Astronomers and planetary scientists will get another two years to follow up on some of the discoveries made at Saturn by the nuclear-powered Cassini probe in the nearly four years it already has spent circling the ringed planet. NASA says it will extend the Cassini mission two years beyond its original termination date in July. The extension will allow 60 more orbits around Saturn and more close flybys of Titan, Enceladus and other moons.
Patrick Fines (see photo) has been named director of the Raytheon Virtual Technology Corp. , Alexandria, Va. He was capture manager for BAE Systems’ Network Services and Solutions.
The long-awaited consolidation of the beleaguered U.S. airline industry may finally be at hand with the proposed merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines (see p. 24). Unfortunately for investors, this deal may not be the panacea the industry has been praying for, if it ever comes to fruition.
Ethiopian Airlines will install Thales TopSeries inflight entertainment systems in its fleet of Boeing 787s. Ethiopian will be the first carrier to operate the 787 in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The IFE suite will include 15.4-in. screens in business class and 9-in. units in economy, in addition to 15.4-in. wall-mounted monitors. Thales believes it has captured 80% of the market for the 787 and has orders for more than 800 IFEs to date.
China Commercial Aircraft Co. Ltd., the company tasked with taking China into the manufacturing of large jet aircraft, has been registered in Shanghai (AW&ST Apr. 7, p. 24). It includes Avic 1’s current commercial aircraft business, which has been developing the ARJ21 regional jet. It is likely that the company will focus on design, integration and marketing of airliners and freighters, construction of their major assemblies and final assembly, but will not encompass much of China’s component industry.
Wanda M. Austin (see photos), president/CEO of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif., and Alexis C. Livanos, corporate vice president/president of the Space Technology Sector of the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering . Austin is known for her work in satellite and payload system acquisition, systems engineering and system simulation.
An increase in both competition and costs is driving Royal Air Maroc management to rethink the airline’s strategy, with an overhaul of domestic plans and expansion in the freight arena likely. The Moroccan flag carrier, which serves more than 80 destinations and has experienced double-digit traffic growth in recent years, has been trying to position itself as a gateway to West Africa. At the same time, the carrier, which enjoys $1.5 billion in turnover, is fighting to protect its market leadership and profitability, which is dwindling.
Irish leasing company Aircraft International Renting (AIR) is buying two ATR 72-500s to be operated by Bangkok Airways. They are to be delivered late this year and next, and bring Bangkok Airways’ fleet of ATR 72-500s to 10. The deal is valued at $37 million and brings the total backlog for ATR 42/72s to 190 aircraft.
A nasty, drawn-out fight is brewing between the BAA airport authority and its major airline customers over serious service disruptions at London Heathrow and surcharges that keep ratcheting up at other facilities. Airlines, increasingly frustrated by the current situation, are finding this a propitious time to be heard. A government review on the future of BAA, including whether to break up the near-monopoly of major London airports, is well underway, with an interim report by the U.K. Competition Commission imminent.
In response to your articles “Evolving Enhancement” and Anti-Aging Program,” on efficiency and upgrade programs (AW&ST Mar. 24, p. 43; Mar. 31, p. 40), aerodynamic, structural and system improvements as well as weight savings have places in any effort to achieve gains in operational efficiency, and cost-effective improvements are to be applauded.
Retirements will overtake deliveries in the worldwide military fleet in the coming decade as more capable models replace older ones, AeroStrategy’s Hal Chrisman told an audience at Aviation Week’s MRO conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last week. The current inventory of 39,113 aircraft has rotorcraft as the biggest slice of the pie at 37%, followed by fighter/attack and trainers (tied at 14%), light/medium transports (8%) and smaller mixes of attack helos, utility, special mission, tankers and heavy transports.
On June 17, the FAA is scheduled to begin operating an upgraded version of its Traffic Flow Management Processing Center (TFMPC) at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Pomona, N.J. The facility will replace the agency’s Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS), now at the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, in Cambridge, Mass.
Qantas is testing millimeter-wave security technology at Melbourne Airport’s domestic terminal. The ProVision Portal is able to scan and identify all objects concealed on or carried by passengers. Travelers walk into the unit and stand in a designated spot for 3 sec. with arms raised, then leave. “The millimeter waves used to generate the individual’s image are not invasive or harmful. The image created simply resembles an outline of the person and indicates the position of any foreign object,” says Geoffrey Askew, Qantas Group’s general manager of security.
NASA’s approach to developing technologies for its ambitious human space-exploration goals could cause problems down the road because it is too shortsighted to support the effort over its 30-year span. A National Research Council (NRC) panel finds that the space agency is not budgeting enough for operational-environment testing as it lays out its program. It warns that NASA is placing so much emphasis on a return to the Moon that needed technologies may not be available for subsequent exploration of Mars.
Network-centric operations envisioned by the Pentagon continue to defy description, not least because the emergence of new technologies is constantly demanding redefinition of the concept. Predictions about the effectiveness of network-centric warfare span the spectrum from creating a perfect victory to triggering a rapid, cascading collapse.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has decided to defer implementing a registered traveler (RT) program and instead will spend $25 million to add more security lanes in its North and South terminals. A bid for an RT pilot was originally offered last February. The airport will now add three new lanes at Terminal North’s T gates and another four lanes in Terminal South, bringing its total lanes to 32. New screening equipment will also be installed.
Dublin-based Air Contractors has acquired Paris-based European Air Post (EAP), considerably expanding its overnight parcel express, passenger, leasing and engineering/spares support activities. EAP operates 16 aircraft out of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Air Contractors, which is controlled by Compagnie Maritime Belge and 3P Air Freighters, owns 25 aircraft and operates another 18.
Robert Wall (Sao Paulo and Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil)
Rising competition in the regional jet sector, changing airline economics, and sustained demand for business aviation have Embraer reevaluating how to develop its product line beyond the series of recent launches.
Lockheed Martin will build the next geostationary satellite for the Broadcast Satellite System Corp. of Japan under a contract announced Apr. 15. BSAT-3b, a 1-4-kw.-class spacecraft, is scheduled to be launched in 2010. It will feature 12 Ku-band channels designed to provide high-definition direct broadcast services across Japan, and use Lockheed Martin’s A2100A bus. Arianespace was handed the launch award on Apr. 11. It was the first commercial satellite win for Lockheed Martin this year, equaling its single-award performance in 2006 and 2007.
Russia and Brazil have signed a wide-ranging defense aerospace cooperation agreement covering potential collaboration in combat aircraft and space launch vehicles, according to local press reports in both countries. The deal was signed by Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Brazil’s minister for strategic affairs, and Valentin Sobolev, the vice president of the Russian Security Council. Russia remains keen to secure a fighter export sale to Brazil.
ESA has contracted with Thales Alenia Space and EADS Astrium to design and build two additional Sentinel spacecraft for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security network. Thales Alenia received a €305-million ($482-million) award for Sentinel 3, an altimetry and land vegetation monitoring satellite that will ensure continuity with Envisat. Astrium was awarded a €195-million contract for Sentinel 2, a 13-band multispectral optical land imaging spacecraft that will ensure continuity with medium-resolution wide-swath data provided by France’s Spot 5.
NASA will base U.S. resupply of the International Space Station on the untried vehicles of the Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program, and will not buy cargo services from Russia after the space shuttle fleet retires. U.S. space agency officials are set to begin discussions with Congress this week on continued use of Russia’s Soyuz crew-launch vehicles following the final shuttle flight in 2010. But they won’t ask for permission to keep using Russian Progress vehicles.
AVIATION WEEK has expanded its editorial team with the addition of four reporters. Graham Warwick has been appointed senior editor, responsible for developing and coordinating technology coverage in print and online. Formerly of Flight International, Warwick is an aeronautical engineer by training and succeeds William B. Scott, who retired in 2007. Warwick was with Flight for more than 30 years.
