United Airlines and Continental Airlines have unveiled an impressive merger agreement. Their proposal to become a 10-hub giant, with combined frequent-flier programs gathering as many as 91 million travelers, is a stunning signal of the continuing U.S. aerospace supremacy extending from the biggest airline in the world to the multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
Jay L. Johnson has become chairman/CEO of General Dynamics , Falls Church, Va. He had been president/CEO and succeeds Nicholas D. Chabraja, who has retired but will remain a director.
BAE Systems has picked up a £150-million ($219-million), five-year Eurofighter Typhoon avionics support contract from three of the four partner nations. The arrangement provides an incentive for BAE to deal with problems more quickly and reduce repairs. Securing savings in through-life support costs was a key element of the Tranche 3A production agreement.
Scott Knote and Richard DaPrato have been appointed federal market account directors for the SRC . Knote was a senior associate for Booz Allen Hamilton. DaPrato was a principal in business development at The Greentree Group.
European manufacturers last week were trying to overturn the selection by Romania of second-hand Lockheed Martin F-16C Block 25 aircraft as replacements for the air force’s obsolete MiG-21Bis fighters. The acquisition of the 24 F-16s has yet to receive parliamentary approval, and rivals Eurofighter and Saab have been briefing the senators on the Typhoon and Gripen, respectively. The F-16 deal is now estimated to cost $1.3 billion. Saab is proposing 24 new Gripen C/Ds, and Eurofighter is offering 24 Typhoon Tranche 1 aircraft, for the same amount.
I find Embry-Riddle Dean Tim Brady’s comments about flight instructors to be self-serving (AW&ST March 15, p. 8). In 1984, when I graduated from ERAU, building lots of time as a flight instructor was the only civilian entry point to a flying career, and one they soundly supported. There were few, if any, other jobs for a 250-hr. commercial instrument-rated pilot with a CFI license. Back then, the mind-set was you may learn procedures, but you cannot develop the judgment without the hours and repetition.
The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is pushing for Congress to provide “sustainment” funding for the solid rocket motor and military satellite communications industrial bases, lawmakers unveiled May 13 in their Fiscal 2011 legislative markup. At the same time, the panel recommends a “significant” reduction to the Defense Department side of the recently split-up National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) program.
European air traffic management authorities late last week were in talks on adopting a version of the FAA policy on operating airliners in the vicinity of volcanic ash clouds, which should ease airspace restrictions that have hobbled air travel in Europe since the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano on April 14. The European Aviation Safety Agency has been holding talks with the FAA, Transport Canada, operators and other national authorities “to achieve a breakthrough” in easing air traffic operations, an EASA official says.
De-hubbed U.S. airports are using every trick in the book to restore air service. More than a few are on the rebound. Common keys to a turnaround are strong relationships with airline personnel, bolstered by community support. To persuade a reluctant carrier to take a risk on a route, financial incentives and marketing deals are being offered. But by far, the biggest draw to new service remains a route’s potential for reliable profits, airport officials say.
Emirates is looking to further grow its profitability this year, having managed to close the last financial year $964 million in the black despite a deep global recession that hit its home market of Dubai particularly severely.
Opportunity, the Mars Exploration Rover that spent two years probing a small crater named Victoria, is beginning a multi-year journey to a much larger feature visible on the horizon at left in this April 28 image collected with the rover’s panchromatic camera. Known as Endeavour, the crater is 13 mi. in diameter. That is 25 times larger than Victoria. The route is not as rough as it appears—the dunes in the foreground are only 8 in. tall—but rover-drivers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are not taking any chances traversing the 8 mi.
Airbus is delaying its key A320 reengining decision until year-end as it rescopes its new engine option (NEO) initiative into a broader strategy aimed at repelling emerging competition from Bombardier’s CSeries and other new-generation airliners, as well as gaining a lead over Boeing’s 737.
The organizational framework for planning and launching U.S. cyber-attacks and defending military networks now appears to be complete, but many unknowns remain about conducting and approving them. These murky details have hindered the operational use of cyber-weapons for 20 years, beginning with planning for the war with Iraq in 1990.
Thales’s financial woes (see p. 11) could be worsened by a €630-million ($794-million) penalty handed down by an international arbitration court for breach of terms in a 1991 contract for the supply of six frigates to Taiwan by Thomson-CSF, Thales’s predecessor company. Thales would have to pay 27.5%. The company says it will appeal.
The drive for reform that won U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recognition as Aviation Week’s 2009 Person of the Year for his impact on aerospace is becoming a crusade to make reshaping the Pentagon a national imperative (see p. 25). Most recently, he warned of the U.S.’s “tendency to disarm in the wake of major wars,” reminding everyone that politicians will desert defense for other priorities once the hot war is over. He cautioned that fiscal realities will blunt the military’s “tooth” if the Pentagon cannot trim its “tail.”
EADS has joined with Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research to provide cyber-security training in the United Arab Emirates. The alliance, which also includes UAE-based C4 Advanced Solutions, teaches such skills as protecting computer Internet accounts and files. The partners hope to create a Cyber Operations Center of Excellence focused on keeping brick and mortar infrastructures safe, as well as critical information infrastructures.
The FAA on May 13 proposed a $325,000 civil penalty against Continental Airlines for allegedly operating a Boeing 737 at least 12 times with an improperly maintained right main landing gear. An abnormal gear indication first appeared on a Dec. 20, 2008, flight. The FAA alleges the airline’s maintenance staff did not make the required notation in records about the abnormal gear indication.
Airbus is talking to CFM International about a modified variant of the “BE” CFM56 engine upgrade for the A320, which is aimed at maintenance cost savings after failing to provide any clear-cut fuel saving benefit. Although CFMI says tests of the -7BE variant in development for the Boeing 737 indicate 1.6% savings in fuel consumption, Andrew Shankland, Airbus vice president for marketing, says: “. . .
U.S. lawmakers warn a looming aircraft shortfall will strip aircraft from the decks of several aircraft carriers. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), the top Republican on the Armed Services subcommittee on seapower and expeditionary forces, says that although the JSF program is in a breach of Nunn-McCurdy cost-overrun limits, there is hope for a marked improvement in the program. But even if it does meet schedule and cost, “the shortfall . . . is at best more than two carriers worth of aircraft,” Akin says.
Concerns over emissions calculations that prompted business aviation interests to threaten to withdraw from the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) seem to be ebbing. At a May meeting of Eurocontrol’s Provisional Commission, all members save Ukraine agreed to develop a tool for calculating emissions based on flight plan data that also provides verification.
Budget pressures in Russia are seriously hampering efforts to revive the country’s airport infrastructure and are damaging the economic potential of terminal upgrades that have benefited from outside capital. The industry finds itself in a Catch 22 situation—government coffers are all but empty; private operators and regional authorities would like to develop the infrastructure, but federal laws bar the privatization of airports, so the main source of maintaining the runways, taxiways, aprons and lighting system is the state budget.
Retirements of legacy aircraft, which were maintained at Air Force depots, are inching the service closer to breaching a law that requires at least 50% of repair work be handled in government facilities. Adherence to the so-called 50/50 rule is closely watched by lawmakers, who want to protect maintenance jobs in their districts. The Air Force waived observance of the law under Secretary F. Whitten Peters after two of its depots fell victim to base closure plans. Though close to a breach, Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen.
House Defense authorizers are undeterred by a threat from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to veto their Fiscal 2011 defense legislation if they opt to fund the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 engine for the stealthy F-35 fighter. In their markup last week, lawmakers set aside $485 million for the alternate engine; Pratt & Whitney is building its F135 as the primary propulsion system. Gates “stands ready to recommend a veto should the final legislation contain any money for the extra engine,” says Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.
Philippe Lugherini (see photo) has been named CEO of France-based Cilas , a subsidiary of EADS and Areva. He also will be CEO of EADS Astrium Space Transportation subsidiary Nucletudes.
With British Airways cabin crew workers slated to halt work this week as part of renewed strike action, the airline says it expects to operate more than 60% of long-haul flights and in excess of half its short-haul schedule. As it did in March, when the Unite union carried out two work stoppages, BA has struck agreements with other airlines to transport its passengers and lease their aircraft. For the May 18-22 strike period, BA plans to lease eight aircraft to operate flights that otherwise would be canceled.
