Soh Keng Taan has been appointed chief information officer for Singapore-based Tiger Airways . He was an information systems executive with ConocoPhillips.
The label “caretaker” is too harsh, but it’s doubtful Jay L. Johnson will have anywhere near the impact on General Dynamics Corp. as the man he has been chosen to succeed as CEO, Nicholas D. Chabraja. During his 11 years at the helm, the prickly Chabraja rebuilt a company that had been blown up and sold off in pieces after the Cold War into one of the aerospace industry’s most efficient and strongest performers. General Dynamics stock value has risen more than 500% under his tenure, more than for Lockheed Martin Corp. (up 168%) or Northrop Grumman Corp.
Garry Jones has become a director of airport construction services for the Atlanta-based URS Corp. He was chief operating officer of Americorp Holdings Inc.
Florida-based DayJet has scaled back its per-seat, on-demand jet service using Eclipse 500 very light jets after failing to raise $40 million in operating capital to finance planned expansion. The company launched operations in October 2007 and serves up to 10 “DayPorts” in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. CEO Ed Iacobucci says the initial “proof of concept” phase has gone well, but to operate profitably DayJet required an infusion to grow its fleet to 30-40 airplanes flying to 20-30 fully developed DayPort markets. “Given the current state of the U.S.
Freight carrier Heavylift has bought Ozjet, an Australian specialist airline that operates four Boeing 737s on charter and scheduled services. Ozjet tried to fly as an all-business airline in 2005, targeting the extremely busy route between Melbourne and Sydney.
U.K. Royal Air Force Flight Lt. Michelle Goodman (see photo) has become the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. She was cited for an occasion in Iraq on June 1, 2007, when as captain of an Incident Reaction Team (IRT) Merlin helicopter, she flew into a dangerous area of Basra to rescue a casualty. According to the Defense Ministry, Goodman, while flying with night goggles and under heavy fire, landed next to the casualty and extracted him, despite mortar rounds landing nearby. Without the IRT, the casualty reportedly would have died within 15 min.
Eurocopter will re-engine an EC120 light helicopter with an advanced diesel engine under the European Union’s Clean Sky joint technology initiative. The goal is to reduce specific fuel consumption (SFC) 30%, and emissions of carbon dioxide by 40% and nitrogen oxides by 53%, says American Eurocopter CEO Marc Paganini. An improved turboshaft-powered helicopter demonstrator is also planned, with the goal of reducing SFC by 10%, CO2 by 26% and NOx by 67%.
The launch of a second test satellite and rewriting of dem-val contracts are positioning the Galileo navigation system to enter the procurement phase of the project.
The Russian air force is preparing to begin live-weapons trials with the Yak-130 advanced jet trainer. The outcome will be key to both the aircraft’s future service and its procurement numbers.
Nearly 1,000 small regional jets will be forced from the U.S. fleet in the next five years due in part to rising fuel prices, say some industry analysts, and other observers point out that airlines will have to be creative in employing the aircraft until their leases expire.
Big-ticket defense programs risk major cutbacks in the coming months as Europe’s main military players wrestle with a mismatch between procurement ambitions and available funding. Germany, France and the U.K. are facing unpalatable choices as they prepare to downsize their modernization plans. European industry executives and analysts have been signaling for some time that defense budgets cannot support the looming bow wave of spending demands.
The U.K.’s proposed Aviation Duty has been slammed by the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) as a way to raise taxes without providing a coherent strategy for addressing its environmental objectives. Current travel taxes are covered by an Air Passenger Duty that raises about £2 billion ($3.96 billion) annually without any allocations to benefit the environment, says AAPA Director General Andrew Herdman.
The days of graduating from flight school, working for at least a year as an instructor, and gaining more than 1,000 hr. of flight experience before moving on to a regional airline are over. The worldwide demand for pilots is now so high that student pilots are leapfrogging over the instructor position as a first job, and applying to regional airlines with as little as 250 hr. of experience. And they are having no trouble finding positions; the regionals have led in pilot hiring for the past seven years.
The first U.S. Marine Corps squadron to operate Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors in Iraq has returned to the U.S., leaving its aircraft behind. VMM-263 has ended its deployment and been replaced by VMM-162, which is expected to remain in Anbar Province until September-October, says V-22 program manager Col. Matt Mulhern. Two additional Ospreys have been deployed to Iraq, taking the total to 12, to augment the fleet while aircraft in theater are retrofitted with modifications including forward-firing flares and an all-quadrant defensive gun.
Space Systems/Loral says ICO Global Communications’ G-1 spacecraft has deployed its 12-meter Harris Corp. antenna reflector and is on schedule to be declared operational by May 15.
Lufthansa’s announced plan to take a majority stake in BMI next year presages a fundamental change for the British airline industry. How exactly the reshuffling will play out is not quite clear yet, as Lufthansa has made no comments about its plans for BMI. It’s a toss-up as to whether British Airways (BA) or Virgin Atlantic will be the big winner or big loser.
The U.K. Defense Ministry is considering the purchase of the Selex Titan 385 ES forward looking infrared turret for a number of its Boeing Chinook Mk2/2A transport helicopters. Some RAF Chinooks used for the special-forces role already have the turrets.
U.S. and European Union negotiators face a long list of differences to bridge as they begin to take the month-old open skies agreement to the next level. With the euphoria over the initial deal and its expanded traffic rights abating, the two sides have started to ponder what to do next. However, observers are skeptical that much will be accomplished anytime soon.
The editorial on the proposed DL-NW merger (AW&ST Apr. 7, p. 66) falls on deaf ears because greed is a stronger driving force than reason or business values. The greed of hedge funds, CEOs who are paid in stock options and one pilot group to take advantage of another seems more important to the CEOs and boards of these airlines. In one day, the announcement by the CEOs of both Delta and Northwest set the two pilot groups against each other for the next 20 years or more.
Commercial aerospace stocks have taken a battering in recent months as investors fret that the financial woes of U.S. airlines could ultimately trigger a steep drop in demand for new aircraft. But B/E Aerospace, the world’s leading supplier of aircraft seats and other cabin interior products, isn’t seeing signs of a slowdown. The Florida company, which has a strong presence in both the new aircraft and aftermarket segments, reports that first-quarter orders continued to outpace deliveries, pushing its backlog to a record $2.3 billion amid a 51% earnings gain.
High fuel prices and an inability to raise additional capital has forced U.S. all-business-class carrier Eos to cease operations and into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That’s a fate U.K. rival Silverjet has been able to avoid thanks to a $25-million infusion from an unnamed investor from the United Arab Emirates; the white knight has promised another $75 million.
A Brazilian investment fund has signaled it may bid for Alitalia, just as Italian banks indicate readiness to support an “Italian” team to try to save the struggling carrier. Meanwhile, the airline has lost a legal battle to retain control of Volare. A €1-billion ($1.56-billion) legal battle continues between the Milan airport authority and the airline.
Bulgaria has signed on to the European Defense Agency’s effort to streamline defense procurement in Europe. The voluntary regime is meant to open most defense procurements to competition within the subscriber states, knocking down walls that historically protected national industries. The nearly two-year-old effort has seen some results; more than 260 competitions have been run under the liberalized terms, according to EDA.
