Boeing is evaluating the effect the 747-8 production line “pause” will have on its VVIP customers, but says it is too early to tell what the impact will be. With orders for eight VVIP aircraft dominating the early 747-8I delivery slots, further delays could cause problems among the completion centers lining up to accept the new jets. Boeing’s month-long assembly freeze was imposed on May 6 to allow thousands of unfinished work items to be completed on 747-8s (Aviation Daily, May 9).
Dassault Aviation has unveiled the Falcon 2000S, a replacement for the Falcon 2000DX, developed to compete directly against the Bombardier Challenger 300, Gulfstream G250 and Hawker 4000, among other super-midsize business aircraft. Slated to enter service in early 2013 and priced at $25 million, the Falcon 2000S will have more cabin volume, shorter takeoff distances and a considerably larger tanks-full payload than its super-midsize competitors, says Dassault.
Boeing is again producing seven 777s a month as it pushes toward a record rate of 8.3/month in 2013. Boeing’s Everett, Wash., 777 facility previously reached seven-per-month highs from July 1997 to February 1998, August to October 1999 and November 2006 to May 2010, but the 2009 recession cooled off demand so much that in April that year the company cut production rates to five-per-month (Aviation Daily, April 10, 2009). It took a year before orders began rebounding and Boeing said it would reverse course.
Another round looms in the U.S.-European Union battle over large commercial aircraft subsidies. This week, WTO officials are expected to pass judgment on the EU’s appeal of an earlier ruling that faulted Europe for providing illegal state aid to Airbus. An appeal review process is also underway on the case the EU brought against Boeing, in which the WTO also upheld some of the complaint and found the U.S. aircraft maker benefitted from trade-rule-violating government aid. That judgment is due this year, too.
The Air Transport Association’s members will carry a record number of international passengers from June to August, although a slower rebound in domestic demand will keep total enplanements below levels recorded from 2005 to 2008, according to the U.S. trade group’s annual summer travel forecast.
In a big breakthrough for investigators looking into the June 1, 2009, crash of Air France Flight 447, French officials say data from both the cockpit voice and flight data recorders have now been downloaded. The French air accident investigation office (BEA) says the analysis will take several weeks, with a new interim report due in the summer. The final report is expected next year.
The Los Angeles Metro green line light rail will be extended to Los Angeles International Airport by linking a planned metro station 1.5 mi. from the airport with the central terminal area of LAX, says the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The extension, called ConnectLAX, is a joint venture of Parsons Brinckerhoff and the design firm STV. It will be accomplished by an above ground or underground extension of light rail, or an automated people mover, the companies said. The project is scheduled for completion in 2012.
Another shake-up, record sales and disillusionments are likely in store for the “middle” of the commercial air transport market—the 150- to 220-seat segment. But don’t count on next month’s Paris air show to provide a long-overdue clarification. Boeing is no longer expected to announce anything, Airbus executives may just stress how good they are, Bombardier may have no CSeries orders to unveil, Comac and Irkut may remain mute, as usual, and Embraer is expected to stay in a cautious waiting mode.
US Airways is improving its component reliability by streamlining vendor management. David Seymour, who manages US Airways’ maintenance, engineering, quality assurance, supply chain and aircraft acquisitions as senior VP technical operations, says the airline has created a leading vendor management scorecard, which evaluates all vendors on the same terms. When talking about the best vendors, “one of the reasons they’re really good and effective suppliers is because they take the time to understand us and how we as a carrier work ...
FAA funding cuts proposed by House Republicans would “absolutely devastate” the NextGen modernization effort, says James Oberstar, the former House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee chairman.
Hawaiian Airlines attained the top ranking among major U.S. carriers for domestic on-time performance in March, at 88.4%, according to the Transportation Department’s monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. A May 13 story incorrectly identified the category.
Hawaiian Airlines attained the top ranking among major U.S. carriers for domestic on-time performance in March, at 88.4%, according to the Transportation Department’s monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. A May 13 story incorrectly identified the category.
As concern grows over likely jamming of GPS by a planned broadband wireless network, the U.S. House of Representatives is preparing to vote on a provision added to the 2012 defense spending bill (H.R.1540) that requires the Defense Department secretary to notify Congress if the Pentagon determines widespread interference will be caused by a commercial communications service. The move turns the heat up on the Federal Communications Commission, which gave company LightSquared conditional approval to deploy the terrestrial transmitters.
ThyssenKrupp Aerospace named Juergen Funke president, succeeding Stuart Wilkins, who left the company. Jeff Luckasavage will replace Funke as president of ThyssenKrupp Aerospace North America.
The House Appropriations homeland security subcommittee is recommending the U.S. government stop buying full-body scanners in fiscal 2012, according to a draft of the panel’s spending bill. The move would save the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) $76 million on Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners. The president had asked for that money to buy 275 of the scanners and pay to staff them.
EADS’s EFW conversion business in Dresden Germany, will covert 13 Airbus A300-600s into freighters under a new contract with DHL Express. The freight operator already has 14 A300 converted freighters in inventory. Work under this contract will begin in June, with four more A300s to be inducted this year. The aircraft being converted were built between 1991-1994.
