The Scottish government has announced a plan to nationalize Prestwick International Airport near Glasgow. The airport, owned by Infratil, is losing around £2 million ($3.2 million) per year. Infratil has been trying to find a buyer for the facility since March 2012. The Scottish government plans to buy the airport and let a private company run it, in a bid to safeguard jobs in an area that has high unemployment levels.
Cessna and Embraer business jets should soon begin rolling out of Chinese factories, but how many of them will Chinese buyers want? (Sovereign photo: Cessna)
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced Oct. 10 the appointment of Deputy Defense Minister Oleg Ostapenko to replace Vladimir Popovkin as head of Russian space agency Roscosmos. The announcement comes as Moscow reviews proposals to centralize oversight of its space industry in an effort to curb government waste and restore confidence in the nation's space program following a spate of spacecraft and launch vehicle failures in recent years.
With the emergence of a new generation of large-cabin, long-range business aircraft, the industry could be witnessing a sea change in the traditional chicken-and-egg relationship between airframe and engine makers. Unlike previous generations, which use myriad bespoke engines derived from existing families, at least some of the new large business jets will be powered by purpose-designed powerplants, derived from the same all-new cores in development for the next generation of commercial airliners.
Jim Duffy, Director of Strategic Planning FAA Commercial Space Transportation Office (Washington, D.C. )
Regarding Orbital Sciences Corp.'s approach to Cygnus design as covered in “Skinning the Cat” (AW&ST Sept. 30, p. 20), Orbital did not “buy components wherever possible to avoid reinventing the wheel.” The late David Low, a former astronaut who was serving as senior vice president and program manager for Orbital's commercial orbital transportation services (COTS), and I (an Orbital executive at the time) established the approach for COTS in about half an hour in his office (at the start of our proposal effort).
As of late last week, the U.S. government was in the second week of drastically curtailed operations and Washington was flirting with inaction on a technical fix needed to make good on its treasury's obligations. One major defense company chief we spoke with last week described the federal budget process as “chaos” and the impact on the industries we cover as “a destructive force” (see page 31).
George Ullrich has become senior vice president-strategy development for Applied Research Associates Inc., Albuquerque, N.M. He has been chief technology officer of the Schafer Corp. and was senior vice president-advanced technology programs at the Science Applications International Corp.
The A340 is a four-engine, intercontinental, widebody commercial transport aircraft. A prototype flew in October 1991, and deliveries began in January 1993. The A340-200 and-300 were certificated by the JAA in December 1992 and FAA in February 1993. Both models are powered by four 31,200-34,000-lb.-thrust CFM56-5C4 turbofan engines. Two newer models, the longer-range A340-500 and stretched A340-600, are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 500 engines. Typical seating patterns for the -200, -300, -500 and -600 are 262, 295, 313 and 380 passengers, respectively.
These models, along with the A318, make up the Airbus A320 family of twin-turbofan, narrowbody airliners. The initial model in the series was the A320, which made its first flight in February 1987. A320 deliveries began in 1988, followed by the stretched A321 in 1994 and the A319, a shortened variant of the A320, in 1996. All three original models are available with either CFM56 or International Aero Engines V2500 powerplants. The A319 typically seats 124 passengers, the A320 carries 150, and the A321 seats 185.
Currently in flight testing, the A350 is a twin-engine, widebody jetliner intended to compete with Boeing's 777 and 787. The A350 is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines rated in the 75,000-97,000-lb.-thrust range, and will have a cruise speed of around Mach 0.85. Three basic versions are being marketed: the -800, -900 and -1000. Depending on the version, the A350 will seat 270-350 passengers, and will have a range of 8,100-8,500 nm. An ultra-long-range version, the A350-900R, and a freighter, the A350-900F, are also planned.
In developing the 525-passenger A380, Airbus chose to leap past Boeing's 747 in capacity class. Boeing markets the 747-8 to indirectly compete with the A380, but no direct competition to the A380 exists in the 500-plus-seat market. The A380 is powered by four turbofan engines rated 70,000-76,500 lb. thrust each, and can be outfitted with either the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or GE/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance GP7200. Airbus currently produces only a passenger version of the A380. First flight occurred in 2005, with 101 A380s produced through 2012.
The 15-19-passenger L-410 is an unpressurized, twin-turboprop regional/utility transport aircraft. The current production L-410UVP-E20 is powered by two GE M601 engines. Under development is an improved variant called the L-410 NG that will feature GE H80 engines, Avio AV 725 five-blade propellers, a new wing and a new glass cockpit. As a first step toward development of the NG model, Aircraft Industries is integrating the H80 engine and the AV 725 propellers into the L-410UVP-E20.
Russia's Proton M launch vehicle returned to flight Sept. 30, nearly two months after a July 2 mishap sent the heavy-lift rocket and three Russian Glonass M satellites crashing to the ground at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
A consumer buying a car views the quality of the product simply: Does it work as promised and will it last? But the Pentagon inspector general's (IG) recent review of the Defense Department's most costly procurement program reveals that the military's definition of “quality” in its weapon systems is far more nuanced and tricky to manage.
The price of European Union carbon dioxide allowances (EUA) under the EU Emissions Trading System made strong gains in September in the run-up to and following German elections Sept. 22. The national vote handed Chancellor Angela Merkel a resounding victory, with her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) attracting 41.5% of the vote, the party's best result in 23 years but still a few seats short of an overall majority.
Once gain, Alitalia, the perennially ailing Italian carrier, finds itself in the unenviable position of needing to restructure. It must come to terms with the fact that it needs new investors and a strong partner. Being a SkyTeam member has not brought about the salvation the carrier hoped for, and the survival plan put in place in the late 1990s, although welcome, certainly does not ensure a workable future. In the short term, Alitalia, which posted a €294 million ($397 million) loss in the first half of 2013, reportedly needs €400-500 million to avoid bankruptcy.
The U.K. Royal Air Force has retired the last of its vintage Vickers VC10 aerial refueling tankers, which opens an unlikely capability gap. For almost 50 years, the VC10 provided strategic transport, airlift and an aeromedical capacity. In the 1980s, with the arrival of several secondhand ex-airline VC10s, the role was extended to provide air-to-air refueling, a capability for which the type became best-known. Of the 54 VC10s produced by Vickers, the RAF operated 28, in four different versions.
With its first Airbus A400M Atlas handed over, attention is now being focused on how the French air force will put the new European airlifter through its paces.
