U.S. Army Brig. Gens. Theodore C. Nicholas and Patrick J. O'Reilly have been nominated for promotion to major general. Nicholas is deputy director of the Defense Joint Intelligence Operations Center of the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington. O'Reilly is program director for ground-based midcourse defense for the Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Ala.
Paris airports authority ADP has approved a controversial 2007-11 investment program that would see the group spend €2.4 billion on its facilities. Airlines have complained they have not been adequately consulted on the upgrades. One of the main spending items is construction of the S4 satellite at Charles de Gaulle airport, which is to open in 2012.
Corporate Angel Network Chairman Randall Greene, for continued charitable work in providing ambulatory cancer patients free air transport to treatment centers by offering seats on corporate aircraft. CAN coordinates schedules with the flight departments of 530 corporations to accommodate patients. Since CAN was founded in 1981, it has conducted 25,000 flights, helping about 200 patients per month. In October, it handled a record 253. Greene is the son of co-founder Leonard Greene, who died Nov.
An attempt to consolidate the U.K.'s guided-weapons sector continues to be hampered by national and international legal difficulties. Concern over U.S. law focuses on anti-trust issues, with U.K. and European competition legislation also under scrutiny. The ministry had been aiming to sign a strategic partnering agreement with industry by year-end, but this ambition has been stymied. Elements of the accord are intended to be legally binding.
Lt. Col. Robert Monroe, mission commander, 4th Expeditionary Special Operations Sqdn., for providing close air support to ground soldiers in Iraq with their AC-130U gunships, and Lt. Col. Ted Fordyce, mission commander, 16th Expeditionary Special Operations Sqdn., for providing close air support to ground soldiers in Afghanistan with their AC-130Hs. The 4th carries the distinction of firing the first shots from the air in the Iraq war during the spring of 2003. The 16th has been supporting ground soldiers in Afghanistan since Nov. 11, 2001.
It looks like a loss for American Airlines in the fourth quarter of 2006. The airline tells investors to expect a year-over-year increase of 3.8-4.8% in mainline passenger revenue per available seat mile, which translates into 9.93-10.03 cents. American estimates its mainline cost per ASM at 10.98 cents, however, even though its fuel price was down year-over-year to $1.91 per gallon from $2.02. Higher-than-expected non-fuel costs are attributed to flight cancellations caused by bad weather in late November and early December, and to higher aircraft maintenance costs.
Arianespace has rescheduled the launch of Britain's first Skynet 5 military satellite communications satellite, initially set for mid-January, to the end of February. No reason was given for the slip, which moves the liftoff perilously close to the end-of-March initial in-orbit capability milestone that operator EADS Paradigm must meet under its contractual operations.
Stan Deal (see photos) has been named vice president for Asia-Pacific sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, covering Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Rob Laird, who is now vice president-Greater China sales, will cover China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines. Deal had been vice president-Commercial Airplanes sales and marketing operations. Laird was vice president-China sales.
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Midwest Airlines expects to boost capacity this year by 15%, which includes the addition of 15 50-seat Bombardier CRJs to be operated by SkyWest. Midwest signed a capacity agreement last month with Utah-based SkyWest to operate Midwest Connect service. Midwest General Counsel Carol Skornicka says the airline is buying SkyWest capacity so it can meet rising demand quickly.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] Jan. 10--Lean Aerospace Initiative Tutorial: "Leading Indicators for Technical and Programmatic Performance." Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Stratton Student Center, Cambridge. See http://lean.mit.edu Jan. 31-Feb. 1--Middle East Business Aviation's Airport Expo. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Call +44 (208) 391-0999, fax +44 (208) 391-0220 or see www.meba.aero
Nairobi-based Kenya Airways is acquiring three Embraer 170s under lease with GE Commercial Aviation Services (Gecas), with the first to be delivered in the second quarter. Kenya, which is expanding its network, plans to deploy the Embraer 170s on domestic medium-haul routes, replacing turboprops. All three aircraft will be configured in a single-class arrangement with 72 32-in.-pitch seats.
Boeing squeezed more orders into the final days of 2006 to close out a strong sales year. Qatar Airways, a launch customer for the 777 Freighter in 2005, ordered two more, raising the program's tally to 51 sales. Kenya Airways signed up for three 787-8s, raising its total to nine firm orders with four options. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines exercised options on three 737-800s, raising its fleet total to 29 aircraft. It also is buying four 777-300ERs, giving it 19 777s. Air New Zealand, Boeing's second 787 customer, has ordered four more, bringing its total to eight.
The Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is poised to resume testing this week and could fly as many as six times in January, launching a 12,000-hr. test program that will eventually involve three versions of the multirole fighter.
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise must expand its search for a takeover target in the aircraft leasing business, after Bank of China acquired Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE) last month. The decision by SALE's former shareholders--including Singapore Airlines, Temasek Holdings and WestLB--was a blow for the ambitious Dubai venture. DAE missed its target of completing a transaction in the leasing business before the end of last year.
Ask Embraer's CEO-to-be, Frederico Curado, what has changed at the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer in the past 10 years or so, and he has a clear answer: "Just about everything." Curado was a part of a team led by his boss, Embraer CEO Mauricio Botelho, that achieved those changes. Botelho will step down in April, but continue as non-executive chairman for another three years before eventually retiring in 2010.
White House policy wonks are hard at work on details of the new national aeronautics plan Congress ordered in its Fiscal 2005 NASA authorization, with a research road map and infrastructure plan due by the end of this year. The Dec. 20 policy calls for work on new aircraft concepts, expanding the capacity of the air traffic system, helping keep U.S. aeronautics competitive in the global market, strengthening aeronautics cooperation within the government and with industry and academia, and stable funding for long-term foundational research.
Jon Beatty has become president of the International Aero Engines consortium, East Hartford, Conn. He has been vice president-operational commercial engines for IAE member Pratt & Whitney. Beatty succeeds Mark King, who will return to IAE member Rolls-Royce. Succeeding Beatty will be Mike Field, who has been vice president-sales, marketing and customer support. And following Field will be Bob Keady, who has been senior vice president-customer business for IAE.
Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says she wants to change the way Congress oversees the intelligence budget. One of the Democrats' first acts when they take control of the House this month, Pelosi says, will be creating a new oversight panel to check on the administration's budget for intelligence-gathering. The proposed Select Intelligence Oversight Panel would consist of members of the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees, and would operate as part of the Appropriations Committee.
Replaying a story that's been heard dozens of times in other countries, Thailand has built a costly new airport for Bangkok but is now having second thoughts about the strict policy of moving all the traffic there, as long planned. As usual, some airlines are pushing to get back to the cheaper old airport--in this case, Don Muang Airport, which has been almost deserted since the new Suvarnabhumi facility opened in September. It looks like the budget carriers might get their way, too.
Lee Cooper (see photos) has been appointed vice president-business development and Fred Darlington vice president-engineering and technology for the Raytheon Technical Services Co., Reston, Va. Cooper was senior vice president-business development for the Titan Group of L-3 Communications, while Darlington was director of the satellite communications product line for Raytheon Network-Centric Systems.
Jean-Yves Le Gall, CEO of Arianespace; Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency; Francois Auque, chief executive of EADS Astrium; and Yannick d'Escatha, director general of French space agency CNES, for bringing Europe's Ariane 5 ECA heavy-lift launcher to maturity, after a disastrous inaugural launch failure in December 2002.
Sometimes a company's worst enemy lurks inside its own walls--and so it was for Airbus in 2006. Recent dramatic events demonstrated clearly that complacency can undermine an organization while political interference can seriously aggravate corporate difficulties. The European airframer's image and outlook remain clouded as a result of last year's many-sided crisis. At the same time, the airline industry can barely contain its deep astonishment while assessing the A380 debacle and the A350XWB's delayed launch.
It was an unusual request for a busy auto executive, but Ford CEO Alan R. Mulally (left) was only too happy to talk about airplanes and his career at Boeing for our Person of the Year portrait, with Editor-in-Chief Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. (right) and Northern California Bureau Chief Michael Mecham (center), who reports on the airplane maker. Mulally joked that as much as Boeing is scrutinized by the press in Seattle, it doesn't compare with the amount of coverage he has received now that Executive Chairman William Clay Ford, Jr., has asked him to rescue the automaker.
