An airline that cancels more than 20% of its flights over a six-day period and strands hundreds of passengers for hours in aircraft on taxiways has problems with its operations and even bigger problems for its public relations apparatus. If the airline is JetBlue Airways, it tackles the problems head-on. Both campaigns had better work.
The commercial helicopter business is riding a wave of prosperity that shows no signs of slowing in the next few years, thanks chiefly to stable global economics and rising demand for vertical-lift assets to meet an increasingly diverse mix of missions.
France and Germany are throwing up hurdles to a NATO plan to purchase C-17s to bolster the alliance's much-needed strategic airlift capability. Their opposition is seen as stemming partly from a desire to protect their own industrial interests in the form of the Airbus Military A400M, even though that project continues to experience delays. The latest setback involves flight testing of the first TP400-D6 turbofan, which has slipped to the summer from the end of March, according to aircraft and engine-maker representatives.
Trying to steal some sleep under canvas after a long-shift, surrounded by duck-boards and mud, an ear cocked for the noise of an inbound rocket, isn't necessarily what recruits may have expected in signing up for the Royal Air Force. It is, however, now part of the package of expeditionary warfare.
Obviously, EADS's turbulent flight path requires its top executives to deeply revise their corporate governance. Recent events called our attention to such perennial problems as the group's inability to speak with a single voice. Despite the claims of the group's co-CEOs Louis Gallois and Tom Enders EADS is still striving to operate as a unified company, although this attempt remains largely unsuccessful.
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Denise Lynn (see photo) has been appointed vice president-global human resources services for American Airlines. She succeeds Debra Hunter Johnson, who has resigned. Lynn was vice president-people for American Eagle.
NASA and Virgin Galactic, the U.S. subsidiary of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, will explore possible collaboration on a number of technologies under an agreement negotiated through the U.S. agency's commercial "space portal" at Ames Research Center, Calif. Possible research areas include spacesuits, spacecraft thermal protection, hybrid-fuel rocket motors and hypersonic vehicles.
General Electric conducted its first test flight Feb. 22 of the GEnx-1B engine for the Boeing 787. Capt. Phil Schultz kept GE's 747-100 testbed in the air for more than 3 hr. as the engine was put through its first shakeout. Certification is set for the third quarter of this year.
Eutelsat Chairman/CEO Giuliano Berretta insists that he is no more likely to make a takeover move than before private equity partners sold out to a pair of infrastucture holding companies earlier this year. "We just chose to focus on profits rather than acquisitions," he said, suggesting Eutelsat may choose to resist consolidation in the satcom industry.
Peter Lichtenbaum has become vice president-regulatory compliance and international policy for Washington-based BAE Systems Inc. He was a partner in the Washington law firm of Steptoe and Johnson and an assistant Commerce secretary for export administration.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has slipped the next launch attempt for its low-cost Falcon 1 rocket to mid-March at the earliest, says Gwynne Shotwell, vice president for business development. The earliest launch window for the flight out of Kwajalein Atoll is on Mar. 9. "We certainly hope to launch prior to the 16th of March," Shotwell says. Meanwhile, development is proceeding smoothly on the much larger Falcon 9 rocket, Shotwell says, which the company hopes to introduce by 2008 at a price of $35 million (see p. 17).
An RTCA symposium on the FAA's plans for a next generation air traffic system mentioned in Inside Avionics (AW&ST Feb. 19, p. 47) will take place Mar. 13-14, not Mar. 19.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore.)
Keeping advanced weapon systems (F-22 and V-22) out of Iraq makes no sense (AW&ST Feb. 5, p. 22). I strongly disagree with Air Combat Command Gen. Ronald Keys' point about embarrassment if they are shot down. If these advanced, expensive systems don't operate as expected in Iraq, what can we expect in a more challenging environment against a more capable adversary? Virtually every weapons system in history has been found wanting to some degree when tested in combat.
Bombardier Business Aircraft opened its Dallas Service Center at Love Field on Feb. 20. The 100,000-sq.-ft. facility includes a 52,500-sq.-ft. hangar and 45,000 sq. ft. of space for shops and offices. The hangar will accommodate the company's larger business jets such as the Global Express and Challenger series.
Aging issues related to the leading low-Earth-orbit satphone operators are reigniting fears of a meltdown like the one that struck Globalstar and Iridium half a decade ago. On Feb. 5, Globalstar revealed that its LEO constellation is experiencing faster degradation of amplifiers on the S-band antenna than had been anticipated. Unless remedied, it said, there would be a significant adverse impact on the company's ability to provide uninterrupted two-way voice and data services.
Sea Launch says it hopes to return to service later this year and to begin operating its Land Launch derivative from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, in the third quarter of this year, as planned. In an unusually tense session at the Satellite 2007 conference in Washington last week, customers slammed Sea Launch, Land Launch and the Launch Services Alliance, which is a mutual backup arrangement among Sea Launch, Arianespace and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
BAE Systems plans to test long-range oblique imaging systems and synthetic aperture radar as potential sensors for its Herti long-endurance tactical unmanned aerial vehicle.
NASA's two Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) partners have passed milestones in their efforts to develop private vehicles to deliver cargo and eventually crew to the International Space Station. SpaceX, which plans to carry out the first of three orbital demonstration missions of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon reusable vehicle under its agreement with NASA in September 2008, won approval of its data for a preliminary design review of that mission to be held this summer.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating why the front and side windshields of at least 14 aircraft at Denver International Airport cracked in a winter storm earlier this month. The board is examining the windshields to determine what factors--including strong winds and rapid temperature and pressure changes--may have led to this unusual event.
Christian Streiff is quickly beginning to look like the smartest CEO Airbus ever had. After 100 days on the job, he knew it was time to get out while the getting was good. No such luck for Louis Gallois, the incumbent. His Power8 plans to restructure Airbus's operations and reduce its costs--central to its ability to compete with Boeing in the near-, mid- and far-terms--are running into trouble, not only with the French and German governments, but also with German board members of Airbus's corporate parent, EADS (see p. 46).
Regarding your excellent coverage of unmanned aerial vehicles for civil use (AW&ST Feb. 12, p. 46), I'm a retired FAA ATC regulations and procedures specialist and in the mid-1990s, I was a member of FAA's Regulatory Advisory Committee. One of the issues in which I was involved was operation of UAVs in the National Airspace System.
Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq appear to place the greatest stress on the Royal Air Force's fixed- and rotary-wing transport capacity. In simple terms, the RAF just does not have enough support helicopters. While the shortfall is recognized by the government, the Future Rotorcraft Capability program to identify and procure successors has been repeatedly delayed.
Mark P. Brewer, president/CEO of the Rhode Island Airport Corp., has received the George M. Skurla Award for service to the aviation industry and to his alma mater, which is the College of Aeronautics at Florida Institute of Technology.
Northwest Airlines projects nearly $7.2 billion in 2006-10 operating profits. Estimates of revenue and costs, and of balance-sheet and cash-flow status, are included in the carrier's disclosure statement for creditors (AW&ST Feb. 19, p. 19). Northwest believes its passenger revenue will increase at an annual average of 1.3% during 2006-10, to $9.7 billion from $9.2 billion. Mainline capacity growth is estimated at 3.4% this year, but only 0.4% per year during the five-year period.
