Talks between Alitalia and potential buyers are entering their closing stage, although they have once again slipped slightly. The airline will consider non-binding proposals soon, with the goal to name a preferred bidder by year-end.
The European Parliament is advocating that the European Union’s draft legislation on airport charges not apply to smaller airports. The House Transport Committee last week voted an amendment that says the new rules should only apply to airports with annual traffic of more than five million passengers, or with more than 15% of the passenger movements per year in their countries.
Four U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee members want the State Dept. to hire more staff to reduce the backlog of technology export license applications. Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Don Manzullo (R-Ill.), Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) have introduced legislation to increase the number of officials reviewing export and import licenses by 42% within two years.
Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, director of USAF Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles, says he will begin pushing next year to develop a hybrid space launch system. After abandoning earlier ambitions of developing a single-stage-to-orbit launch capability, USAF is now focusing on creating a reusable first stage that could reach up to Mach 7 in flight. An expendable upper stage would carry the payload to orbit.
Mexican carrier Aeromar, which has 16 48-seat ATR 42-500s in its fleet, has signed a memorandum of understanding with regional aircraft manufacturer ATR for two 70-seat ATR 72-500s. The new aircraft will be powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127M engines. ATR CEO Stephane Mayer says the aircraft’s improved performance allows for operations in the hot-and-high conditions of Mexico City. The carrier, which offers business and tourism packages, operates 25 routes from its base at Mexico City International Airport.
Officials of Grob Aerospace say the Spn. business and utility jet is progressing toward the goal of certification in the second half of 2008. Two of the twin-engine aircraft are being used for the flight test program. A third made its first flight in October and is scheduled to join the team next year. Plans call for the Swiss airframe manufacturer to build 25 jets in the first year followed by 35 one year later, stabilizing at 45 annually by mid-2010.
Pakistan’s Airblue signed for eight Airbus A320s, bringing the airline’s orders for the type to 14. The carrier now operates three A320s and three A321s on domestic and regional routes to Dubai and on long-haul services to Britain.
Delta Connection Atlantic Southeast Airlines pilots, after five years of negotiations with management, voted on Nov. 20 to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement. The Air Line Pilots Assn., which represents ASA flight crew, notes that 1,003 of 1,239 eligible pilots voted, with 837 in favor and 166 opposed.
Europrop International last week finally delivered the first TP-400 turboprop engine for flight trials. The engine will now be fitted to a modified Lockheed Martin C-130 by Marshall Aerospace and will power the Airbus Military A400M airlifter. First flight of the modified C-130 is planned for early 2008.
Israel’s attack on a Syrian reactor may have been a signal to stop developing weapons of mass destruction, but those signals can be sent both ways. Israeli officials have been quiet about the raid, but they are concerned that Syrian pride may demand a response of some sort. One of the first targets that came to mind was Israel’s own nuclear operation at Dimona in the Negev Desert. Workers at the facility are suffering through scores of red alerts triggered by fear of an air strike.
Savi Technologies, a Lockheed Martin company, is applying solar power to a radio frequency identification (RFID) system for the U.S. Army’s depots in Kuwait that could have commercial applications for tracking air freight containers. To save energy, Savi’s engineers have mounted panels and RFID signposts on poles, and the tags are attached to vehicles, containers, equipment or aircraft parts. The tags give essential and updatable information about container status, including when they were last inspected.
Kevin Brady has been appointed a senior technical consultant at the ARES Corp. of Houston. He was general manager for military programs for MEI Technologies Inc.
Honeywell inked a $1-billion deal with AirTran to provide avionics for up to 150 new Boeing 737s. The agreement includes maintenance through 2030 for AirTran’s fleet of up to 250 aircraft.
As with any defensive system, for it to be successful it has to see the target, in this case the Man-Portable Air Defense System (AW&ST Oct. 15, p. 46). Detection and declaration must be addressed with regards to any laser-based countermeasure system that uses ultraviolet sensors.
Japan’s Selene lunar orbiter has sent back test images from its Terrain Camera (TC) and the Multi-band Imager (MI) as part of an ongoing checkout of its instrument suite. Both of the instruments are ready for business. The preview TC image covers a swath of far-side terrain about 30 km. from the South Pole with a resolution of 10m./pixel, the highest resolution ever taken of that side of the Moon. The MI image, designed to provide information on the distribution of minerals on the surface, shows a spot about 1,000 km.
Officers at the Space and Missile Systems Center are assessing the cost of procuring the fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite from Lockheed Martin will cost, says Hamel. Congress has appropriated funding to move beyond three of the protected communications satellites, although building a fourth would require a costly restart of the production line. Based on past experience, its price tag could soar past $1 billion. The major pricing variable will be redesigning and qualifying obsolescent parts, Hamel says.
Embraer has sold 20 Phenom 300s to Invision Projects of India—the first light jet sale in that country. The Brazilian manufacturer also placed 10 Phenoms with Globalia of Spain and three with Dana Aviation, a Nigerian startup.
Etihad Airways is in talks with Airbus to find an aircraft to put into its network to replace an A340-600 seriously damaged in Toulouse on Nov. 15. The aircraft was at a standstill and undergoing pre-delivery engine and brake tests, with the engines running at high power for about 3 min., when the A340 began to move and 3 sec. later struck a wall. Five people sustained injuries. French accident investigators say there are no indications so far of engine or brake problems. The aircraft has been written off.
Allison O’Connor has been named director of engineering of Ampac Space Propulsion , Niagara Falls, N.Y. She was manager of test, assembly and facilities.
French company Safran is seeking acquisitions centering on the security arena to reinforce its Sagem defense and security business unit, says CEO Jean-Paul Herteman. Although Safran’s security and defense operations are often rumored to be for sale, Herteman insists he is only looking for ways to extract himself from Safran’s troubled cell phone business by orchestrating a deal similar to its recent sale of broadband operations to U.S.-based Gores Group, a private equity company.
South Korea plans to send a spacecraft to the Moon by 2020 with an indigenously developed rocket. A lunar lander will follow in 2025 if the first probe is successful, says the Ministry of Science and Technology. The KSLV 2 launcher will have a first stage powered by four 75-ton-thrust (735-kN. or 165,000-lb.) engines and a second stage with one engine of the same rating. The launcher will be tested by 2017, two years later than previously reported, and will be based on the KSLV 1, which itself is now in development.
Under fire from House lawmakers over another round of covert tests showing flaws in airport security operations, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says checkpoint enhancements are already underway. The Government Accountability Office says it was able to slip concealed bomb parts and liquid explosives through airport checkpoints undetected—less than a year after TSA severely limited the amount of liquids, gels and aerosol allowed in passengers’ carry-on bags.
An almost audible sigh of relief went around the hard-pressed 787 suppliers last month when Boeing announced a six-month delay to the program. At that point, instead of the three aircraft in flight test as originally scheduled, the troubled project was stretched to breaking point, no aircraft were near completion and Boeing was scrambling to complete a dizzying number of out-of-sequence work tasks.
