Pentagon belief in Joint Strike Fighter program cost estimates could be wearing thin, as delays to flight testing keep the program from proving whether it can break the mold of previous fighter development efforts and stay on budget.
Rolls-Royce will build a wide-chord fan blade factory alongside the company’s Trent engine test and assembly facility in Singapore, further expanding the major investment it has made in the region in the past decade. Total investment is expected to be S$700 million ($485.5 million) and the facility is expected to add 500 jobs to the 2,000 people Rolls already employs in Singapore.
Pilot training, hiring and flight-duty time standards will get a massive overhaul under a proposed law that also mandates steps the FAA and airlines must take to maintain safe flight crews and operations.
The South African air force appears to be sticking to its original tactical reconnaissance requirement, following its selection of a Thales pod for the service’s Gripen combat aircraft. Thales is now under contract with the air force, having fended off competition from Goodrich and Zeiss. The air force released a request for information in mid-2008 to identify a successor to its Vinten Vicon wet-film system.
Most major regions saw year-on-year declines in international air traffic ease slightly during June, the International Air Transport Assn. says. But this improvement versus the May declines comes at the expense of huge revenue drops. Overall, international traffic was down 7.2% in June compared to the same period in 2008. In May, traffic dropped 9.3% year-on-year. The June capacity cut of 4.3% did not keep pace with the traffic decline, resulting in international load factor falling 2.3 points to 75.3%. Revenues dropped 25-30%, IATA estimates.
The plain truth is that it is increasingly difficult to assess either the depth of the airline industry downturn or the magnitude of the collateral damage. Added to these unknowns, and creating serious discomfort, are the contradictory data provided by usually reliable sources.
The arrival of a Chinese-built electric-powered aircraft at the Experimental Aircraft Assn.’s AirVenture 2009 has sharpened the focus on making the technology commercially viable.
Saft predicts revenues will decline 7-10% this year, after posting sales of €287.4 million ($405.2 million) in the first half, down 6.2% from the year before. However, the battery maker maintains its forecast of 18% earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin, about the level reported in the first half. Net income was down 4% to €21.6 million.
Amid the swirl of budget turmoil and purple rhetoric, the debate continues in Washington regarding F-22 production and just who will operate the Raptors if operational numbers are cut. But Air Force officials both here and in Alaska expect their Air National Guard (ANG) and Air Force Reserve units will take delivery of the world’s only operational stealth fighter as projected.
The first C-17 to carry airline markings has been rolled out at Boeing’s Long Beach, Calif., facility, where final preparations are underway for the delivery of two of the aircraft to Qatar. The aircraft is painted in the livery of Qatar Amiri Flight, which is identical to that of the country’s national airline, Qatar Airways. QA-2 (shown) is the second of a pair due to be delivered, one each this month and next. The first, QA-1, is painted in the standard low-visibility military paint scheme of other C-17s and is destined for the Qatar Emiri Air Force.
Protecting satellites in orbit and international cooperation appear to be among the key issues under consideration in space policy reviews underway at the Pentagon and White House.
Departing Royal Jordanian CEO Samer Majali is leaving the airline by reversing last year’s first half loss of 4 million Jordanian dinars (JD) ($5.6 million) and delivering a JD7.7-million net profit. Royal Jordanian has seen revenue fall to JD274 million from JD314 million in the first half as the airline suffered from declines affecting the entire air transport sector. Majali noted that it was a 19.6% decrease in operational costs during the first six months that allowed the airline to still deliver a profit.
Embraer has broken ground for a plant in Evora, Portugal, that will produce complex composite aerostructures and components, mainly for its new Legacy 450/500 business jets. The €48-million 15,000-sq.-meter facility, set to open by late 2011, will be the corporate center for structural components and the first occupant of the industrial park, which is set up to attract aerospace contractors. Part of the draw is the availability of Portuguese government funding.
Middle East and African carriers have boosted Boeing’s 777 program with a combined 12 orders. Addis Ababa-based Ethiopian Airlines, the first African carrier to opt for the 787 with a request for 10, placed an order for five 777-200LRs with a list-price value of $1.3 billion. The deal also is a boost for General Electric’s GE90-115B engine program. The carrier has been a longtime Boeing customer, buying every aircraft (except the 747) since the 707.
If things go well for EADS in the next few months, the company will have renegotiated the A400M contract so it stops dragging down earnings, figured out how to bring A380 production costs on plan, and convinced French securities regulators to ignore a recommendation to fine the company and some of its executives for perceived market manipulation. It’s a big “if.”
The European Union is sending fire-fighting aircraft to Corsica and Sardinia this summer under a pilot project aimed at stepping up cooperation in combating forest fires. The two Canadair CL-215 twin turboprops are the first units in the EU’s European Forest Fire Tactical Reserve, established last year under a €3.5-million initiative. France oversees the project, but coordination is the task of the European Commission’s Monitoring and Information Center, which handles disaster relief. The undertaking could serve as a basis for a permanent fire-fighting unit.
Six months—that’s the honeymoon period Thales’s new chairman and CEO, Luc Vigneron, is giving himself to figure out how to turn around the big defense contractor, which last week reported the worst first-half result since it was formed out of Thomson a decade ago.
Stronger than expected defense orders and nonaerospace activities are helping Finmeccanica maintain growth targets despite setbacks in commercial aircraft and helicopter markets.
The French air accident investigation bureau (BEA) says Airbus has offered to help pay for a third phase of search operations for wreckage of Air France Flight 447 should that become necessary. Investigators are still looking for the wreckage and the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of the Airbus A330-200 that crashed June 1 in the Atlantic. Search operations are in their second phase, which is expected to run until mid-August. BEA says it will then decide whether to continue the search.
Air Canada, in a series of financing agreements and other transactions with lenders and key stakeholders, has raised C$1billion ($922 million) of new liquidity. President and CEO Calin Rovinescu says the additional financing will provide “breathing room toward achieving sustainable profitability.”
Boeing last week added 13 737-800s orders to its backlog from Panama’s COPA Airlines. The deal includes converted options from previous orders and raises the carrier’s total orders to 27 737-700/800s. Boeing now has 75 orders for 737 for the year; the company’s net for the year is now 17 aircraft.
Pratt & Whitney Canada has opened a regional service center at Lethbridge, Alberta. The facility, co-located with the manufacturer’s PT6A main production plant, has advanced tooling and component repair capabilities. It performs light and heavy maintenance on PT6, JT15D, PW100 and PW500s, and light maintenance for the PW600 engine series.
