Pilots ratified a four-year amended contract with AStar Air Cargo, which provides lift for DHL in the U.S., giving the carrier “a platform for future business growth,” says Chairman/CEO John Dasburg. The contract closes a wage gap between pilots at AStar and ABX Air, which also carries DHL cargo.
Regional, business and amphibious aircraft-maker Bombardier saw its delivery rates climb 10% to 361 aircraft in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31. Orders nearly doubled to 698 from 363. Business jets accounted for 232 of the deliveries and 452 of the orders. Deliveries for regional jets reached 128 compared to 112 in 2006, while orders rose to 238, up from 87 the year before.
Don’t blame JetBlue Airways for the delays at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (AW&ST Jan. 14, p. 7). JFK was slot-controlled when the High Density Rule took effect on Apr. 27, 1969. Unlike Washington National, New York LaGuardia and Chicago O’Hare airports, which also fell under the rule, slots at JFK were only required between 3 and 7:59 p.m., with an initial allocation of 80 air carrier, 15 commuter and two general aviation slots for each hour.
Dnata Airport Operations, the ground and passenger handling agent at Dubai International Airport, says it will begin servicing about 700 flights per week when Dubai’s expanded Terminal 2 opens at month’s end. The 37,000-sq.-ft. extension will increase the airport’s surface area to 93,000 sq. ft. The terminal is expecting to handle 320 cargo and 380 passenger flights per week.
Hong Kong International Airport should consult with its tenant airlines as it mulls a feasibility study for a third runway, says Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler. Installing new air traffic control equipment to increase movements will only delay the airport from becoming fully slot-constrained, he warns. “Hubs like Guangzhou and Shanghai are planning third, fourth and even fifth runways. Hong Kong faces the very real danger of giving our competitive advantage away unless we move quickly and decisively on the third runway,” says Tyler.
Political footballs come in all shapes and sizes. The one being tossed around the aerospace/defense playing field of late by select members of Congress and some industry players happens to have wings and a refueling boom sticking out of its tail. And like most political footballs, this one has the same look and feel of self-indulgence and self-aggrandizement.
A heavy round of spacewalking on the upcoming International Space Station assembly mission will leave future crews with a Canadian-built robotic alternative to going outside the orbiting facility for repairs. Also on the agenda for STS-123/1J/A, set for a launch early on Mar. 11, is delivery of the pressurized attic that will give Japan’s big Kibo laboratory module storage space for eight experiment racks. Japan’s new Kibo control center in Tsukuba, Japan, will join the ISS communications networks during the mission (see p. 51).
USAF has awarded a $17.2-million contract to General Atomics for engineering development of Advanced Cockpit Increment 2 for the Predator/Reaper UAV control station. The company also received an $18.6-million Army contract for continued development and demonstration of the extended range/multi-purpose UAV.
The Personal Air Transportation Alliance (PATA)—formed by DayJet, Pogo, North American Jet and other operators of very light jets (VLJs)—is talking with the FAA about mounting an early demonstration of NextGen ATC technologies and procedures at the airports they serve. These on-demand air taxis serve small airports other than the 35 busiest ones covered in the FAA’s Operational Evolution Partnership.
International demand continues to drive world air transport growth, according to Airports Council International (ACI). The world’s airports, which had a 4% increase in total world traffic in January, showed “solid growth” of international world passenger traffic compared to the same month last year, says Andreas Schimm, ACI director of economics. Meanwhile, domestic traffic worldwide remained flat, at 1%. U.S.
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is slated to examine the state of the aviation industry later this week. Air carriers continue to face significant challenges, despite earning an estimated net profit of $3.5 billion last year, according to the committee. Among those challenges: high fuel prices, growing competition, severe congestion and delay problems. The Mar. 13 hearing is expected to focus on the long-term economic outlook as well as the current financial state.
An anticipated £450-million ($904.5-million) jump in its fuel bill to £2.5 billion is likely to contribute to a drop in British Airways’ operating margin to 7% in the 2008-09 financial year from around 10% this year. Moreover, Chief Financial Officer Keith Williams says BA will struggle with “a sharp slowdown” in the U.S. and U.K., and a less severe downturn in Europe and Asia. Revenue for the next financial year is expected to grow by 4-4.5%.
NASA has started reconfiguring the space shuttle Atlantis—just back from delivering Europe’s Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station—to prepare for what may be its final mission. Atlantis is targeted to carry the last planned crew of on-orbit repairmen to the Hubble Space Telescope for a servicing mission before the end of this year. That will require it to be configured differently from orbiters working on ISS assembly.
International Launch Services has landed two more launch awards—for a pair of Sirius digital audio radio spacecraft—after winning a contract just days earlier to orbit a mobile TV satellite for United Arab Emirates startup S2M (AW&ST Mar. 3, p. 18). One launch will carry Sirius FM-6, under construction at Space Systems/Loral, planned for the fourth quarter of 2010. The second has not yet been revealed. The orders reflect a strong recovery for ILS since a September 2007 Proton M/Breeze M mishap sidelined the launcher for two months.
Introduction of China’s new-generation Long March 5 space launcher has slipped about a year to 2014. At one time, it was considered a potential carrier for the second Chinese lunar probe, Chang’e 2, which is now due to be launched “sometime around 2009.”
Rolls-Royce has opened its first University Technology Center in Asia at Pusan National University in South Korea. The focus will be thermal management, specifically development of high-efficiency lightweight heat exchangers.
Korean Air’s budget offshoot, Air Korea, will probably begin operating in May, the transport ministry says. At least three no-frills carriers are planning to start operations in the country. The others are Asiana’s Air Busan and a franchisee of Singapore’s Tiger Airways with majority South Korean ownership.
Asia-Pacific airlines have expanded capacity by 40% in the past five years, putting this region on the brink of becoming the world’s largest airline market by passenger flow. But when it comes to profitability, the area’s transport industry is in a stall.
Congress has made it clear that the submarine-based, conventionally armed Trident missile (CTM) is “a capability they would not like to see deployed,” says USAF Gen. Kevin Chilton, chief of U.S. Strategic Command. On the other hand, “we’re learning more as we continue to develop the technologies we need for prompt global strike that could be land-based.” A new analysis of alternatives is considering a land-based option; a forward-deployed, shorter-range mobile option; a sea-based option; and then a very-high-velocity, air-breathing delivery mechanism, he says.
Rolls-Royce has begun assembly of a redesigned compressor for the Europrop International TP400-D6 engine for the Airbus Military A400M airlifter. The work is required to make the compressor “more robust, particularly in low-altitude, high-power conditions,” says a company executive. The redesign is “essentially a manufacturing change to improve durability,” rather than a fundamental change caused by a “design flaw,” according to Rolls-Royce. The present compressor configuration “is fit for the purpose for test-flying requirements,” the executive adds.
Stephen Spengler has become executive vice president-sales and marketing and Thierry Guillemin senior vice president/chief technical officer of Intelsat Ltd. , Pembroke, Bermuda. They succeed James Frownfelter, who resigned as chief operating officer. Spengler was senior vice president-Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific sales, while Guillemin was vice president-satellite operations and engineering. Kurt Riegelman has been named senior vice president-global sales and Tobias Nassif vice president-satellite operations and engineering.
The European Space Agency was poised late last week to launch the first Automated Transfer Vehicle to the International Space Station on board an Ariane 5 ES rocket. Liftoff of the 20-metric-ton freighter/space tug, initially targeted for Mar. 8, was delayed 24 hr. because of a problem with a fitting on the separation system grounding straps.
European business aviation company NetJets plans to recruit another 200 pilots this year, with staff numbers likely to climb above 2,000 by December. The workforce has grown by 33% since 2006. The company recruited 341 pilots in 2007, for a total of 908 by year-end.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Douglas Barrie (London)
The Chinese military is morphing its traditional virtues of mass, endurance and simplicity into forces capable of waging short-duration, high-intensity conflict against capable adversaries, according to the Pentagon’s latest report to Congress.
