Midwest Airlines, a jewel of the post-deregulation era and target of an escalating bidding war, is facing a crossroads that will alter the company’s future in one of two very different ways. If either road is taken—and there appears to be no choice but for Midwest’s board to act one way or the other—commercial aviation in the region will mutate and likely improve, though much will depend finally on performance by surviving airlines.
Aer Lingus pilots are planning to strike Aug. 21-22 in response to the Irish carrier’s decision to establish a Belfast base. The pilots say they fear labor rules at the British base will be unacceptable compared to Ireland’s rules. But airline management rejects that claim, emphasizing Aer Lingus’s larger efforts to become more efficient.
The long-haul affiliate of fast-growing Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia will operate its first flights as early as late September, linking Kuala Lumpur with Gold Coast, an Australian east-coast holiday city. Fly Asia Xpress, to operate under the brand AirAsia X and eventually under the same company name, also has rights to London’s Stansted airport and Melbourne’s Avalon for its budget flights. AirAsia itself is taking a 20% stake in the company, as is Britain’s Virgin Group, part owner of Virgin Atlantic, for $7.2 million.
Few subjects are more polarizing than the one surrounding the relationship between global warming and the environmental impact of greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuels. No matter which side of the debate you’re on, what has become increasingly clear is that aviation and aerospace companies are rapidly being drawn into the center of the environmental or Green movement.
USAF Maj. Gen. Ted F. Bowlds has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general with assignment as commander of the Electronic Systems Center of Air Force Materiel Command, Hanscom AFB, Mass. He has been commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Concerns about acoustics and vibration have prompted NASA to shift to an alternative design for the launch abort system for the Orion next-generation human spacecraft. Vibration and acoustic issues that arise during its boost phase have been troubling the Crew Exploration Vehicle’s design team for some months as it works through the initial systems definition review (AW&ST May 21, p. 43).
U.S. Transportation Security Administration head Kip Hawley says the agency’s Passenger Checkpoint Strategic Plan will be coming out in the fall. It lays out TSA’s vision for screening airline passengers in the future including advanced screening technology such as backscatter and millimeter-wave X-ray technology which is to be tested soon in three airports: Phoenix, Los Angeles and JFK.
Russia’s air transport industry is setting its sights on the global market, having overcome the dark days when financial problems threatened the sector’s very survival. Effectively, the industry is entering a third phase in its post-Soviet existence. At first, the issue was merely staying afloat; then the focus turned to serving the large domestic market and shoring up the sector’s financial wherewithal. Now, airlines and manufacturers have ambitions beyond the confines of Russia and its immediate neighbors.
A team led by an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, has figured out an automated system to build scalable 3D models of cities quickly by blending airborne laser scans of roof and terrain shapes with aerial imagery to create texture maps. The core idea is that having an exact 3D map of a city is important for counterterrorism, mission planning and disaster management. The project is funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
The three members of International Space Station Expedition 15 have a lot of unpacking to do. A Russian Progress supply vehicle docked safely with the station Aug. 5, delivering food, water, fuel and other supplies. Among the 5,111 lb. of supplies inside the cargo vehicle were replacements for the six German-built flight-control computers that failed simultaneously while the space shuttle Discovery was docked to the ISS during the STS-117/13.A station assembly mission.
Delta Air Lines’ Delta TechOps will provide component, auxiliary power unit and landing gear maintenance, along with inventory support services for Las Vegas-based Vision Airlines’ Boeing 767-200s as part of a $9-million five-year contract. The Atlanta-based MRO shop counts World Airways, Air Berlin and AeroMexico among its customers.
Competition for satellite broadcasting and communications in the Middle East is set to heat up with the acquisition of a pair of broadband spacecraft by an Abu Dhabi startup.
Turkey has confirmed it will buy the Korea Aerospace Industries XKT-1C as its new basic trainer over the Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano in a deal worth $500 million. The contract signed on Aug. 3 is the second export success for Korea Aerospace, which will build first five trainers for Turkey and provide technical assistance for local manufacturer Tusas Aerospace Industries for the other 35. Turkey has also taken an option on another 15.
Amodified approach to maintaining jet fighter aircraft is leading to lowered costs and improved availability, in particular to meet needs in Afghanistan. However, training and spare parts concerns could compromise progress made to date, according to a U.K. report. The report, released last month by the Comptroller and Auditor General of the National Audit Office, notes that efforts to streamline maintenance and repair of Harrier and Tornado fleets have saved £1.4 billion ($2.8 billion) in the six years since they were introduced.
Airservices Australia, the Australian Defense Force, Civil Aviation Safety Authority and Transport and Regional Services Dept. are seeking comment on a proposed wider application of Global Navigation Satellite Systems as the only means of air navigation and the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast for radar-like surveillance. The feedback will guide the government’s decision on the final phase of the switch to satellite-based navigation and surveillance.
As Brazilians press ahead with their heavy-handed criminal investigation and trial of the parties in the Sept. 29, 2006, Gol Airlines 737-800/ExcelAire Legacy 600 midair accident, a glimmer of encouraging light from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board points to what well might be the final link in the causal chain.
Loral Space & Communications reported a 22% increase in revenues to $365 million in the first half of the year as its satellite manufacturing and operating units continue to rebound. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization declined to $25 million, from $28 million a year earlier, chiefly due to cancellation of the Connexion by Boeing contract, litigation expenses and higher R&D expenses. However, the company realized net earnings of $4 million, compared with a $27-million loss a year ago.
Lufthansa is considering a new premium service that would allow passengers to use very light jets to connect with the mainline carrier’s business-class service. The program would be modeled along the lines of its rapidly growing first-class-focused Private Jet operation.
Top Air Force and Navy officers, gathered in Washington last week to discuss cooperation and interdependence in warfighting, found two areas of inquiry that presage emphasis on advanced technology. In addition to the standing issue of improved command and control of air and maritime forces, future joint electronic attack and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) received major attention from the brass.
The Sukhoi Su-27 family has proved its value to the export market for Russia, including these Su-30 derivatives, which are produced at the Irkutsk manufacturing plant. Foreign sales of combat aircraft, and associated license production deals, have been critical in sustaining the core of Russia’s aerospace manufacturing capability, while civil programs have mainly languished. Moscow, however, is now in a better position to fund military programs (see p. 58), while a handful of commercial projects could herald at least a partial recovery in the civil sector (see p. 52).
Telespazio expects to ride demand for data from Italy’s CosmoSkyMed radar satellite constellation, Sicral milsatcom network and other government projects to establish a dominant position in the satellite service market.
China is making concrete moves toward deregulation of its commercial aviation industry, relaxing rules that protect the main state-backed airlines and creating more opportunities for others. Earlier talk has been backed up with action, with new carriers being allowed on to the country’s premier air route, the one linking Beijing and Shanghai. Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines will now fly between China’s biggest cities alongside the big-three state carriers—China Southern, Air China and China Eastern.
Intelsat Holdings says BC Partners has lined up $1.1 billion in cash and $5.1 billion in debt commitments to acquire a majority stake in the Bermuda-based telecom operator. The proceeds of the commitments will enable BC Partners to pay $4.6 billion in cash for 73% of Intelsat Holdings, instead of $5.03 billion for 76% of Intelsat shares announced on June 20. Intelsat posted a net loss of $146.7 million for the first half, partly due to costs related to the acquisition of PanAmSat in 2004. The deficit compared with a $132.8 million loss a year earlier.
Microsoft Corp. has teamed up with NASA on a new way to present web images that promises to give the public a much better look at the agency’s spacecraft. NASA and the software giant have posted four collections of interactive three-dimensional photographic displays that let users fly around the space shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center, zooming in for almost serial-number-level detail and out to get bird’s-eye views of the orbiters as they are stacked for flight, positioned on the pad and ferried atop a Boeing 747.
The Phoenix Mars lander, now more than 1 million mi. from Earth, is undergoing initial checkout following its predawn launch here Aug. 4 on a Delta II that fired the spacecraft toward Mars at nearly 7 mi. per sec. At the same time, the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity have survived another wave of Martian dust storms and are warily resuming some surface operations. The storm now covers the entire equatorial region of Mars, but its waning intensity may finally be giving the rovers a break.
