Virgin Atlantic is seeing a strong start to the current financial year, building on positive performance in the prior fiscal year. First-quarter sales were up 16% to £645.3 million ($1.18 billion) compared with the first quarter of 2007, with pretax profit up to £23.5 million. Load factors reached 77%, compared with 74.8% in the same period last year. Airline management attributed the strong performance in the period to “a T5 Effect,” as Virgin Atlantic gained passengers from British Airways because of the ongoing problems at their new Heathrow terminal [T5].
Despite continued strong orders for its business jets, Dassault is taking a cautious approach to introducing the next Falcon in its product line. The company has been working for some time on defining the super-midsize “Falcon SMS,” and some industry officials have predicted a formal commercial launch next month at the National Business Aviation Assn.’s annual convention in Orlando, Fla. But Dassault Aviation CEO Charles Edelstenne indicates that’s unlikely. Instead, the company’s focus is on finding partners to help build the aircraft, he says.
Ray Miller (see photo) has been promoted to vice president/general manager from director of program management of Universal Avionics System Corp. ’s Instrument Div., Duluth, Ga.
Thales Alenia Space says it is close to signing off on a contract for a satellite to replace Rascom-QAF1, which was left with barely two years of life after a late December launch because of a helium leak (AW&ST Jan. 7, p. 26). Engineers said an inquiry team traced the failure to a welding flaw in the pressure regulation system. Thales Alenia has already started work on the replacement spacecraft, intended to meet fast-growing demand for communications and broadcasting services across the African continent under an Authorization to Proceed agreement.
An experimental laser sensor has been flight-tested at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California as part of the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (Alhat) program aimed at future robotic lunar missions. The light-detection and ranging (lidar) sensor is designed to recognize the landing site during final descent, detect hazards such as craters or boulders and direct the lander to a safer touchdown spot. For the tests at Dryden, a helicopter flew repeated tracks over two target areas on the dry lakebed, at altitudes increasing to 6,200 ft.
Barry Russell has been appointed vice president-customer support for Gulfstream Aerospace , Savannah, Ga. He was vice president/general manager of the Long Beach, Calif., facility and has been succeeded by Becky Johnson. She was director of product support at Long Beach. Michele Nierenberg has been promoted to director from manager of systems integration engineering. John Hodges has been named product development team leader for the Gulfstream G650. He was lead engineer for stress analysis. Paul Lu has been named on-site program manager for G650 suppliers.
L-3 Interstate Electronic Corp. has further miniaturized a single-board, 24-channel secure GPS receiver that electronically pinpoints exact locations for navigation and tracking targets. It’s designed to increase the accuracy of precision guided weapons, including a new generation of land attack missiles, while decreasing cost, size and power requirements enough to allow for the installation of a complete navigation system in a very small space allowed by most munitions.
Possible investors in Austrian Airlines have until the end of next week to submit non-binding offers to buy the 43% state-owned stake in the carrier. Five airlines have requested Austrian’s sale prospectus from investment bank Merrill Lynch, which is handling the transaction. Three of them—Lufthansa, S7 Airlines and Turkish Airlines—have expressed their interest publicly, too. The other two have unofficially been identified as Air France-KLM and Air China.
The government of Angola has approved a $328-million project to build and launch a national communications satellite, reinforcing a trend that has seen a growing number of developing nations, including Nigeria, finance spacecraft for national needs. According to the local news service, Angop, the country’s ministry of posts and communications selected Russia’s Rosoboronexport to build, launch and operate the spacecraft, called Angosat.
W. Michael Hawes has been named associate NASA administrator for program analysis and evaluation. He succeeds Scott Pace, who will become director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington. Hawes was deputy associate administrator for the Program Integration Office in the Office of Space Operations at NASA Headquarters.
U.S. regulators are playing a crucial role in reshaping the airline industry as they weigh three proposals for major new international partnerships. Any one of these proposals would tilt the industry’s balance of power, but taken together they represent a shift of seismic proportions.
International Assn. of Machinist members voted late last week on a three-year contract at Hawker Beechcraft in Wichita, Kan., after walking off the job Aug. 4. The 5,200 workers, who represent more than half of the business jet manufacturer’s workforce, overwhelmingly rejected the company’s initial offer that included wage hikes of 4%. Job transfers to low-wage facilities in Mexico are a sticking point. After no discussions for nearly three weeks, the union tentatively agreed Aug. 25 to an enhanced contract offer.
Hijackers of a Sudanese carrier Sun Air Boeing 737-200 on Aug. 26 surrendered to Libyan authorities and released everyone on the aircraft the day after the hijacking. Reports of the number of people on board vary from 87 to 102. Shortly after takeoff from Nyala (Darfur) airport, the pair demanded the flight crew fly them to France, for reasons not clear in the preliminary accounts. The aircraft, originally bound for Khartoum, Sudan, was diverted to Kufrah, Libya.
Goodrich has been selected by Cessna Aircraft Co. to supply the landing gear system for the Citation Columbus business jet. Goodrich will provide the main and nose gear, wheels, carbon brakes and electronic control and steering equipment. Goodrich is slated to provide hardware for landing gear testing by mid-2009.
It’s not uncommon for large aerospace and defense companies to spend several million dollars on an international air show. There’s an army of staff, the requisite air-conditioned “chalet” of offices, aircraft exhibits and marketing booths, not to mention pricey tabs for catering, hotels, transportation and communications.
Qantas’s outgoing chief executive, Geoff Dixon, thinks his airline—the 10th largest in the world—will merge with another major carrier “sooner rather than later.” A merger with or takeover by a foreign carrier would present the usual nationalist problems for Qantas, which was Australia’s flag carrier in the days when each country had a monopoly international airline. Although Australia is open to foreign competition in its airline sector, selling what has been referred to as the “Flying Kangaroo” would be a sensitive issue.
The defense of South Korea is evolving following an agreement to pull U.S. troops 50 mi. away from the demilitarized zone. This is an advantage for U.S. military officials because of the additional warning time in case of an attack. But the change also means that more reliance will be placed on airborne and space intelligence-gathering to ensure adequate knowledge of what’s going on to the north. The U.S. Air Force’s small U-2S force is expected to be bolstered soon with Global Hawk, Predator and Reaper unmanned surveillance aircraft.
Sikorsky is on track to demonstrate the X2 Technology’s 250-kt. maximum speed late in the third quarter of 2009 after flying the coaxial-rotor helicopter prototype for the first time Aug. 27 at its rapid-prototyping facility at Horseheads, N.Y. Handling of the sidestick-controlled fly-by-wire helicopter was as predicted by simulation, says chief test pilot Kevin Bredenbeck, and both noise and vibration were lower than for Sikorsky’s previous coaxial-rotor high-speed helicopter, the 1970s’ XH-59.
Robert F. Mehmel has been named president/chief operating officer of DRS Technologies Inc. , Parsippany, N.J. He was executive vice president/chief operating officer and succeeds Mark S. Newman, who will remain as chairman/CEO.
Time is running out for two export licensing reform treaties languishing in Congress. The pacts with the U.K. and Australia face a tight schedule in the Senate, which has yet to pass any appropriations bills for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Complicating matters: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s choice of Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joe Biden (D-Del.) as his running mate could slow the treaties even more since they must first clear Biden’s committee. Still, advocates remain confident.
Sept. 8-10—International Quality and Productivity Center Conference: “Cockpit System Innovative Modules and Integration Challenges.” Le Meridien Park Hotel, Frankfurt. Call +49 (30) 2091- 3330 or see www.iqpc.com Sept. 10-11—Technology Training Corp.’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Conference. Holiday Inn, Arlington, Va. Also, Sept. 29-30—Airborne Networks Conference. Holiday Inn, Alexandria, Va. And, Oct. 1-2—Unmanned Aircraft Systems Conference. Sheraton Hotel & Marina, San Diego. Call +1 (310) 563-1223, fax +1 (310) 563-1220 or see www.ttcus.com
This year marks the 50th anniversary of a federal agency that has had an undeniably profound impact on modern U.S. society. The FAA helped usher in the commercial jet era, and played a key role in turning aviation into one of the world’s essential industries. What was then known as the Federal Aviation Agency was established by Congress in 1958, in the same year that Pan American World Airways launched the first U.S. scheduled jet service between New York and Paris. This was also the first year that more people crossed the Atlantic by air than by sea.
Incheon City has suspended plans to apply for an application for a government license to operate a local Tiger Airways franchisee after four South Korean airlines objected to the 49% Singaporean ownership of the proposed budget carrier. Tiger group holding company Tiger Aviation says it still expects the South Korean affiliate to begin operations within a year. Airlines in the Philippines and Vietnam have similarly tried to prevent Tiger and Malaysian rival AirAsia from starting up local competitors.
Qinetiq, a British defense technology company, is developing an upgraded version of its Zephyr high-altitude, long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle. The aircraft, which features a new airfoil section and slightly different wing planform, is designed to remain airborne for up to three months. First flight is tentatively scheduled for 2009. Chris Kelleher, technical director of the Zephyr program, says the UAV will reach its maximum performance in the next 12-24 months.
