Aviation Week & Space Technology

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly has been the envy of the airline industry, with a record 67 consecutive profitable quarters beginning in the 1990s and persevering through the aftermath of 9/11, a wave of competitors’ bankruptcies, record high fuel prices and the current economic slowdown. The airline has credited its continued success to keeping down costs and price-hedging on fuel—it will pay $51 per barrel in 2009.

The Transportation Dept. and the European Commission are launching a study to find out what effect the U.S./European Union open skies agreement and airline alliances have on competition. The study is aimed at developing a “common understanding” of competition trends, so they can work on “compatible approaches on competition issues.” This will no doubt help when the two governments consider future anti-trust immunity applications from airline partners on both sides of the Atlantic. The findings will also be used during negotiations for a second-stage U.S./EU agreement.

SkyWest Airlines ranks high in every industry insider’s estimation, a regional carrier that has attained astonishing growth in its 36-year history, renowned for its money-making power.

Japan’s Civil Aviation College will buy nine Beechcraft Baron G58 twin-engine aircraft as its next-generation trainers, for delivery by 2010, subject to approval from its owner expected in May. The aircraft will replace 20-year-old Beechcraft C90As. The college says it chose the type partly because Japan Airlines already uses it for training.

Cassini scientists, jubilant after the spacecraft’s dive through the geyser plumes of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, believe samples of gas and dust from its surface and subsurface will have a direct bearing on determining whether Enceladus could have relatively warm underground seas, providing an oasis for the possible development of life.

It’s unclear what route Delta and Northwest pilots will take after talks that began in January on seniority issues reached a stalemate last week. Chairman of Delta’s Master Executive Council, Lee Moak, says the discussions are unique in that the two pilot groups and airline management tried to reach consensus in advance of any formal airline consolidation—a reversal of the traditional merger process. Moak said in a Mar.

Boeing has formally protested USAF’s award of the $35-billion contract for tankers to the Northrop Grumman/EADS consortium. Boeing claims the selection process was “seriously flawed” and “replete with irregularities.” Might Boeing be referring to its illegal behavior over the planned leasing of refuelers for nearly $30 billion? The new competition has moved USAF toward improving the design and reducing the cost. A forward-thinking Boeing would have offered a 787 tanker in place of the dated 767 design.

Kristen Moore has become legislative affairs director of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Air Transportation Assn. She was legislative assistant for transportation and aviation issues for Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.).

Another Proton/Breeze M launch failure has satellite operators facing a new dearth of launcher capacity and a further rise in launch costs.

The most profitable of China’s Big Three airlines, Air China, has delivered a 57% surge in 2007 net earnings to 4.2 billion yuan ($588 million) on operating revenues of 49.7 billion yuan, up 14.6%. Foreign-exchange windfalls helped the result, as has been common across the Chinese airline industry since the country began to let the yuan appreciate against the dollar in 2005.

Alenia Aeronautica has successfully completed ultimate load testing of the Boeing 787 horizontal stabilizer, marking a major milestone in the aircraft’s development program. The 20-meter-long (66-ft.) aerostructure, consisting of two monolithic co-cured side pieces and one central element made entirely of carbon fiber composites, produced using a patented Alenia process, was bent up and down and asymmetrically at maximum load to simulate three critical design conditions. The stabilizer was found to be able to withstand more than 150% the expected lifetime loading.

Mar. 31-Apr. 3—The Aerospace Corp.’s Ground System Architectures Workshop. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Redondo Beach, Calif. Also, Apr. 8-10—Aerospace Testing Seminar. Manhattan Beach (Calif.) Marriott. Call +1 (310) 336-6805, fax +1 (310) 336-8249 or see www.aero.org Apr. 6–9—AAAA Convention. Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, Md. E-mail: aaaa.quad-a.org

Operational gurus are being urged to search through the U.S. Air Force’s inventory of aircraft—including the new KC-45 tanker design—to find those that could carry the advanced, full-sized radar developed for the now-canceled E-10 multi-sensor command and control aircraft. The radar is being developed as a long-range sensor and, with future software modifications, as an electronic attack weapon.

Ken Copiak (see photo) has been appointed general manager of manufacturing at the Viking Air Ltd. facility in Calgary, Alberta. He was manufacturing manager for Kenn Borek Air Ltd., also in Calgary.

Aviation authorities in Indonesia have grounded budget carrier Adam Air due to safety concerns. The grounding amounts to putting out of its misery a carrier that was running out of cash and had lost the use of most of its aircraft after missing lease payments. It was also struggling to keep up insurance necessary to continue flying beyond last week and had suffered a string of accidents in its four years of operation—including the Jan. 1, 2007, crash near Pambauang, Indonesia, in which 102 died.

Embraer, in response to rising demand, plans to more than double its commercial jet production over the next two years and is looking to build its executive business jet market position. Last year, the Brazilian manufacturer delivered 169 jet aircraft (seven Embraer ERJ 145s, 35 Legacy 600s, 11 Embraer 170s, 34 175s, 68 190s and 10 195s). Four aircraft were for government use. Production is to increase to 215 units this year and 250 in 2009.

Neal J. Keating has become chairman of the Kaman Corp. , Bloomfield, Conn., while remaining president/CEO. He succeeds Paul R. Kuhn, who has retired as chairman. Thomas Rabaut has been named to the board of directors. He is retired president of BAE Systems Land and Armaments, Arlington, Va.

Space travelers from three continents are due back at Kennedy Space Center this week after setting up two key pieces of hardware on the International Space Station, but the way to station completion remains blocked. One of the new station components— Canada’s big Dextre robot—will stretch the crew’s ability to make repairs outside the big orbiting facility. However, chances are it won’t be much help in repairing the damaged starboard solar alpha rotary joint (SARJ), which continues to hinder station completion.

Spirit Aerosystems will design and build nacelles, thrust reversers and engine buildup components for Rolls-Royce BR725 engines that will power the Gulf­stream Aerospace G650 business jet scheduled to enter service in 2012. Spirit will also support Rolls-Royce’s Corporate Care Program throughout the life of the airplane. The company already builds fuselages and nose sections for the Boeing 737 and 787, respectively, and has extensive experience building nacelles.

Europe’s Single European Sky ATM Research Phase 2 (Sesar) project appears to be well-organized and about to embark on a €2.1-billion ($3.3-billion), eight-year research and development program as Eurocontrol last week received the master plan for the project from an industry consortium.

The Pentagon’s computer systems are attacked 35,000 times a day, a congressional panel says. The panel worries whether today’s troops are computer-savvy enough to keep winning that fight. The seven-member Select Panel on Roles and Missions, drawn from the House Armed Services Committee, has spent the last six months pondering possible changes in the organization of the military for the 21st century. “A new military specialty, or even corps, may be necessary in order to instill and maintain the values that computers demand,” the report says.

European air traffic growth is showing signs of slowing, and Eurocontrol has just revised its 2008 forecast to 4.1%—down from 4.4% to 4.5%—after release of actual travel figures for the past few months.

Frank Appel has been appointed CEO of Bonn-based Deutsche Post . He succeeds Klaus Zumwinkel, who has resigned.

Pakistan is getting ITT’s ALQ-211(v)4 advanced integrated electronic warfare systems for its new F-16s. The contract also includes spares, support, engineering services, training and data.

U.S. Navy-led tests on a new Raytheon AIM-9X short-range air-to-air missile will begin in the spring. The AIM-9X Block 2 will be launched from an F/A-18C by June, and then from an Air Force’s F-15C, says Navy Capt. Jeffrey Penfield, AIM-9X program director. The missile will reach the field in late 2011. It will feature a one-way data link, allowing the missile to receive targeting information after being launched. This “lock-on-after-launch” mode requires only the launch aircraft’s radar to acquire targeting data, which is supplied to the missile during flight.