AirTran Airways advises it will report a fourth-quarter 2006 loss. Officials say revenue trends were poorer than anticipated, down 6.5-7.5% in revenue per available seat miles, compared with the prediction of flat revenue to a slight decline. The airline is offering deeply discounted fares in a sale launched this month.
The first of two 737-700ERs for launch customer All Nippon Airways has rolled out from Boeing's Renton, Wash., factory. ANA is expected to configure the aircraft with all business-class seats.
The pair of holiday snowstorms that pounded Denver International Airport (DIA) and stranded thousands of passengers also provided a real-life laboratory on how to function--or not function--during a weather crisis. Just as the second storm was about to hit Dec. 28, airline and airport personnel spent 4 hr. going over lessons learned from the first, a blizzard-like blast that caused snowdrifts of up to 12 ft.
China's first privately owned airline, Okay Airways, has introduced its first dedicated freighter, a Boeing 737-300F, with two more to come. Its fleet, which will also include three 737-300 passenger aircraft, is to radiate from its home base in the northeastern city Tianjin to the booming economic zones around Shanghai in eastern China and Hong Kong and Guangzhou in the south.
Ryanair and EasyJet are challenging a French government decree that aims to force the carriers to apply French labor rules to employees operating in France. But the low-fare carriers have gone to France's highest administrative review body in an attempt to have the decree overturned. Ryanair is also bringing a challenge to the European Commission, arguing the French decree violates European rules on the free movement of labor in the European Union.
The global homeland security market has grown nearly 29% to $55 billion in the last two years, but the still-evolving sector isn't a guaranteed alternative for defense contractors worried about shrinking military budgets, a recent market study warns. Civitas Group, a Washington-based strategic advisory and investment services firm, notes that, unlike the traditional defense sector, "success in the homeland security market depends on an ability to sell to varying customers of varying size."
China is expanding the targets of its military modernization program, putting heavy emphasis on advanced technology. The move coincides with a decision by Beijing finally to acknowledge formally the existence of the indigenously developed J-10 fighter (or Jian-10). The government confirmed late last month that the J-10 is now in operational services with the air force.
Two hugely different iterations of U.S. Air Force stealth fighters flew together recently for photos as the F-22 starts its operational career and the F-117 nears the end of its life as a combat aircraft. The F-117 is not a fighter, while the F-22 is beginning to demonstrate the air-to-air combat skills the design promised. Exercises in Alaska during 2006 proved that the F-22 could be deployed thousands of miles, maintained in the open and flown on a daily basis with high sortie (102 successful launches out of 105) and utilization (21.8) rates (see p. 46).
CESSNA AIRCRAFT CO.'S MODEL 172 SKYHAWK continues to be a popular choice for flight training schools in Europe that are increasing, replacing or upgrading their fleets. The company has received orders for more than 20 Skyhawks from four schools. The Romanian Aviation Academy bought four and Aeroclub Milano in Italy will receive two airplanes equipped with the Garmin G1000 integrated avionics package.
Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is the first in Asia to try a biometric trusted-traveler program using iris-scanning technology. Aimed at speeding frequent fliers through Indonesian immigration processing lines, the Saphire program compares scans of participants' eyes with the biometric information contained on a smart card. Open to both Indonesians and outsiders, Saphire requires members to pre-register with authorities, have both irises scanned and pay a $200 U.S. annual fee.
Investors looking to try their luck at turning around Alitalia have until the end of the month to express an intent to take a controlling stake in the troubled airline.
Television-station helicopters in Denver captured spectacular footage of the fireball of a Soyuz 2.1b rocket breaking up as it reentered the atmosphere over the Western U.S. before dawn on Jan. 4. The vehicle, which launched France's Corot planet-seeking space telescope on Dec. 27, 2006 (AW&ST Jan. 1, p. 35), disintegrated as it moved across the sky from north to south and eventually burned out over New Mexico. The 1st Space Control Sqdn.
Those who oppose repealing the Age 60 Rule for commercial pilots just don't get it. Changing the law is not about safety. It is not about economics (although economics is what has kept Age 60 alive, and it will probably be economics that eventually kills it). Overturning this obsolete age limit, which has no medical or other scientific basis, is purely about age discrimination.
The Hainan Airlines group of southern China is branching out into the shipping business, with a plan to buy 37% of Tianjin Marine Shipping Co. Ltd. for 200 million yuan ($26 million). It's common for Chinese companies to diversify into areas with little or no connection to their core businesses.
Mooney Airplane Co. intends to immediately start deliveries of its M20 TN Acclaim now that the single-engine piston aircraft has won FAA certification. The Acclaim, which replaces the Bravo on Mooney's product line, is powered by a 280-hp. Teledyne Continental TSIO 550-G turbo-normalized engine and has 237 KTAS at its 25,000-ft. service ceiling. With optional 130-gal., long-range tanks, the Acclaim has a range of up to 1,615 naut. mi. at a 200-kt. cruise speed. The Garmin 1000 avionics package is standard.
IN A NEW ALLIANCE BETWEEN FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL and Garmin International, FSI will become the preferred online trainer for Garmin's panel-mounted avionic products. Initially, training will center on the G1000 system that's installed in increasing numbers of single- and twin-engine airplanes, including the Cessna Citation Mustang lightweight jet.
GE Aviation has renamed its Learning Center in Evendale, Ohio, to honor Brian H. Rowe. He was president/CEO from 1979-93 and retired as division chairman in 1995 after 38 years with the company. Among Rowe's accomplishments were leading development of the CF6, GE's first commercial high-bypass engine; helping to form CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of GE and Snecma of France; and launching the GE90 engine.
In a "Houston, we have a solution" mode, the Greater Houston Partnership of the area's business community has a campaign underway to promote industry expansion. Chairman Drayton McLane notes that the aerospace sector is a logical target for what the region already has to offer, pointing to the Johnson Space Center and the engineering and physics graduates of Rice and the University of Houston as invaluable resources.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the cost of Space Radar alternatives varies wildly, from as little as $26 billion to as much as $94 billion, according to a newly published report. Space Radar will be a topic of debate next month as the new Congress reviews the Pentagon's Fiscal 2008-13 budget request. Space Radar concepts have been crafted, reformed and consistently cut or terminated by Congress in recent years, and the program faces an uphill battle to gain support.
Canadian Forces Brig. Gen. (ret.) Dwayne Lucas has been appointed vice president/general manager for products and engineering for Cascade Aerospace, Abbotsford, British Columbia. He was director general of aerospace equipment program management for the Canadian National Defense Dept.
Air Force experience with the F-22 Raptor has been favorable (see p. 46), but the service's acquisition program is an "excellent example" of what can go wrong in a program that fails to match requirements with resources and takes on "a number of new and unproven technologies," Government Accountability Office chief David Walker says. Walker pinpoints failure to "capture the appropriate technology, design and manufacturing knowledge" at the right time during development as the cause of a 10-year delay in getting the new aircraft to the warfighter.
Hisdesat says Belgium, Germany and an undisclosed country have signed up to use Spain's XTAR-EUR and Spainsat military communications spacecraft. Belgium will use a fixed portion of the satellites' X-band capacity for an unspecified period, with a right to use additional "on-call" capacity at an agreed price. Germany is thought to have contracted for bandwidth to supply interim milsatcom needs, notably in Afghanistan, until the country's own Satcom Bw 2 system is ready in 2009. Denmark, Spain and the U.S. State Dept.
