Oasis Hong Kong Airlines Ltd. expects to order Boeing 777s or Airbus A350s as soon as next year for the second phase of its business strategy as a low-cost carrier that offers almost full cabin service on long-haul flights from China's richest city. That second phase will see the Hong Kong airline moving into secondary markets. In the first stage, it is focusing on big, mature routes already served by long-established rivals.
AGUSTA/WESTLAND HAS SOLD A CA109 POWER HELICOPTER to CCTV in China. The aircraft will be used extensively for electronic news gathering and aerial photography during the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing. In 2006, Agusta/Westland won an order from the Beijing Municipality Public Security Bureau for one AW109 Power, one AW139 and two CA109 helicopters.
China will take a big step in the liberalization of its aviation industry in 2010 by ending the monopoly on the most lucrative routes held by its big-three carriers--China Southern, Air China and China Eastern.
Grob Aerospace plans to add a second SPn utility jet to its flight test program next month and will start evaluating key elements that were put on hold following the crash of a prototype last November. SPn tests resumed in February, but that aircraft lacks a full avionics suite. The third prototype, now being completed, should help to rectify this shortcoming and allow Grob to demonstrate critical elements of the aircraft, says CEO Niall Olver.
Guy Norris will join the Aviation Week & Space Technology staff as Southern California-based senior editor, starting June 4. He will cover technology developments across the industry. Norris previously worked for Flight International, first as technical editor based in the U.K. and most recently as U.S. West Coast editor. Before joining Flight, he was London correspondent for Interavia and worked there when it became part of the Jane's Information Group.
Professor Kenneth Button's viewpoint (AW&ST Apr. 30, p. 66) represents the financial interests of those that use the ATC system for business and profit. The Bush administration funding concept he supports mimics the European model, which charges user fees for funding air traffic control. The administration plan is a blatant attempt to shift the burden for financing the ATC system from those commercial interests that use it for profit to those that fly privately.
US Airways says its proposal to unify the contracts of the pilot unions from pre-merger US Airways and America West is worth about $122 million. Most of this, the carrier tells the Securities and Exchange Commission, would improve to America West levels the pay and contract terms of the pre-merger US Airways pilots, who made contract concessions in two Chapter 11 reorganizations since 2001. America West pilots would get 3% raises and "other improvements," and in return the carrier would benefit from a three-year contract extension through 2012.
Latin America has seen healthy capacity growth in recent years, although this overall pattern has been erratic in South America due in large part to the financial travails of its carriers. Throughout the wider region, including the Caribbean, economic improvement will likely be necessary for long-term expansion. The Latin American regions together account for 8.5% of the world's population and South America is home to 5.8% of the global population, Central America for 2.3%, while the Caribbean has only 0.5%.
The Dutch government made an about-face on its plans to purchase the Raytheon Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile. A previous administration had committed to buying 30 of the ship-launched weapons for use on LCF-type air defense and command frigates. But the roughly $94 million needed for the purchase and installation could be better spent, says current Dutch defense minister Eimert van Middelkoop, a member of the Christian Union party. The funds could be redirected to efforts to recruit and retain military personnel.
Prof. Jean-Pierre Swings has become chairman of the European Science Foundation's European Space Sciences Committee. He succeeds Prof. Gerhard Harendel. Swings completed his doctorate and postdoctoral training at Liege University in Belgium in 1974. His current research interests include extragalactic astrophysics, very large telescopes and instrumentation, space astrophysics and solar system exploration. Swings also has been general secretary of the International Astronomical Union.
MORE THAN 11,000 PEOPLE ATTENDED THE 2007 EUROPEAN Business Aviation Convention and Exposition--a record for the annual event held in Geneva. The three-day show also included 354 exhibitors that occupied 1,423 booth spaces, and 60 aircraft were on static display at the Geneva International Airport.
Passengers on Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and the mainline's other regional partners now have a way to help reduce environmental effects of air travel. For a "small, voluntary additional payment," they may purchase a "carbon offset" that would support projects to reduce greenhouse gases. The mainline is teaming with nonprofit organization Zerofootprint in the effort. At the airline web site, customers will find information about carbon offsets, a calculator to determine how much carbon dioxide their trip will generate and the cost to offset it.
The U.S. Air Force has released its revised request for proposals for the $15-billion Combat Search and Rescue-X (CSAR-X) HH-60G Pave Hawk replacement program. The changes came after losing bidders Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin protested Boeing's win last year with a Chinook variant. The revision addresses an apparent lack of clarity by USAF evaluators on the life-cycle costs of each proposal. USAF plans to announce a winner in the fall, and buy 141 helicopters.
BELL/AGUSTA AEROSPACE CO. OFFICIALS SAY THEY EXPECT to achieve FAA and European certification of the BA609 civil tiltrotor in 2010, followed by initial customer deliveries in 2011. Michael Cuppernull, BAAC director, says there are now two aircraft flying--one at Bell Helicopter Textron's XworX facility in Arlington, Tex., and another at Agusta's Cameri test center in Northern Italy. The two tiltrotors have accumulated about 200 flight hours and both Bell and Agusta have stationed flight teams at each other's facilities.
A raft of problems is forcing Boeing to further delay delivery of Italy's KC-767A tanker aircraft. The air force now will have to wait until mid-2008 to receive its first aircraft--more than two years later than originally planned.
MBDA Chief Operating Officer Guy Griffiths is moving to head up BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (Insyte). He follows Clive Richardson, the former Insyte CEO, who is becoming a managing director at Qinetiq. Griffiths' move to Insyte could prove temporary, however, as he is touted as the prime candidate to lead the planned merger of BAE's and VT's naval shipbuilding business as well. MBDA is also about to lose its CEO, Marwan Lahoud, who is soon likely to join EADS to succeed Executive Vice President Jean-Paul Gut. He is widely expected to leave EADS shortly.
Safran shareholders have approved 2006 results, along with findings of independent auditors who concluded in April that problems at the Sagem Defense & Security Div. were linked to errors by Sagem officials who have since been dismissed, and not to Chairman Jean-Paul Bechat. The shareholder move, combined with strong backing from Supervisory Board President Francis Mer, considerably buoyed Bechat's position, perhaps signaling he may stay on beyond his planned September retirement date.
TPG has pulled out of the bidding for Alitalia, causing the airline's share price to tumble. Onerous privatization rules were among the reasons for TPG's withdrawal, leaving groups led by AirOne and Aeroflot in the running. AirOne, Italy's second-largest carrier, is seen as the front-runner.
Florida-based Piper Aircraft Inc. notes that the recent unanimous vote by the Vero Beach City Council and Indian River County Commissioners to develop a financial incentives package is "a sign there is a legitimate effort underway to partner with Piper." The company's facilities have been at their site for 50 years.
Amy Butler (Los Angeles AFB and Sunnyvale, Calif.)
The Pentagon's acquisition chief is planning to review the Air Force's next-generation space-based missile warning system's progress after years of cost overruns and delays, as program officials continue to report encouraging results from the first system on orbit. Pentagon acquisition czar Kenneth Krieg is scheduled to review the $11-billion Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) June 14 at Sbirs sensor provider Northrop Grumman's Asuza, Calif., production site. During this meeting, Krieg is expected to decide the future of the program.
Dassault Aviation is investigating adding winglets to its Falcon 900EX family, after getting good performance and customer results from a similar exercise on its Falcon 2000EX.
Finnair has taken delivery of the first of its three Airbus A340-300Enhanced aircraft, each equipped with four CFM56-5C4 engines. The carrier has subsequently increased its order for long-haul aircraft, adding seven A330/340s and 11 A350XWBs.
ADAM AIRCRAFT OFFICIALS SAY THE FIRST A700 ADAMJET built to fully conform to the production airplane has joined the flight test fleet after making its initial flight in April. The aircraft is being used to evaluate a production configuration of the flight control, landing gear and avionics systems as well as the data acquisition system used for testing. The Englewood, Colo.-based airframe manufacturer is scheduled to complete a fourth A700 this summer and a fifth later this year.
Delta Air Lines is in the process of selecting routes for its subsidiary Comair to operate 14 new Bombardier CRJ900s, which will replace a similar number of 50-seat CRJ100s. Delivery will start in August and continue through February. The 76-seat aircraft will be configured for 12-seat first-class cabins (a first for Comair as a passenger option) and 64 coach seats. In providing the aircraft, Delta recognizes Comair as "a strategic part of the Delta Connection network," says Chief Operating Officer Jim Whitehurst.
Lockheed Martin should receive the third HC-144A Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA), built by EADS CASA in Spain under the Deepwater program, by the middle of this month, an Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) official says. Under a revised schedule for then installing and validating C4ISR systems, the first MPA should be delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard in the early fall, and all three are to be handed over to the service by ICGS by December. Production delivery of the MPAs has occurred on time, if not slightly ahead of schedule, according to the official.
