Milestones: Dassault Falcon Jet is scheduled to deliver three Falcon 7X business jets to private operators in China in March, doubling the number of Falcons in that country . . . . . Pilatus Aircraft delivered 100 PC-12NG single-engine turboprops in 2009, a record for the Swiss planemaker . . . . . The 100th Bombardier Challenger 605 entered service in February; more than 800 aircraft in the 600 series of business jets have been delivered by the Montreal manufacturer . . . . .
The smallest NASA stimulus-package award for commercial spaceflight development in dollar terms may have the greatest potential for profits in the long run.
The U.K. Defense Ministry has awarded the VT Group a £35-million contract to support the RAF Tucano trainer aircraft for at least the next four years, pending the purchase of a successor. The contract is intended to guarantee the availability of the Tucano fleet to provide 12,000-14,500 flight training hours a year.
President Barack Obama says his “commitment to NASA is unwavering.” But in his first public comments on the subject, he makes clear that change must come at the space agency still reeling from his decision to cancel the Constellation program and hand transport to low Earth orbit over to the private sector. “If we want to get to Mars, if we want to get beyond that, what kinds of technologies are going to be necessary?” he asked space station and shuttle crews during a student call-in Feb. 17.
Denise E. Harvill has been appointed vice president-Western U.S. sales and James Hartnett vice president-alliance sales for the Americas for Etihad Airways , based in Chicago. Harvill was federal security director at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Hartnett was director of worldwide alliances and strategic partnerships for United Airlines.
Italian air force Gen. Giuseppe Bernardis (see photo) has been promoted to chief of staff from deputy chief of staff. He succeeds Gen. Daniele Tei, who has retired.
In an unusual move to bolster the prospects of its own narrow-body ambitions, Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) is proposing to ease market access to Western aircraft.
With the first flight of a fourth aircraft, Boeing has completed its transport fleet for 787 fuselage assemblies. The flight last week returned tools used to transport the Section 41 nose assembly that Spirit AeroSystems makes in Wichita, Kan., back home from Boeing’s final assembly line in Everett, Wash.
Owen Busch, who is vice president-supply and business development of the Michigan-based Avfuel Corp., has been named chairman of the Environmental Committee of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Air Transportation Assn.
Sierra Nevada Corp. has $20 million in federal stimulus funds for its Dream Chaser commercial crew launch vehicle, but the company has already applied many times that amount in NASA funding for its high-stakes effort to build a private route to space for the agency’s astronauts.
Bill Koch has become CEO of Wayfarer Aviation , Rye Brook, N.Y. He was president/CEO of Imaginaire Private Jet Charter. Capt. Dan Walsh has been named chief pilot for Wayfarer in Weymouth, Mass. He flew for major and regional airlines and in corporate aviation.
Finnair, with its passenger arm already heavily focused on Asia, is exploring expansion of its cargo services in the market (see p. 43). The initiative, unveiled last week , would call for a ramp-up of flights before summer. Finnair Cargo currently relies on belly cargo to meet Asian demand, although in the past it has worked with partners such as Cargolux to serve the market. Finnair’s fleet includes the Airbus A330-300 (see photo), Boeing 757 and MD-11. By early April, Finnair Cargo plans to fully define its Asian strategy, according to Managing Director Antero J.
A difficult market environment, disappointment in the land systems sector and the cost of embarrassing admissions on two investigations pushed BAE Systems into the red for 2009, but only just. The company recorded a £45-million ($69-million) loss for the financial year, compared to a £1.7-billion profit in 2008. Sales were up 21% to £22.4 billion, with the order book at a record £46.9 billion. The company booked impairment charges of £973 million for the year, compared to £177 million for the previous 12-month period.
The federal government and 10 former Transportation secretaries are supporting US Airways in its appeal of a court decision that let New Mexico forbid the carrier from selling booze onboard flights that arrive in or depart from the state —and perhaps while flying over it. In friend-of-the-court briefs, they argue that alcohol sales are an airline “service” that states cannot regulate because Congress gave the FAA the sole authority over airline safety.
Competition safeguards proposed by U.S. regulators are unlikely to prevent American Airlines and British Airways from finally sealing the transatlantic partnership they have been pursuing for more than a decade. While the two airlines still need further approvals, their biggest obstacle appears to be behind them.
The new seven-window cupola at the Earth-facing center of the International Space Station gives the orbiting outpost greater flexibility for proximity operations under its extended lifetime, affording crew members an alternative to the video views they have been using to operate the station’s robotic arm and monitor approaching vehicles.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) is poised to receive FAA approval to start tests of the stealthy, turbofan-powered unmanned Predator C Avenger at the Edwards AFB test range in California. The V-tailed, swept-wing vehicle first flew on Apr.
Engineers at NASA and United Launch Alliance are studying whether it will be possible to fly suborbital scientific payloads piggyback on an Atlas V launch vehicle. They would ride in a side-mounted carrier that mimics the shape and weight of one of the rocket’s optional solid-rocket boosters. The Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center is working with ULA and Special Aerospace Services, a small engineering-support company in Boulder, Colo., to move the External Payload Carrier (XLC) concept into the preliminary design phase.
How can air and space power contribute to the U.K.’s future defense and security needs in our uncertain and unpredictable world? I would offer three propositions.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace saw 2009 revenues lowered 3% to S$1.875 billion ($1.331 billion). Earnings before interest and tax were up 15% to S$199.8 million. President Tay Kok Khiang said 2009 revenues were actually comparable to the previous year’s when including the fact that ST Aero delivered two high-value conversions of Boeing 757-200 s in 2008 . A reduction in MD-11 freighter conversion deliveries also hurt last year’s profits, although they were partially offset by more 757 conversions.
Eight German air force personnel have completed training in Israel to operate the Heron unmanned aerial vehicle due for deployment to Afghanistan next month.
Rob Wilson, the president of Honeywell Aerospace’s Business and General Aviation division and chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. (GAMA), had a somber task as he unveiled GAMA’s annual review and outlook last week in Washington. Worldwide shipments of piston aircraft plunged 55% in 2009 to 965, while business jet deliveries fell 34% to 870, and turboprop deliveries declined 18% to 441. And with credit still hard to come by, a whopping 65% of business jet purchases are now in cash.
Continued strong demand for satellite leases and services is prompting Eutelsat to raise its outlook for the 2009-10 fiscal year. In first-half results presented on Feb. 18, Eutelsat said performance suggests revenues will reach €1.02 billion ($1.4 billion) for the full year, compared to the €1 billion previously predicted. Similarly, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) are expected to top €795 million versus the forecast €780 million .
“A massive step forward from where we were two years ago” is how one BAE Systems executive describes the events which culminated Oct. 21, 2009, with the first flight of the Mantis medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) demonstrator. The Spiral 1 flight-test program from the outset examined the system capability, rather than just initial aerodynamic and air vehicle performance. Mission demonstrations were undertaken from the Mantis’s second test flight, with the results informing the proposed Spiral 2 development and beyond.
The Navy is planning to demonstrate an armed, sensor-equipped, carrier-based unmanned combat aircraft system (UCAS) by 2018, as a follow-on to carrier-suitability and autonomous aerial-refueling demonstrations planned for completion in 2013. A request for information (RFI) will be released this year, said Rear Adm. William Shannon, program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, last week at Aviation Week’s Defense Technology and Requirements conference in Washington.
