Aviation Week & Space Technology

Struggling China Eastern would receive a $1.9-billion capital injection under a proposed investment to link it with Air China. Following the Jan. 8 rejection of an alliance with Singapore Airlines by China Eastern shareholders, China National Aviation Corp., Air China’s parent company, is moving in to take control. It says China Eastern would save $107 million a year in interest payments and see its ratio of debt to assets fall to 77% from 94.33%.

Regarding your kudos for Gerald Grinstein for his efforts to revive Delta Air Lines after bankruptcy (AW&ST Jan. 7, p. 60), I have a question that every pilot who lost his pension must be asking: “Since Mr. Grinstein was on Delta’s board of directors for 20 years, what was he doing while then-President Leo Mullin and his cohort, Michelle Burns, were running up more than $20 billion in debt in a seven-year period? And what did Grinstein do when Mullin and crew put a multimillion-dollar package together for themselves and fled the airline?

Eurocontrol reports a number of cases at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in which pilots have been assigned one Standard Instrument Departure (SID) procedure and then have mistakenly flown a different one. The Brussels-based organization notes that airline operators provide their crews with “ready-made” flight plans in which dispatchers make assumptions about which runway is in use and which SID will be assigned.

Capt. Don Gunther, who is Continental Airlines’ senior director of safety and regulatory compliance, has been appointed industry co-chair of the Washington-based Commercial Aviation Safety Team . He succeeds Capt. Hank Krakowski, formerly of United Airlines, who recently became chief operating officer of the FAA Air Traffic Organization.

William Readdy has been named chairman of the board of the Alexandria, Va.-based Challenger Center for Space Science Education . He succeeds Joseph Allen. Readdy is a former astronaut and past associate NASA administrator for space operations.

The sale of Dutch aerospace company Stork to private equity firm Candover has been consummated, with 98% of outstanding shares being bought. As a result, trading in Stork shares will end Feb. 20. Candover is disposing of some of the non-aerospace portions of Stork, in part to concentrate on civil and defense aerospace activities.

The Israeli TecSar/Polaris 1 imaging radar reconnaissance satellite is being prepared to transmit its first images following launch Jan. 21 on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) version with no strap-on boosters. Initial images are to be transmitted about Feb. 1. If successful, the Israeli space-based radar will put Israel among the small list of nations with imaging radar reconnaissance satellites able to distinguish camouflaged vehicles from rocky terrain, for example, and to see at night and through clouds and foliage.

A number of military avionics systems will be moving from development to production by the end of this decade, with the electronic warfare segment representing some of the most important programs for defense planners.

While the financial results of the world airline industry have steadily improved since the disastrous year of 2001, hopes for a super-extended recovery cycle may prove to be unfounded. And, when all is said and done, 2007 or perhaps this year could be the peak of the present recovery.

The global economy continues to drive a robust market for commercial aircraft and business jets as well as the avionics needed to help them adapt to changing air traffic control requirements and safety concerns.

A South Korea surveillance aircraft project aimed at producing a highly capable drone as big as the General Atomics Mariner would advance the country’s expertise in unmanned aircraft and ensure against unavailability of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk. The South Korean air force program is running behind that of a smaller drone, the army’s KUS-9, which is supposed to be ready for production by next year.

The U.S. Marine Corps has been keeping largely quiet about how the MV-22 Ospreys deployed to Iraq have been doing, but the service has started to release a few details. Marine Medium Tiltrotor Sqdn. 263, or “Thunder Chickens,” operating at Al Asad in the Al Anbar province since October have completed around 2,000 flight hours. Mission-capable rate has only averaged 68.1%, but the Marines stress no mission has been delayed or canceled. Moreover, they say the operational pace is the highest that troops have seen.

The Australian Defense Dept. has joined the U.S.-based Network-Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) and will be a national member of the group’s advisory council, and its personnel will participate in technical teamwork. The group has more than 100 member organizations from 19 nations, including leading aerospace and defense companies in the U.S. and Europe plus civil and military government representatives from NATO nations. The group aims to foster open standards so computer networks will be compatible. See www.ncoic.org/home for more information.

For the next few years, production plans for military transport aircraft are uncertain due to the impending shutdowns of some lines, startups of others and continuing manufacture of some venerable types. The U.S. accounts for a huge share of transport production, manufacturing its own aircraft to fulfill its military needs. But the U.S. is joined in operations far from home by many other industrialized nations, some of which also manufacture transport aircraft to support their military operations.

Thales is moving closer to its goal of being able to offer a full slate of competitive cockpit systems now that it has been named the supplier for major portions of the A350XWB avionics suite.

Selex Sistemi Integrati is to supply the European Union its first dedicated Command and Control (C2) system—Euccis (European Union Command and Control Information System)—by 2010. The system comprises a fixed installation for more than 200 users to be set up in Brussels, as well as a deployable capability for 100 operations. Euccis is a strategic-level C2 capability designed to interface with national command centers and to be interoperable with NATO forces.

The U.K. could acquire an additional 14 Boeing Chinook helicopters specifically to meet Special Forces requirements. Special Forces are heavily committed in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, with available helicopter resources stretched. A Defense Ministry statement to the Parliamentary Defense Committee notes: “The Special Forces (SF) Heavy Lift Requirement remains extant. A program to procure 14 new SF capable heavy lift Chinook has been scoped and estimated in terms of cost and schedule.” A previous acquisition intended to provide eight Chinook Mk.

Lockheed Martin believes the price difference between its F-22 and Boeing’s F/A-18E/Fs is narrowing enough that Australia might change its mind about which fighter to buy. Lockheed Martin pegs the Raptor’s flyaway cost at about $140 million, while the Super Hornet comes in around $90 million. The extra bucks buy stealth, 2 mi. more altitude and supersonic cruise. On the other hand, the Super Hornet has a reduced radar signature, supersonic dash speed and a newer-generation active electronically scanned array radar.

Boeing and General Electric are flight-testing an improved combustor for baseline versions of the GE90 engine on the 777-200ER that is expected to increase time on wing by around 20%.

Business is booming for rotorcraft manufacturers. The outlook for the near term is so good that the biggest problem facing helicopter manufacturers is the capacity to fill orders. Demand for helicopters is extraordinarily strong on the commercial side of the market. Although this high-paced drive cannot continue indefinitely, the need to replace aging models and the underlying strength in economic conditions will prevent production levels from falling precipitously in the coming years.

By 2017 the commercial maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market worldwide will be worth more than $62 billion—up from $41 billion this year—as providers and airlines drive down costs while improving the value of services. That’s according to predictions by TeamSAI, an aviation consulting company that recently released a forecast report on MRO.

As the long-standing dispute over industrial subsidies to Airbus and Boeing plays out between the U.S. and EU, one can’t help but wonder whether the controversy has the potential to expand with the entry of the Russians and Chinese into the commercial aircraft market. With worldwide sales of new jet aircraft over the next 20 years projected to reach 28,600, it is no wonder these two highly capable countries seek entry into the market.

Thales is looking to become a supplier to the Russian armed forces as part of an effort to further expand the aerospace and defense contractor’s “multi-domestic” defense network.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Rolls-Royce Deutschland and the University of Illinois Aerospace Engineering Dept. have agreed to cooperate on research related to the potential development of a supersonic business jet. The university will be chiefly involved in work aimed at mitigating sonic boom and will focus on the airplane’s engine intake and exhaust systems, in particular the bypass airflow that travels around the outside of the engine core.

Chinese aircraft conglomerate Avic 2 delivered 132 aircraft in 2007, 30 more than the year before. Its “industrial revenue” for the year rose 30.1% to 10.32 billion yuan ($1.42 billion).