As Mesa Air Group emerges from 13 months of bankruptcy protection, the U.S. regional’s top executive warns that challenges still await the newly restructured company.
Eumetsat member states have given final approval to a new geostationary weather satellite system that will ensure improved weather and climate forecasting for the next three decades. Belgium, the lone holdout, agreed last month to release funds for the space segment of the €2.8 billion ($3.8 billion) project, permitting full-scale development to proceed. Work has been underway since late January, when Portugal, Spain and Switzerland gave their formal OK (AW&ST Feb. 21, 14).
It will take the U.K. several years to cure the ills that currently afflict the Eurofighter Typhoon program, and auditors worry that further cost increases lie ahead. Among the concerns highlighted by the National Audit Office (NAO) are shortfalls in training and spares supply that are hampering day-to-day operations, as well as slow progress in fielding essential air-to-ground capabilities.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Satellite operators who have faced an uphill battle trying to sell space on their platforms to government customers believe the new wave of congressional budget-cutters may give their hosted-payload business a boost—once the dust settles. While the idea of piggybacking specialized government and commercial applications hardware on satcom and other commercial spacecraft is not new, governments are only beginning to overcome their inertia and adopt the approach as a way to stretch their space budgets.
Japan Airlines, which at one time had the largest fleet of Boeing 747s, retired the aircraft entirely as of March 1. Symbolizing JAL’s downsizing amid bankruptcy protection, the 747 will be replaced with smaller aircraft.
The helicopter industry here is in an uproar over a government move to limit rotorcraft activities in urban areas. The ministry of ecology, energy and sustainable development published an order on Oct. 20, 2010, that severely restricts helicopter use in densely populated areas, except for emergency services or government/military applications. Densely populated areas are defined as any conglomeration greater than 3.6 km (2.2 mi.) wide or any point within 0.5 nm of these areas, or for coastal regions, 0.25 nm distant.
Avic Electromechanical Systems and Hamilton Sundstrand will begin developing a facility in Xi’an, China, in June following formation of a joint company on March 3. It will supply the electrical system for the Comac C919 airliner and support programs outside of China. All foreign suppliers for the C919 are required to work in China; most use Chinese partners, usually Avic subsidiaries.
Tracking aircraft from space using payloads hosted on Iridium’s planned constellation of 66 next-generation communication satellites is a concept that is rapidly gaining momentum. Rather than waiting for a government customer to define the requirement and develop the payload, Iridium is pulling together a venture that will fund and operate a global aircraft monitoring service, selling the data to the FAA and air navigation service providers.
Struggling Dubai Aerospace’s aircraft leasing business has further reduced its order book, shedding 18 Airbus A350-900 and 18 A320 commitments and relinquishing many of its Boeing orders. DAE signed a $27 billion contract in 2007 for 200 aircraft from each of the two manufacturers. The cancellations represented the bulk of the order book adjustment for Airbus, which also saw one A330-200 cancellation with an order intake of eight. Airbus delivered a total of 73 aircraft in January and February.
Brazil’s TAM Linhas Aereas is continuing fleet expansion plans, with a $3.2 billion order for Airbus single-aisles and Boeing widebodies. Brazil is gearing up for the soccer World Cup and Olympic Games in the coming years, which is driving demand for capacity. TAM has committed to taking 32 A320 single-aisles, 22 in the NEO (New Engine Option) configuration. TAM also has ordered two additional 777-300ERs and signed purchase rights for two more widebodies.
Fractional pioneer NetJets is reversing course on its large-cabin fleet with its March 1 order for up to 120 Bombardier Global business jets. The order, valued at as much as $6.7 billion, is the largest Bombardier has ever received for its business jets. It also is the first such deal between NetJets and Bombardier, which operates a competitor fractional company, Flexjet.
Fortune has graced us with time,” says Col. David Hlatky, commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., which is the F-35 multinational pilot and maintenance schoolhouse.
Three-time space shuttle astronaut John “Mike” Lounge died of cancer on March 1. He was 64. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate who flew 99 combat missions in Vietnam as an F-4J Phantom radar intercept officer, Lounge joined NASA in 1978 as lead engineer for shuttle-launched satellites. Selected as an astronaut candidate in 1980, Lounge flew on the STS-51I, STS-26 and STS-35 missions.
An air traffic controller demonstrates Saab’s remote tower system, which allows a distant airport to be monitored via a live feed displayed on a wrap-around screen. Swedish air navigation service provider LFV is working toward the first operational deployment of the Saab system in Sundsvall. This is just one of the many new technologies that are emerging to transform all facets of air traffic management and discussed in a special report on pp. 60-74. Saab photo.
It is increasingly clear that Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast represents the future of air traffic management. But while many countries are embracing ADS-B, nobody is moving as quickly as Australia to turn its promise into reality. Airservices Australia has already established itself as a leader in satellite-based surveillance by introducing the world’s most extensive ADS-B network. Now it is looking to expand the technology into new areas to create a truly national system.
Yosi Albagli (see photo) has been named executive vice president and president of Orbit Communication Systems ’ Satellite Communications business unit in Netanya, Israel. He was president of VocalTec Communications and CEO of CTWare, both Israeli telecommunications companies.
Amy Butler (Eglin AFB and Fort Walton Beach, Fla.)
The U.S. Air Force is putting plans to procure advanced directed-energy weapons on hold and focusing instead on delivering planned air-launched munitions. And, though the focus is on executing current projects, some senior service leaders worry that forthcoming requirements will outstrip available funding, jeopardizing the ability to keep pace with proliferating threats—such as advanced aircraft and deeply buried targets.
The FAA loses a round in court over a long-running squabble about the 2006 expansion of drug and alcohol testing requirements to subcontractors “at any tier.” The Court of Appeals here has given the agency until March 10 to explain why it should not have to produce an analysis of the costs and benefits of the regs, which could reach down into subcontractors of subcontractors, many of which might only be nominally involved in aviation.
Holly Harvard, manager of customer service at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, has received the Cincinnati Convention & Visitors Bureau ’s Pinnacle Award. She was honored for more than 20 years of improving the passenger experience at the airport.
The Pentagon is generating plans for a no-fly zone over Libya—plans that could produce the first combat assignment for the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. Whether the idea progresses beyond this stage is subject to United Nations and NATO support, the scale of Libyan military action against its civilians, and the reluctance of the U.S. to take on stewardship of military operations in yet another Muslim country. Nonetheless, the idea does show how the U.S. Air Force confronts the task of taking down a large air defense system.
Veda Shook, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), has been seated on the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO . In parallel with a career as a flight attendant, Shook was union president at Alaska Airlines and an AFA international vice president.
Europe’s space policy has come a long way from where it started. Initially it was an ill-fated strategy, handicapped by lack of political support and funding, though there were some early believers in France’s nascent efforts to develop a capable launcher that would ensure independent space access while being mindful of U.S.-imposed constraints. Germany was an avid and faithful partner, and several other European governments endorsed and ratified the proposed cross-border effort that gave birth to the Ariane launcher developed by CNES French space agency.
After the final space shuttle flight later this year, NASA managers probably will continue the practice started by President Dwight D. Eisenhower of choosing military pilots as at least some of its astronauts. Early commercial crew vehicles are likely to be capsules, and most U.S. astronaut time will be spent on the International Space Station, so there will be little call for the piloting skills required to fly an orbiter back through the atmosphere to a runway.
Airlines should be able to improve overall safety levels by more effectively addressing loss-of-control procedures in training and operational venues. Loss of control has replaced controlled flight into terrain as the No. 1 cause of accidents in recent years. Overall, the airline industry has reached a plateau for safety performance improvement in the past decade. But the Flight Safety Foundation’s European Aviation Safety Seminar in Istanbul concluded that this must change.
The U.S. Transportation Department is concerned about a program that prevents third parties from seeing the registration numbers of aircraft operating in the U.S. ATC system.
