A low-cost subsidiary based abroad is likely to be All Nippon Airways’ solution to the problem of meeting a foreign budget-airline invasion of its high-cost homeland. The Japanese carrier’s long-running plans for a budget offshoot are becoming firmer. The company now says it could have such a subsidiary operating in the coming financial year, beginning on Apr. 1.
The European Vega rocket development program has scored a major milestone following the successful qualification firing of its second stage Zefiro 23 solid rocket motor at the Salto di Quirra test range. The 26-ton, 7.5-meter-long (24.6-ft.) unit was tested by Avio, which owns 30% of prime contractor ELV. The final development target is set for June, when the third stage Zefiro 9 is to carry out its final test firing.
NATO will adopt a new cyber-defense policy that will be presented to the 26 alliance nations during the summit in Bucharest this week. Protection and defense will be major buzzwords in the document, but the policy shies away from including the option of pre-emptive, first-strike cyber-attacks—despite moves toward developing network-invasion capabilities in the U.S. armed forces. The new policy was spurred by a sustained cyber-attack last year on NATO member Estonia, which Estonia alleged was orchestrated by Russia.
Larry Groves has been appointed corporate vice president-Washington operations for the Telephonics Corp. , Farmingdale, N.Y. A former defense consultant, he was vice president/general manager of air defense systems for the Sensis Corp.
Apr. 15-16—AVIATION WEEK Interiors, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Apr. 15-17—MRO Conference and Exhibition, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sept. 23-25—MRO Europe, Madrid. Oct. 14-16—MRO Asia, Singapore. PARTNERSHIPS Apr. 7-10—U.S. Space Foundation, Colorado Springs. May 27-June 1—ILA Berlin air show. June 16-18—Aircraft Interiors-Middle East, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. July 14-20—Farnborough (England) air show. Nov. 4-9—Zhuhai (China) air show.
FAA oversight of airline maintenance—not the airlines’ maintenance practices—is under increasing scrutiny, prompting one industry group to push a thorough review of the FAA itself. The Business Travel Coalition is seeking signatories to a letter on its web site, BusinessTravelCoalition.com, that it will send Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), who is planning more hearings on the subject. The group will ask him to direct the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board to review the FAA thoroughly.
JetBlue Airways founder and Chairman David Neeleman says he has raised $150 million to finance a new low-cost, low-fare airline based in Sao Paulo—the city in which he was born to American parents—and announced that the company has placed a firm order for 36 118-seat Embraer 195 jets. Neeleman hopes to begin service on the new carrier in early 2009, pending government approval, and serve most major markets in Brazil with as many as 76 new Embraer aircraft by 2013.
The British Defense Ministry and an EADS-led consortium last week signed a deal four years in the making for 14 Airbus A330-200 tanker aircraft for the Royal Air Force. The £13-billion Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) private finance initiative contract covers a 27-year period. The aircraft will replace VC10s and Tristars. The first A330-200 is due to enter service in 2011. The tanker fleet will continue to be based at RAF Brize Norton, which will see considerable privately funded development as part of the FSTA program.
Elbit Systems will supply hand-launched unmanned aircraft to the French special operations forces. The sale of Skylark 1 UAVs was hotly contested and marks a breakthrough for Elbit as its first UAV contract with the French government. Rival Israel Aerospace Industries already has been working with the French to provide the SIDM tactical UAV system.
A European plan to ensure the longevity of the Jason altimetry satellite system could endanger future cooperation with the U.S., program officials fear.
Cessna Aircraft Co. has delivered a Citation Mustang jet to the University of North Dakota’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. The Mustang is the first to be delivered to a flight school and will be used to train undergraduate and contract students.
Airlines should see lower fuel burn and extended service life on their Airbus A320-family aircraft under a range of upgrades now being devised. Several enhancements are on the drawing board, including the addition of winglets, but an electronic flight bag (EFB) is one of the first likely to be incorporated. Airbus is in the final stages of naming a supplier for the Class 2 system, which would undergo flight trials in the next 12 months and be ready for customer deliveries late next year, says Alain Flourens, head of the A320-family program.
U.K. regulatory body Ofcom has confirmed plans to allow British-registered aircraft to offer inflight cell phone service. Licenses will be awarded as an addition to existing wireless telegraphy permits already used for navigation and air-to-ground radio, subject to airworthiness certification of airborne equipment.
United Parcel Service has completed a management team aimed at leveraging the carrier’s traditional role as an airfreight integrator with broader offerings as a global airfreight forwarder. Through acquisitions and its reorganization, UPS now offers freight forwarding services on its own aircraft and ships and aircraft of alternate carriers.
XCOR Aerospace is facing key technical challenges particularly in propulsion and flight control as it seeks to develop the Lynx, a two-seat, suborbital space tourism vehicle aimed at making up to four flights per day.
In response to Frank Sligar’s letter “How Intelligence Can Go Awry” (AW&ST Feb. 25, p. 10), the NASA Aviation Safety Program did recognize the potential benefits of providing some of the “feel” that pilots experienced prior to the advent of fully powered, irreversible mechanical and “fly-by-wire” electrical primary flight control systems.
The U.S. Air Force gets its funding to purchase aircraft from the taxes paid by people who are earning paychecks. It seems counterproductive to ask U.S. working people (who are losing jobs) to pay for something that will be the most beneficial to the French. Maybe France should subsidize the purchase as well as the construction of the KC-45A.
Malaysian long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X has ordered 10 Airbus A330-300s that it had had under option, adding those to 15 it already has on order. They will be fitted with 392 seats, like AirAsia’s other A330-300s. Former Air Canada Chief Executive Robert Milton has bought a stake in the company.
The F-22 could be going to war this year, at least on the fringes. “There’s no reason why you would not, could not or should not use the F-22,” says Gen. John Corley, commander of Air Combat Command. The Raptor was declared combat-ready in December 2007. “If it had been operational when we went into Afghanistan or Iraq, it would have been in wave one, day one, instant one,” he says.
Pratt & Whitney is conducting ballistic tests on composite structures to determine if the material will be used for major parts of the first production geared turbofan (GTF) destined for Mitsubishi’s Regional Jet.
Narita Airport is lobbying for a 50% expansion in its aircraft movements, arguing that the other Tokyo airport, Haneda, will reach its capacity by 2012 even with the opening of a fourth runway in October 2010. Narita proposes to expand to up to 300,000 movements per year without lengthening its runways or operating times.
Alenia Aermacchi hopes to expand its trainer footprint in South America thanks to a memorandum of understanding with Chile’s Enaer signed last week. The MOU involves joint marketing and production of M-346 and M-311 jet trainers throughout the continent, for both training and counterinsurgency/light attack duties. The agreement could address a potential requirement in Chile, which lacks an advanced jet trainer.
Eutelsat and AsiaSat affiliate Speedcast have announced the launch of a new global maritime broadband service. The service is expected to rely on Ku-band satellite capacity owned by Eutelsat and Hong Kong-based AsiaSat.
Australia will seek an open-skies agreement with the European Union, seeking greater competition. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is expected to raise the issue in Brussels next week.
