Eurocopter's Down Under affiliate, Australian Aerospace, has won a nine-year follow-on contract to provide heavy maintenance for RAAF AP-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft. The company is a member of the team providing upgrades and service life extension support for the airplanes, and has supported the Orion fleet since 1993. Eurocopter is a major supplier to the Australian military. It also maintains local assembly lines for the Tiger attack and MRH-90 helicopters.
Delta Air Lines has completed its reorganization plan, filed it with the bankruptcy court that supervises its every move and lined up exit financing. Now comes the hard part. Unlike the United and US Airways bankruptcy emergences (twice) before it, Delta is contending with an unfriendly takeover bid, from no less than US Airways (AW&ST Nov. 20, p. 32). By filing its reorganization plan Dec. 19, Delta has cued the final act, a battle for the hearts and minds of its creditors.
Lord Drayson, the British minister for defense procurement, is the architect of the U.K.'s Defense Industrial Strategy (DIS). The strategy is an attempt to draw a cohesive technology road map for the sector. The document identifies those areas that the ministry will foster at the national level, and those that it is willing to purchase internationally. Drayson is continuing to drive implementation of the DIS, with the first programs already emerging. NATO's Int
NASA engineers will spend the next couple of months trimming some 3,000 lb. in excess weight from the Orion crew exploration vehicle design, while NASA lawyers negotiate with as many as 13 other space agencies on the best ways to use the capsule for "collaborative" lunar exploration.
For five years Qantas, headed by Geoff Dixon, has been hitting roadblocks and repeatedly bursting through with excellent profitability. From 9/11 to the Iraq war, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the latest oil spike, the company has delivered earnings before interest and tax of 5-10% of revenue while pushing down costs and setting up a business plan that may become a landmark in airline history: a two-brand strategy in which the company deploys its Qantas brand in the full-service market and its lean Jetstar operation to make money out of weaker routes.
Lufthansa has agreed to sell its 50% share in Thomas Cook to KarstadQuelle, a deal that has long been muted. The deal is valued at €800 million ($1.048 billion). In parallel, Lufthansa agreed to increase its share in Thomas Cook's charter carrier, Condor, to 24.9% from 10%. As part of that arrangement, Lufthansa will receive Condor's shares in Turkish leisure airline Sun Express.
Roger Cohen has become president of the Washington-based Regional Airline Assn. Cohen, who succeeds Deborah McElroy, was director of association management company SmithBucklin and had been a staff vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. and Air Transport Assn. McElroy is now senior vice president-government affairs of the Airports Council International-North America.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) Walter E. Buchanan, 3rd, commander of U.S. Central Command Air Forces, for his leadership in implementing innovative changes to how the Air Force uses its targeting pods mounted on attack and fighter aircraft. During his stint at Central Command Air Forces, Buchanan made widespread the use of targeting pods for reconnaissance to support ground operations in the Iraq war. This gave soldiers better situational awareness.
Italian navy Rear Adm. (upper half)Giuseppe De Giorgi, a naval aviator, was responsible for preparing, directing and executing the deployment of Italy's U.N. mission to Lebanon this year. De Giorgi ensured the military could provide humanitarian and relief operations rapidly to the people of Beirut after weeks of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah combatants. He then commanded the amphibious force that landed in southern Lebanon as part of the Unifil 2 mission.
A Snecma-led team has won a follow-on contract from the European Space Agency to demonstrate Vinci cryogenic upper-stage launch engine technology. One of a slate of technology demonstration projects approved a year ago under ESA's Future Launch Preparatory Program, the new-generation expander-cycle engine could power a higher-lift version of the Ariane 5 capable of multiple inflight ignitions that are necessary for low- or medium-Earth-orbit constellations. The new contract will permit a campaign of long-duration firings and reignition tests.
The U.S. Air Force is quickly expanding the testing of synthetic fuels to include powering ground equipment and increasing their use in multi-engine aircraft. At Edwards AFB, Calif., a B-52 was flown with all eight engines completely powered by a 50-50 blend of Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuel derived from natural gas and JP-8. Testing will shift next to Minot AFB, N.D., to validate cold-weather operations.
Airbus could start the year in a similar fashion to its 2006 finale, boosting its A380 order book by enticing existing clients to buy more mega-transports.
The Stork Foundation has exercised an option to buy more than 30 million preferential shares and bolster its position in an ongoing battle with a faction of its shareholders over what direction the company should take in the future. The purchase gives the Dutch aerospace supplier nearly 50% of the voting rights, and comes in advance of a Jan. 18 meeting with shareholders when Centaurus Capital and Paulson & Co. will seek a vote of no confidence in the company's supervisory board.
Boeing has added two service providers in Asia. Messier Services-Asia will provide 777 and 737 Next Generation landing gear support. Guangzhou Aircraft Engineering Maintenance Co. and SR Technics will service 737NG landing gears as well.
When Alan Mulally introduced a more transparent management style to the 777 program, he set in motion changes that reverberate to this day in the way Boeing builds its airplanes. But as much as his leadership skills redefined the company and its relations with suppliers and customers, Mulally the engineer understood that data is the bedrock of Boeing's success. And for that, the company would need to master the digital age.
Mesa Air Group and Shenzhen Airlines are pushing into uncharted waters of the Chinese aviation market with a joint venture based on regional jets, high-fare aircraft normally considered better suited to rich countries than developing ones. Phoenix-based Mesa becomes the first U.S. carrier to form a strategic alliance to establish a new airline in mainland China.
Passengers at JFK International Airport will be able recharge their cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices for free. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the region's major airports, last month installed the first "Power Poles" at JFK Terminals 1 and 8-9. By the end of January, 50 of the 8.5-ft.-high stanchions wired with four single outlets will be installed at each JFK passenger terminal. The authority plans to expand the program to its other facilities, including Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports.
Jim Maser has been appointed president of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Canoga Park, Calif. He succeeds Byron Wood, who has retired. Maser was president/chief operating officer of SpaceX.
"When he talks, we listen." An Airbus official made that remark about Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the International Lease Finance Corp., just after Udvar-Hazy had lowered the boom on the Airbus A350 before a stunned crowd of 800 aircraft financiers, manufacturers and salesmen. The scene was a packed meeting room in late March at a conference center near Orlando, Fla. Most of the 800 people there, members of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (Istat), hung on Udvar-Hazy's words.
Australia is making a surprise move to buy 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets as interim replacements for its much larger F-111 strike bombers, showing just how nervous it is about Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. The expected A$3-billion ($2.4 billion) order through the U.S. Defense Dept. could cut Australia's requirement for F-35s, even though the country committed itself to JSF last month.
MARKET FOCUS Lost L-3 contract translates into lower sales estimates 10 NEWS BREAKS USAF regains contact with TacSat-2 orbiting experimental package 18 Initial flight for Japanese Defense Forces' first KC-767 tanker 19 First flight for U.S. Navy's newly designat- ed unmanned MQ-8B Fire Scout 20 DAE must expand its search for an aircraft leasing takeover target 21 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS With its reorganization plan in court, Delta needs to win over creditors 24
Despite major structural hurdles to low-fare carriers in Russia, SkyExpress says it can make the business model work and reach profitability in a rapid fashion. Russia's air transport registry counts 110 commercial operators of almost all shapes and colors, ranging from network operations, to charter, to general aviation. However, the low-fare model has been absent, primarily because the domestic market was seen as too limited.
SES Global has completed a buy-back program, allowing stockholders to sell 25 million shares. Shareholders also authorized a new buyback plan for up to 10% of issued share capital, and voted to shorten the company's name to SES. The new repurchase plan, to run through June 2008, will be priced at €9.75-19.75. The previous buyback program brought in €233 million, or €9.32 a share.
Michael Mecham and Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. (Dearborn, Mich.)
Not many executives are called upon to play a pivotal role in saving one American icon, let alone two. Alan Mulally has been, first as the leader of Boeing Commercial Airplanes and, now, as chief executive of Ford Motor Co. He amusingly recalls his mother's reaction to his sudden corporate move here in September: "But Alan, you're an airplane guy."
