In another sign of these troubled economic times, JetBlue Airways on Feb. 17 became at least the second carrier—and the first in the U.S. market—to offer refunds to customers if they book tickets and lose full-time jobs before taking the flights. At least one European carrier—Flybe—initiated a similar offer in January and extended it for bookings through February. JetBlue made its offer good for bookings through June 1.
Kunming Airlines, a new subsidiary of Shenzhen Airlines, will begin flying from its base in the Chinese province of Yunnan on Feb. 15, only a month after plans for the carrier were announced. The newly launched airline is raising its sights beyond domestic operations, with plans to fly to the Southeast Asian countries adjacent to the southern province. The initial fleet is composed of two Boeing 737-700s and one 737-800 but the carrier plans to increase fleet size to 10 aircraft this year and to 30 within three years.
Douglas Barrie (Bangalore, India ), Neelam Mathews (Bangalore, India)
The Indian defense ministry and EADS are negotiating codevelopment of an active electronically scanned array radar. The discussions are part of a wider effort—including re-engining—to revamp India’s Light Combat Aircraft.
The new director of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is likely to come under pressure to change funding style. Critics say the organization has become too focused on short-term results under departing chief Tony Tether. Darpa’s longest-serving director, Tether had expected to stay in place until replaced, but last week was asked by the Obama administration to leave by Feb. 20, before a successor has been named.
I read with consternation the commentary by Pedro Rustan (AW&ST Jan. 12, p. 62) urging a refocus for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), whose mission is: “Maintain the technological superiority of the U.S. military.”
Japanese space agency JAXA says Ibuki, the carbon-dioxide and methane monitoring satellite it launched in January as Gosat, has acquired its first Earth image from its Fourier Transform Spectrometer. The full checkout is expected to take three months.
AirAsia X, the long-haul affiliate of Malaysian carrier AirAsia, is looking for up to five more Airbus A340-300s to support growth while awaiting the 25 A350s or Boeing 787s it is planning to order. The airline needs the aircraft to extend its network to such destinations as Germany, France and New Zealand.
Even before the financial crisis, the defense budget was “running out of gas,” according to Andrew Krepinevich, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Freely admitting his budget predictions are “merely informed speculation” until the real numbers are released in April, he expects near-term defense spending will not be cut back drastically. But “further out, things really do become grim,” he adds.
Textron Chief Financial Officer Ted French was ousted after investor concerns about the company’s liquidity pushed its stock price down more than 20% in a single day to an 18-year low. French also was chairman/CEO of Textron Financial Corp., the troubled commercial finance subsidiary. Losses at Textron Financial and slumping demand at Cessna Aircraft have offset strong performances at the Bell Helicopter and defense/intelligence units.
Eutelsat has boosted its full-year revenue outlook for 2008-09 to €910 million ($1.174 billion), from €900 million earlier, on the strength of a strong first half. Revenues grew 7.9% to €463.5 million; earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization climbed 7.4%, to €375.1 million; and net cash flow rose 24.1%.
Douglas Barrie (Bangalore), Neelam Mathews (Bangalore)
India and France are completing an agreement covering the co-development and production of MBDA’s Short-Range Surface-to-Air Missile air defense system, also known as Maitri. MBDA officials say they expect to have a contract for the weapon in the next few weeks. An aggressive development schedule is intended to see the missile fielded by 2012. Bharat Dynamics is MBDA’s industry partner on the program.
Embraer is eyeing an entry-into-service date in 2017 or 2018 for a new family of commercial aircraft that is likely to compete with the current Boeing and Airbus narrowbodies. Embraer President/CEO Frederico Fleury Curado tells Aviation Week & Space Technology that a decision on the action and the technological concept will not be made before 2011. “There are several moving pieces in this puzzle,” Curado says. “But there will be a convergence in 2-3 years.”
On Mar. 2, the Netherlands’ Martinair Cargo plans to add twice-weekly MD-11 freighter service to Sao Paulo (Brazil) Viracopos Airport from Amsterdam. Construction materials and electronics will be among the cargo on the direct flight to Sao Paulo. On return flights to Amsterdam, the hold of the 80-ton-capacity aircraft will be filled with flowers picked up at Quito and Bogota. Starting May 2, El Al Airlines plans to operate three times weekly passenger service to Sao Paulo from Tel Aviv using Boeing 777s.
France appears ready to pull out all the stops to convince A400M partners that they should agree to renegotiate price and delivery terms and specifications for the airlifter, rather than stop the troubled program.
Bharat Electronics and Dynamatic Technologies has been selected by Northrop Grumman as component manufacturers for the APG-68(V)9 radar. Initial deliveries from the Indian manufacturers are expected to begin during the second quarter of this year. Bharat Electronics also has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing to jointly develop an analysis and experimentation center in modeling and simulation
The Russian air force is struggling to return its MiG-29 fighters to operational status and still has not identified a fix to the problem that caused the fleet to be grounded last year. Although the service has resumed MiG-29 Fulcrum flights, around 70% of the fleet remains on the ground as the aircraft undergo close inspection and possibly require maintenance.
A Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Dhruv helicopter has for the first time been flown with production standard Turbomeca Ardiden 1H1 turboshaft engines. The flight was made last month at HAL’s helicopter division site in Bangalore. The engine will be certified in India using the name Shakti. The defense ministry has 159 Dhruvs on order. (Additional coverage of Aero India begins on p. 23.)
Southwest Airlines last week began revenue passenger trials of Row 44 broadband service. The carrier plans to equip three more of its Boeing 737s by early March and continue the trials for “several months.” Southwest (NYSE ticker symbol: LUV) did not provide a specific end date for the testing. Passengers may access the Internet free using personal wi-fi-enabled devices, including laptops and iPhones. Cellular technology will not work with the service. The trials were authorized by the FCC under temporary license.
Commercial customers and the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) can start using imagery from the Geo-Eye-1 satellite launched last September, following an extended calibration phase for the high-resolution color data. The Dulles, Va.-based company started selling imagery Feb. 5 with ground resolution as fine as 0.5 meters, in black-and-white and color (blue, green, red and near-infrared). It also started submitting imagery to the NGA under the company’s NextView contract (AW&ST Sept. 15, 2008, p. 36).
With Iran steadily closing in on a nuclear capability and the climate in the Middle East tenser then ever, France is determined to join the select club of nations that can detect a ballistic missile launch.
India’s Aeronautical Development Establishment is planning to fly a prototype of its Rustom medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle as early as 2012-13. A mock-up of the UAV was on display at Aero India 2009. India looks likely to continue its close relationship with Israel in the UAV area on Rustom, according to industry sources attending the event. Roles for Rustom cover intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance as well as signals intelligence.
Simulator manufacturer CAE, which emerged in the black in the quarter ending Dec. 31, says its role in the civil marketplace this year will be challenging due to decreased aircraft deliveries. Its outlook for its role in the defense market remains positive, says President and CEO Robert E. Brown. In the quarter, Montreal-based CAE reported a 23% increase in revenue to C$424.6 million ($339.7 million) and a 33% increase in revenues from continuing operations to C$53.3 million, compared with same period last year.
While BAE Systems only had a mock-up of its Mantis unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at Aero India, final assembly of the demonstrator airframe is well underway at BAE’s Warton site in England. The Indian defense ministry is interested in acquiring a medium-altitude long-endurance UAV, and BAE could emerge as one of several contenders for a program award.
