The bondholders of Mexican telecom satellite operator Satmex have rejected an offer from EchoStar to buy the company. EchoStar on Feb. 26 offered to acquire Satmex for $374 million in cash, subject to the purchase of all oustanding senior secured notes. However, a group of noteholders refused to back the deal (AW&ST Mar. 8, p. 38). Subequent efforts to negotiate a settlement proved fruitless. Satmex is in precarious financial health and has been unable to find a new satellite.
The Canadian government is coming closer to finalizing its strategy to replace its DHC-5 Buffalo search-and-rescue aircraft. The Buffalos will reach the end of their service lives in 2015. This month, the National Research Council submitted a government-requested independent review into the fixed-wing search-and-rescue statement of requirements.
The fourth, and final, Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered dedicated flight-test Boeing 787 joined the program on Mar. 14 with a 3-hr., 6-min. flight from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., to Boeing Field in Seattle.
The World Trade Organization is about to issue the final report on the U.S. case against the EU over alleged subsidies to Airbus. The timing of the case has become a big issue. When the U.S. filed its case, the EU immediately filed a counterclaim, challenging alleged support Boeing receives from Washington. EADS’s Louis Gallois is “disappointed” that the so-called U.S. offensive case has moved so much faster, while the EU claim has dragged on. The Europeans say it is distorting public discussion. A case in point: on Mar.
Starting Sept. 1, Emirates plans to offer five-times-weekly nonstop service from its Dubai base to Dakar, Senegal—Emirates’ 19th African destination, and the third addition, following Durban, South Africa, and Luanda, Angola, in less than a year. The airline plans to operate Airbus A340-300s on the new route, and configure the aircraft to seat 267: 12 in first class, 42 in business class and 213 in economy. According to Emirates, the Dubai hub re-exports African products to the Mediterranean region.
Spring Airlines is intent on growth and becoming a no-frills competitor to China’s lumbering state carriers, despite deferring the share offering that would fund the expansion. Spring says it needs to raise about 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) to buy 50 aircraft, half of a fleet that it plans to operate by 2015. But the initial public offering of shares scheduled for this year will now not happen until next year or even 2012.
The downturn in passenger and cargo traffic due to the global recession has had a dramatic impact on commercial aviation in India, whose airlines have lost more than $2 billion, shelved expansion plans and saw domestic passenger traffic fall by 10% in 2008-09. In addition, several of the 10 licenses held by cargo and regional passenger carriers have lapsed in the last two years.
Singapore Airlines renewed its maintenance, repair and overhaul services contract with SIA Engineering Co. for another three years. The contract, with an optional two-year extension, becomes effective Apr. 1. The comprehensive agreement includes line and airframe maintenance, component overhaul as well as fleet management support services. If the airline exercises all five years, the value of the contract is S$2.2 billion ($1.6 million) in labor revenue.
Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) officials say the U.S. Defense Department’s rapid spacecraft launch and development initiative is moving into a vital operations and production phase, and they reject the fears expressed by some in the space industry that the effort is stuttering for want of support on Capitol Hill.
The FAA on Mar. 17 immediately adopted an airworthiness directive (AD) that requires installation of new software in the left, center and right autopilot flight director computers on Boeing 777-200/-200ER/-300/-300ER/ and 777F-series aircraft. Software installation will be required within 90 days after the directive’s Apr. 1 effective date. The AD is aimed at preventing the inadvertent engagement of the autopilot during takeoff roll, which could result in rejected takeoff at rotation speed and increase the risk of a runway overrun.
You quote former shuttle astronaut Charlie Precourt, who is now vice president and general manager of ATK, as saying its reusable solid rocket motors “have proven themselves to be the safest and most reliable human-rated launch system” (AW&ST Mar. 1, p. 18).
Security officials from the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. have forged a joint declaration to fight terrorism in all forms, particularly in civil aviation. The declaration was signed in Tokyo, during the visit of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano there as part of the department’s continuing effort to enhance security standards worldwide following the Dec. 25, 2009, attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight on approach to Detroit. The U.S. has already forged agreements with Brazil, Mexico and the European Union, among others.
As the cargo market starts to recover from an historic economic downturn, operators are confronted with a growing list of equipment options with which to optimize networks.
New Delhi and Moscow are moving forward on the procurement of a new aircraft carrier and additional carrier-based fighters following the visit to India of a top-level Russian delegation. However, the delegation could not lock in agreement on other key defense projects.
European and Russian planners for the upcoming Phobos-Grunt (Phobos Soil) sample-return mission to the tiny Martian moon have some new high-resolution imagery of possible landing sites. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter is using its unique orbit around the Red Planet to capture imagery of the proposed sites, including this one from March 7. Because of the orbiter’s unusually close passes to Phobos (AW&ST March 8, p. 16), the resolution here is 4.4 meters (14.4 ft.) per pixel. Phobos, a potato-shaped object measuring 27-by-22-by-19 km.
Boeing is poised to follow Airbus’s lead in reversing production curtailments made last year, signaling increased confidence in the strength of demand in 2011 and beyond.
The Wings Club, which is dedicated to preserving the history and traditions of aviation, will honor the Tuskegee Airmen at a ceremony in New York this week. Patt Terrelongue, president of the Claude B. Govan Tristate Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, and six select decorated members of the Tuskegee Airmen in attendance, will receive the Outstanding Aviator Award created this year by the club in association with the International Association of Women in Aviation.
Potential providers of commercial crew transportation to the ISS believe they can begin test flights three years after getting a green light from government. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has long touted that timetable for its unflown Falcon 9/Dragon stack, arguing that it is designing the vehicles from the outset to meet NASA human-spaceflight standards.
Away from the funding furor in Washington over the F136 alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, the General Electric/Rolls-Royce development team is pushing ahead with full performance tests after running the production-configuration engine in maximum afterburner for the first time.
EADS and Norsk Titanium Components (NTiC) will cooperate on development of near net-shape plasma-based layer manufacturing technologies for aerospace, defense and space applications. The agreement was signed in Oslo this month. NTiC-developed technology enables production of high-quality titanium components at a competitive cost by transforming titanium feedstock into advanced components which are up to 90% finished.
A year ago, the commercial aviation engine community was unsure whether Airbus or Boeing would commit to selecting replacement engines for the A320 and 737 families before 2011-12. Then the date was pushed forward to sometime this year. The industry was looking for first announcements at July’s Farnborough air show. Now it looks like Airbus will act in April.
Lockheed Martin received a U.S. Navy sole-source indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity contract for Symphony radio-controlled improvised explosive device defeat jammer systems. The contract, with an initial task order valued at $40.8 million, is to run through September 2014 and lists a potential value of $940 million. The systems are approved for sale through the Foreign Military Sales program to allied, coalition and partner nations for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Aerojet engineers will begin testing their version of the Soviet-era NK-33 oxygen/kerosene rocket engine as early as April at Stennis Space Center, Miss., following hot-fire tests of the Russian hardware here earlier this month.
European political leaders continue their verbal assault about U.S. protectionism in response to the decision by Northrop Grumman/EADS not to bid on the KC-X tanker. “This is no way to act,” sniffed French President Nicolas Sarkozy. EADS, however, is not lobbing rhetorical hand grenades but is trying to see if the prospects of Boeing as a sole source will prompt the Pentagon to shift gears. “Are they ready to change elements to help competition or not?” EADS chief Louis Gallois wondered aloud. Message received, the Pentagon indicated late last week.
Unmanned aircraft are poised to expand into a new market following the completion of cargo resupply demonstrations for the U.S. Marine Corps by Boeing with the A160T Hummingbird and Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace with the K-Max. The unmanned helicopters demonstrated the ability to resupply a forward base, to meet the pressing need to get convoys off dangerous roads in Afghanistan. The teams are now awaiting a request for proposals to deploy the UAVs operationally, perhaps by year-end.
