You conclude your editorial "LCCs Should Study Legacies' History . . . Not Repeat It" (AW&ST May 28, p. 78) with: "If LCCs really want to improve their prospects, "they won't repeat the same mistake." What mistake? When deregulation came along the so- called legacy carriers obviously had relatively higher costs than the startups because they had created a complex unionized system like most historic American enterprises. Sure there were some inefficiencies, but that is part of any business.
Richard A. Hauser has been named vice president/assistant general counsel-Washington for Boeing. He was president of the National Legal Center for the Public Interest and had been general counsel of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Dept.
It's not easy running a company with two CEOs and two chairmen working in different countries, especially when it happens to be Europe's largest aerospace contractor. Tom Enders, the German co-CEO of EADS NV--the parent of Airbus--told a reporter at last month's Paris air show that the company was discussing whether to sell off its 46% stake in Dassault Aviation. He was promptly contradicted by his French counterpart, Louis Gallois.
An invasion by Asian budget carriers into Australia's lightly protected aviation market looks likely to threaten the excellent profits of incumbents Qantas Airways and Virgin Blue Airlines. Singapore-based Tiger Airways, a pure low-cost airline, is moving on to Australian domestic routes, while Malaysia's AirAsia Long Haul, also super-low-cost, assaults the international sector.
Australia has ceased payments for the Eurocopter armed reconnaissance helicopter because it has not reached initial operational capability as plan- ned. Delays in the Tiger program set back simulator development and the ability of Australia to start training, as required under the pact with Eurocopter's Australian Aerospace.
Continental Airlines and its Air Line Pilots Assn. unit will launch talks this month toward a new contract, starting nine months earlier than business-as-usual at the pilots' request. The contract's amendable date is Dec. 31, 2008, and the pilots' negotiation committee chairman, Capt. Jay Pierce, says the early talks, on non-economic issues, will "help to ensure that we have plenty of time to thoroughly discuss and refine all areas of the contract." Continental is one of two big network airlines that did not reorganize in bankruptcy during the past five years.
While reforming EADS may be the French government's top industrial policy preoccupation, bureaucrats are looking to resurrect another festering problem--how to recast the solid rocket and munitions business of state-controlled SNPE. Safran, which owns part of the rocket activity through a joint venture and has long coveted the rest, is reportedly proposing a plan, in association with land systems specialist Nexter (ex-Giat), under which Safran would acquire the rocket unit and Nexter the munitions business.
Indonesia, its airlines banned from flying to EU countries, has agreed with the International Civil Aviation Organization to enact new laws to improve safety oversight in civil aviation and ensure adequate staff and finances for it. The U.S. advised against flying on Indonesian carriers in April.
NASA is looking for a way to accelerate its long-planned Mars sample-return mission, possibly by fitting upcoming landers like the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory with sample caches that could be retrieved and delivered back to Earth later.
I am amazed at the variety of configurations of screening systems in U.S. airports. Aside from the one at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, none is particularly efficient. Phoenix has two sets of bag-screening systems for every "person" device, a good long line for passenger screening preparation such as unloading briefcases, and good conveyors to move items to the scanners. Lines move quickly, and everyone seems happy. That's not the case in most other airports, and space prevents me from listing the basic sins of efficiency I've seen.
The B-52, F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet aren't the family's old station wagons as each is an instrument of war. If through the advancement of aviation technology, each one can give the U.S. an unfair advantage, it is something the U.S. will always pursue. The B-52 remains operational only because of technological breakthroughs with GPS-guided bombs and long-range cruise missiles that allow it to operate beyond the range of surface-to-air missiles.
Xavier Sahut D'Izarn (see photos) has been appointed vice president/general manager of France-based Safran subsidiary Snecma's Military Engine Div. Jacques Serre has been named vice president/ general manager of the Space Engine Div. and Bruno Pasini vice president-human resources. D'Izarn has been director of large commercial engine programs. He succeeds Jean-Luc Engerand, who is now chairman/CEO of Snecma Propulsion Solide. Serre has been his division's deputy operating director.
China appears to be inching back into the commercial launch market, following the orbiting of Chinasat 6B late last week. The 38-transponder C-band spacecraft, built by Thales Alenia Space, lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on July 5, on board a Long March 3B booster. It was the first commercial launch by Long March since Apstar VI, also built by Thales Alenia, last year.
Avic I and Avic II units are among Chinese firms receiving $500 million in contracts from Boeing for civil aircraft components. BHA Aero Composites, a Boeing, Hexcel and Avic I joint venture, also got more work.
A German decision to reduce funding for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance program risks precipitating its collapse. An "extraordinary meeting" is to be held next week to discuss the crisis.
The British Parliament's Defense Committee last week raised concern over "whether the [air force's] current transport and tanker fleet can provide the level of availability required between now and when . . . new aircraft come into service." The air force's aging C-130K Hercules is to be replaced by the A400M beginning in 2011, while the L-1011 Tristar and VC-10 tanker/transport fleets are due to be replaced by the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft also in 2011.
Hasso Niemann, a retired NASA scientist whose instruments probed the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has received the first Al Seiff Memorial Award. The award honors researchers for contributions to the understanding of atmospheres of planets or moons through the use of high-speed probes that enter those atmospheres.
Military officials say body counts aren't a good way to assess progress in Iraq and Afghanistan, so it was odd when Pentagon briefers touted the number of insurgents killed, prisoners taken and weapons discovered recently. A three-week operation is sweeping parts of Baghdad and surrounding provinces where Al Qaeda has had the time and freedom "to develop elaborate defenses," said Army Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, the Joint Staff's deputy director for operations. Wiggins said U.S. and Iraqi forces captured 500 of the enemy and found more than 50 major weapons caches.
U.S. Strategic Command, with headquarters at Offutt AFB, Neb., now has a network-centric warfare capability that allows users to create pictures of critical events on their computers and simultaneously share them with others. Lockheed Martin's User-Defined Operational Picture is to shorten decision cycles through real-time connectivity and increased computing power for global strike, missile defense and information operations.
David Henze has become CEO/president for U.S. operations and Mike White chief operating officer of SkyLink Air and Logistic Support USA Inc., Dulles, Va. Henze was an IBM Corp. business development executive. Mike White was president of Trade Network Consultants.
The first Embraer Phenom 100 undergoes ground vibration test (GVT) at the manufacturer's Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, facility prior to first flight of the very light jet. The purpose of the GVT, in which an aircraft is suspended from the ceiling of the test facility with elastic cables, is to validate the aeroelastic model of the aircraft, according to Embraer. Flight controls are evaluated for flexibility, and the cables and brackets are tested with a full surface load on the ailerons, rudder and elevator.
The U.S. Air Force is conducting aerodynamic tests of a 2% model of a blended-wing-body (BWB) design at the Arnold Engineering Development Center near Tullahoma, Tenn. The object of the tests is to provide data to help evaluate the BWB's flight characteristics at higher Mach numbers than those applied to the same model earlier this year at NASA Langley Research Center's National Transonic Facility in Hampton, Va.
