Roy Norris has resigned as president of Raytheon Aircraft and Art Wegner, chairman and chief executive, has assumed the title of president. In an interoffice message, Wegner said Norris resigned to start a consulting company and "do something on his own." He praised Norris's contribution to the company. There was no announcement whether Wegner's presidency is permanent.
Wichita State University has received a research grant from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation to study the practicality of a new high-lift device for general aviation. WSU's National Institute for Aviation Research will conduct computational aerodynamics and wind tunnel validation tests of the "Nahas Wing." The device could provide the benefits of airliner-type high-lift devices in a mechanically simple package for GA use, offering the potential for lower landing approach speeds.
India's corporate executives flying within the country in company-owned aircraft have been allotted a separate terminal at Mumbai's domestic airport. The terminal, first of its kind in India, will be operational in January, and officials of the state-owned Airport Authority of India (AAI) said it is unlikely that similar terminals will be developed soon in other metropolitan areas. "We are making an exception for Mumbai because it is India's commercial capital, where nearly all of its major private industrial houses are headquartered," a senior AAI official said.
DOT issued a consent order assessing compromise civil penalties of $60,000 against Challenge Air Cargo for failing to file statistical reports on time. Challenge must pay $10,000 within 15 days and make four additional payments of $5,000 over the next six months. The department will forgive the remaining $30,000 if the carrier meets its deadlines. Challenge said the reason for the delay was that the employee responsible for the reports became ill and died before he could train a successor.
Delta said yesterday it has received FAA approval to install cargo bay fire suppression and smoke detection systems on its 737s and ValuJet said it has completed FAA-required flight tests of a smoke detection system on its DC- 9s and that a fire suppression system will be tested in early September. FAA has ordered the systems installed on all airline aircraft by 2001. Delta submitted documents in June on its 727 fleet. Delta said it is the first airline to receive FAA certification of cargo bay smoke detection and fire suppression systems.
Federal Express won a court judgment this month that it is not required to violate a federal regulation. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit rejected a suit in which a FedEx captain accused the company of age discrimination because it prohibited him from continuing to fly beyond age 60. The court said the pilot essentially was seeking invalidation of the Age 60 rule, but this was not possible because FAA was not a party to the suit. Before the pilot filed the suit, FedEx offered him retirement or training for a flight engineer position.
Northwest Airlines Cargo said it is revising 747 freighter service between the U.S. and Asia to gain as many as two frequencies a week during the peak season. The new schedule, designed to keep Northwest's eight 747-200 freighters airborne on long hauls with fewer landings and takeoffs, is made possible by an increase in the mechanical reliability of the freighter aircraft, the carrier said.
TWA filed for confidential treatment of large amounts of data it and other carriers are submitting for DOT's rural air fare study and suggested that DOT make a blanket ruling covering all U.S. airlines. DOT ordered them to submit origin, destination, connecting point and fare data for all points in the U.S., except Hawaii and Alaska, for a study on service to smaller communities (DAILY, July 30).
United and Mexicana filed for an immediate award of code-share authority between Miami and Cancun pending a final decision by Mexico in the market. Though granting other authority to United and Mexicana in July, DOT deferred action on this and other city-pairs, either while it awaits carrier designation by Mexico or because in some markets the number of applicants exceeded the designation limits of the bilateral. Miami-Cancun is a double-designation city-pair. Only one U.S.
British Airways and American deny press reports that they would accept less than a full alliance partnership, complete with antitrust immunity and on a par with United/Lufthansa and others. The next major milestone that would affect alliance approval - or be affected by it - is in mid-October, when the IATA slot conference apportions next summer's transatlantic schedule.
KLM, broadening its reach within Europe, yesterday formed a partnership with Braathens SAFE with the aim of acquiring a 30% share of the Norwegian carrier. The agreement aligns 51-year-old Braathens, which has 51% market share in Norway, with the Northwest/KLM alliance. The two sides expect the agreement to become final in four to eight weeks. KLM will acquire the shares from Ludv. G. Braathen Rederi, a shipping company.
El Al set a record for the westbound flight from Tel Aviv to New York Kennedy, which it completed in nine hours 59 minutes. The route is scheduled for 11 hours 30 minutes. The previous record, 10 hours 19 minutes, was set in 1985.
As the UPS strike continued yesterday, management was confident it would win a contempt-of-court decision today on its claim that its pilots union violated a temporary restraining order issued last week. The Independent Pilots Association, which is respecting the Teamsters strike by not crossing picket lines, interpreted last week's ruling as a victory, saying it did not prohibit IPA from compiling and publishing as strikebreakers the names of pilots at carriers carrying UPS goods (DAILY, Aug. 18).
Boeing, under contract from NASA's Advanced Composite Technology program, has demonstrated that it will be possible within a decade to use an advanced stitching machine to stitch layers of carbon fiber fabrics to form what could be the wing skin of an aircraft. NASA seeks to reduce the weight of aircraft wing structures 25% and the cost of production 20% by using composite materials instead of aluminum. The machine can stitch carbon fabric more than an inch thick in structures up to 50 feet long and 9.5 feet wide.
Boeing has renamed McDonnell Douglas Finance Corp. the Boeing Capital Corp. The $2.6 billion subsidiary, based in Long Beach, Calif., and in its 29th year, reported net income of $48.8 million, $867 million in new business and a return on equity of 16.2% in 1996. McDonnell Douglas Realty Co. also has a new name, Boeing Realty Corp. The changes reflect the Boeing- McDonnell Douglas merger.
Associated Global Systems promoted Gary Syner to VP-international, Gaylan Harrison to regional service manager-Southwest and Mike Moskwik to service training supervisor, and appointed Ray Whitmire regional manager- business development, Southwest Region, and named Trey Stevens district manager-Chicago.
UPS, in a quick decision, lost its lawsuit charging illegal intimidation by its pilots union, the Independent Pilots Association. The suit charged IPA with disrupting commerce by threatening action against pilots at contract carriers if they carry UPS goods, including publicizing their names (DAILY, Aug. 15). A Kentucky state court judge ruled within hours of the petition for an injunction. IPA denied blacklisting other pilots or refusing them jumpseat privileges on UPS flights, and the judge ruled such attempts would be prohibited.
Reno/Tahoe Parties filed in support of Reno Air's bid for an extraordinary- circumstances exemption for Reno-Chicago O'Hare. Reno already flies the route under the rule but wants to increase service by one daily roundtrip. This would bring total roundtrips during slot-constrained hours to four per day, but one early-arrival slot is timed before slot controls apply.
G&H Technology Chief Executive Thomas Cleary was named Entrepreneur of the Year in Manufacturing for the Greater Los Angeles Area, an award sponsored by Inc. magazine and Merrill Lynch.
Pilots of TAP Air Portugal agreed to stop the industrial action they launched in July after the Portuguese government agreed to start talks on their work and rest periods, the government said Friday in Lisbon. At the same time, the Portuguese authorities canceled their Aug. 9 requisition order aimed at forcing pilots back to work. The union representing TAP's pilots considered the order contrary to Portuguese legislation on strikes.
AAR Corp. plans to build a new hangar and upgrade an existing hangar at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. When work is completed in January, the company intends to expand aircraft maintenance and overhaul capacity and add backshop support, including composite structure repair and state-of-the-art paint capability.
FAA said Friday that two of the 193 Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW) systems it tested during the week were not working properly, and both were corrected. The faulty systems, at Fayetteville, N.C., and Florence, S.C., were recertified, as were the other 191. The MSAW function at the Aspen/Pitkin, Colo., airport is installed and certified but is not in service because of the large number of false low-altitude alerts in the mountainous terrain.
