The IRS wants airlines to refund passengers for taxes paid on tickets purchased before the FAA shut down, but the Air Transport Association (ATA) is pushing back. Travelers who bought tickets before the government stopped collecting taxes July 23 but are traveling after the FAA partially shut down are entitled to a refund on excise taxes, according to a July 26 letter the tax agency sent to ATA President Nick Calio.
Finally, the Transportation Department (DOT) will delay the implementation of some of its new passenger rights rules until early next year, partially acceding to U.S. and international carriers, although not as much as they hoped. But the fight is far from over: Three U.S. low-cost carriers have gone to a federal appeals court to fight various aspects of the new rules, and they have asked the court to forbid implementation until a final ruling.
Lacking the means but not the desire, Boeing is setting aside the creation of its first advanced single-aisle transport of the 21st century in favor of a more conservative new engine 737. But even that relatively prosaic approach is not without manufacturing peril. Chairman/CEO James McNerney says the company's Renton factory, Boeing's touchstone for lean manufacturing south of Seattle, may not be able to swallow a 737NE project alongside its busy schedule assembling the Next Generation 737, although at this stage nothing is decided.
While a decision on the 737 tops Boeing's list for new programs, the 787-10X second stretch of the baseline 787-8 is moving higher up the priority chain.
While Boeing's board readies for its 737 New Engine launch decision, program planners face key choices over what other technologies will be featured on the future derivative. Although playing down the scale of non-engine-related upgrades planned for the 737NE, the company is nevertheless exploring a range of potential relatively low-risk options ranging from advanced systems to aerodynamic innovations. The evaluation balances Boeing's desire to outpace the Airbus A320NEO, while minimizing development costs and maximizing commonality.
The fanfare was loud and generated the desired attention, but now that the euphoria has subsided it is apparent that AMR Group's deals with Airbus and Boeing to overhaul American Airlines' narrowbody fleet are more wishful thinking than concrete achievement.
Demand across its product range is prompting GE Aviation to open a $56 million, 150,000-sq.-ft. factory for composite engine components in Ellisville, Miss., its second recent addition in that southern state.
Singapore, a small nation dependent on sea trade for its livelihood, has decided to explore the option of gaining a more sophisticated anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and maritime patrol capability. In a separate development, Singapore also plans to issue a tender for new refueling tankers and is evaluating heavy-lift transports.
Two years ago, the two-star officer helping to oversee the nearly $380 billion Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program would have said it “is a marathon, not a sprint.” Now he has revised that sentiment. “It's not a marathon—it's a steeplechase,” he declares, highlighting the unpredictable nature of such large programs.
The U.S. Army's new intelligence-collection aircraft program has reemerged from a gauntlet of protests only to be confronted with suggestions to fold it into a similar Air Force project. After nearly nine months of complaints about selecting Boeing to build the fleet of Enhanced Medium-Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (Emarss) aircraft, the Army finally directed the company to restart work on the contract.
David Fulghum (Washington), Paul McLeary (Washington), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
With some fanfare, the Defense Department recently unveiled its first cyberstrategy, but any possibility of rapidly streamlining U.S. cyberoperations, establishing clear command and control or securing the freedom to use offensive cyberweapons is looking more like a wish than a plan. The underlying problems include a Byzantine network of defense and civilian organizations with conflicting cyber- responsibilities, a shortage of trained specialists and—most critical of all—no identifiable funding streams.
The first of six P-8A maritime patrol aircraft Boeing is producing for the U.S. Navy completed nearly 6 hr. of initial flight testing as part of its transfer from the basic assembly line to a factory for systems installation. Designated LRIP-1, the airplane is the first from the $1.6 billion low-rate initial production contract won last January. The full P-8A program award is to include 117 aircraft as replacements for the Navy's P-3s. LRIP-1 will be the first P-8A to enter service; it is to join the fleet in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2013.
Severe defense budget austerity setting in across Europe is adding pressure on the region's aerospace and defense suppliers to belt-tighten and streamline operations.
Amy Svitak (Boise, Idaho), Michael Bruno (Washington)
President Barack Obama's ambitious export-control reform initiative faces hurdles in Congress, where politics and policy could slow the first serious attempt to overhaul the nation's cumbersome and antiquated U.S. arms export-licensing system in over a decade.
International Aero Engines is starting design and integration work on a new, more rugged version of the V2500 turbofan for Embraer's KC-390 transport aircraft, following the Brazilian manufacturer's formal selection of its engine.
If you are keeping score of political brinkmanship in Washington over FAA funding—which appears to have simultaneous games being played at different levels—it can be hard to determine who is winning and who is losing. Or, perhaps more accurately, it is hard to tell who is losing the most.
Rising fuel costs are once again raising the specter of airline consolidation in Europe, but also driving Europe's low-fare sector to employ capacity control measures to withstand the pressure on their cost base. “You will see the consolidation process continue” as a result of high fuel costs, says Ryanair CFO Howard Miller. And he's not alone. “We have entered a phase in aviation of very high fuel prices,” says Alex Cruz, CEO of Vueling Airlines. “We think there will be some consolidation.”
Airbus has delivered its 800th A330 and it appears this type will remain the mainstay of many airlines' fleets for decades, especially if the manufacturer can be convinced to develop it further. The 800th A330 was delivered to Hainan Airlines Group on July 13. “To date, over 1,140 A330s have been ordered,” Airbus says.
NASA will try a completely new—and scary—technique to land the largest rover yet on the surface of Mars next year, in a spot that scientists hope will tell them whether the planet can, or ever could, support life. Crews from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Kennedy Space Center are in the final stages of preparing the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) for an Atlas V launch to the red planet as early as Nov. 25. If all goes as planned, the probe will reach Mars next August and begin its harrowing 6-min. descent through the atmosphere.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering a plan to scale back or eliminate the entry, descent and landing element of a robotic science mission to Mars in 2016, a cost-saving measure that could bolster a more ambitious joint U.S.-European rover mission to the red planet two years later.
Russia will return to deep space exploration this year with a mission designed to return samples from Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. The Phobos-Grunt mission was initially scheduled for launch in 2009, but was postponed at the last minute–officially due to the need for additional testing. In mid-July the head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, announced that the launch will take place this November. “There will be no more slippages,” he stressed.
Buoyed by the success of their first lunar probe three years back, India's space scientists are planning an ambitious sequel in 2013 that may establish the groundwork for a future robotic mission to Mars. Drawing on Russia's long experience exploring planetary surfaces, including the upcoming mission to the Martian moon Phobos, India's second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, will consist of a domestic spacecraft and rover, with a Russian landing platform that underscores the international aspect of India's budding planetary exploration program.
The European defense industry is expected to pay a high price for an error that happened more than 25 years ago. In the summer of 1985, France couldn't reach an agreement with Germany, the U.K., Italy and Spain on paving the way for a next-generation combat aircraft jointly developed and produced by a cross-border consortium. In addition, Sweden still was convinced it could retain its long-established political independence in terms of armaments.
A few have tried, but almost all have failed—airlines' flirtations with business jet ventures, that is. Pan Am, Fed Ex, American Airlines and most recently, Lufthansa, were all involved in business jet sales, service or direct operations, but all exited the activity eventually. And who can forget Avolar, United Airlines' controversial fractional jet program, which it aborted before first flight?
The obituaries correctly noted he was a two-term governor of Rhode Island; a decorated World War II B-17 pilot; a Harvard Law School graduate who was a U.S. attorney in Washington before going into private practice; and then president/CEO of the Outlet Co., which he turned into a major broadcaster.
