Following a move by fellow Delta Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Comair wants approval from the U.S. Transportation Dept. to fly 70-seat CRJ-700s from Atlanta and Cincinnati to Toronto, starting in June. ASA recently asked DOT for an exemption to fly larger jets from Atlanta to Toronto (DAILY, March 20). "Comair and Delta are eager to commence marketing and sales activities with respect to the Atlanta-Toronto and Cincinnati-Toronto flights," the regional airline said. -LR
Portland Airport, Ore., is running a test of its "Common Use" project with Lufthansa and Mexicana. The program allows airlines to lease gate or ticket counter space by the hour and test the effectiveness of routes. The system is operating at 15 ticket counters and three gates. The airport plans to add a gate in the international terminal and a curbside check-in position "within the next several weeks," says Steve Johnson, a spokesman for the airport.
JetBlue announced more management shuffles in its IT, finance and supply chain management after elevating executives in its people, legal and government affairs departments.
LM WIN FBI CONTRACT: Lockheed Martin, which has aggressively been expanding its information technology work, recently nabbed the FBI's $305 million, six-year Sentinel contract. Much like the Defense Department, the FBI intends to link its disparate information systems into an integrated one that could be accessed by analysts and agents around the world. Team members include Accenture, Anteon, CACI, and Computer Sciences Corp. among others.
Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, commander of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), described the command and control challenges associated with ballistic missile defense during a speech in Washington March 20.
Top executives at multinational European missile maker MBDA say a proposal by EADS to take a controlling interest in the company might make good business sense. But they also caution that such a deal could be a political minefield because it would centralize control of the company under Franco-German interests.
L-3 Communications announced March 20 that it is working with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine unit to return the Homeland Security Department agency's P-3 aircraft to flight. The CBP P-3 fleet was grounded recently after a crack was discovered in a wing corner-fitting by L-3 personnel performing heavy maintenance on one aircraft, the company said. After further inspections found similar cracks on additional aircraft, CBP grounded its fleet until all aircraft could be fully inspected and repaired.
The two-man crew of the International Space Station took a brief excursion in their Soyuz TMA vehicle early yesterday, donning Russian launch and entry suits to shift the spacecraft that delivered them to the orbital outpost last October from the nadir port on the Zarya module to the aft port on the Zvezda Service Module. The move clears the way for the next station crew to arrive on March 31.
LAUNCH DELAY: Space Exploration Technologies is delaying the Falcon 1 launch attempt at the Kwajalein Atoll this week for at least two days. Controllers ran the rocket through a static firing late last week and want to check some of the results before they proceed. The launch period is March 20-25, but at the moment it won't launch until at least March 22 to allow for the static firing review.
House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) visited Swales Aerospace in Beltsville, Md., on March 20 to highlight $39 million recently appropriated for "operationally responsive" satellite research. Hoyer helped earmark funds for so-called "operationally responsive satellites" (ORS) - also known as tactical satellites (tacsats) - which are envisioned for launching small payloads into low earth orbit inexpensively and within hours or days of the requirement to proceed.
The death of a roof repairman at Kennedy Space Center on March 17, one day after the center held a safety "stand down" to review safety procedures, will elevate concerns about safety consciousness as the site transitions from the shuttle to Crew Exploration Vehicle operations. The roofer fell from a Kennedy building and was not involved in any aerospace activities. But the accident serves as a reminder about the risks inherent in launch site operations.
Proposed NATO common funding for strategic airlift could get a profile boost this year as the trans-Atlantic alliance increasingly eyes an expanded logistics-support mission in Darfur, Sudan.
The Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV) program has been slightly slowed by a fiscal 2006 budget cut handed down by Congress late last year, but otherwise has not been adversely affected, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin.
Brazilian carrier TAM on May 30 will launch daily nonstop service from Rio de Janeiro (Galeao) and Sao Paulo (Guarulhos) to New York Kennedy airport using Airbus A330-200s.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to widen the scope of airport security beyond passenger checkpoints, Administrator Kip Hawley said yesterday.
Dragonair yesterday reported higher passenger numbers and increased cargo volume in February, but executives said high fuel prices are still putting a lot of pressure on the bottom line.
