriot PAC2 forebody modifications involving the Guidance Enhanced Missile Plus Frequency Generator Upgrade through 2009.
Richard Hallion, senior adviser for air and space issues at U.S. Air Force Headquarters, has won the Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award, from the Reston, Va.-based American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for his book, Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age From Antiquity Through the First World War.
