Liberalization of the transatlantic air transport market could be years off, after the U.S. Transportation Dept. last week withdrew its proposal to relax rules for foreign ownership of airlines. U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said that "it was clear from reviewing the comments that the department needs to do more to inform the public, labor groups and Congress about the benefits of allowing more international investment. We need a stronger national consensus about the best means of achieving that objective."
The Galileo Joint Undertaking, the public-private partnership managing development of Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system and negotiating with a concessionaire to operate it, says terms for the concession agreement will be signed before Dec. 25, and a final contract next year. The GJU also said the Egnos wide-area GPS augmentation system that will precede Galileo will enter full operation in March.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, a long-haul low-cost carrier that started up in October, has growth in mind. Oasis has introduced its second Boeing 747-400 into service, though that's only the start of its plans for a very large fleet. "The company is actively seeking to acquire up to five aircraft a year and expand its fleet to 25 aircraft by 2010," says CEO Stephen Miller. The carrier also says it now has acquired Russian overflight rights, which will enable it to cut time and costs on Hong Kong-London services.
Peter Hartman has been named acting CEO of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, effective Apr. 1. He is scheduled to become CEO on July 5, succeeding Leo van Wijk, who will retire but remain vice chairman of Air France-KLM.
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Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Douglas Barrie (London)
Faced with increasing competition in its bread-and-butter microsatellite niche, Surrey Space Technologies Ltd. is expanding product offerings while using its smallsat recipe as a stepping-stone to more traditional market segments.
The British Defense Ministry will make fundamental choices as to the future shape of its offensive air capability in 2011, with a full-scale stealthy unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator critically informing its decision making. The air force aims to determine its future mix of manned and unmanned platforms in around 2011, says the assistant chief of the air staff, Air Vice Marshal Chris Moran. This could lead to a decision to field a deep strike UCAV by 2018-20.
Leonard M. Greene, co-founder of Corporate Angel Network, died in at Mamaroneck, N.Y. , on Nov. 30 after a long bout with cancer. He was 88. In 1981, Greene, with Pat Blum and Jay Weinberg, founded the nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free flights for cancer patients, using empty seats on corporate and fractional aircraft. Greene, a pilot, operated the first CAN flight on Dec. 22, 1981. Since then, White Plains, N.Y.-based CAN has arranged about 25,000 flights and continues to schedule about 200 per month among 530 participating corporations.
External camera images the Bigelow Aerospace Genesis I unmanned, privately financed inflatable space module and its solar arrays, with the Earth 300 mi. below. Genesis I was launched July 12 from the new Russian Yasny spaceport using the Dnepr commercial version of the SS-18, which is also to launch Genesis II in January. The 15 X 8-ft. Genesis I module is demonstrating how larger Bigelow inflatables could support commercial astronauts by about 2010, possibly in collaboration with Lockheed Martin (see p. 50).
I want to thank you for "Contract of Trust" by William B. Scott. I have never read an article that described flying so vividly, so realistically and so wonderfully. I have seen the Blue Angels fly and like every other person staring up in awe, I wanted to know what it was like to be up there in the cockpit. The article did that and more. Within moments of beginning the article, I was right up there, grunting in an oxygen mask, strapped in and pulling Gs while breaking out of the Diamond.
Eurocopter is to make India's largest defense manufacturer, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., its aerostructure excellence center and a first-line partner for the global supply chain of airframe manufacturing, following an agreement to enlarge the production scale of the Ecureuil/Fennec. HAL has built around 600 predecessor Chetaks and Cheetahs, under license.
The U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) has developed a graphical display that will allow air traffic controllers, pilots and other users of aviation weather information to assess and rate areas based on icing severity. The displays are part of an upgrade to the Current Icing Product (CIP) developed with funding from the FAA.
The Airbus A350XWB industrial launch without any firm orders suggests airlines are still evaluating whether the airframer can deliver what it's promising and that a difficult sales job could lie ahead. After deliberating over program-affordability concerns, EADS (Airbus's parent) gave the go-ahead to the first three of five planned A350 versions covering a 250-375-seat capacity and range of roughly 8,300-8,500 naut. mi. The aircraft are designed to rival segments of both the Boeing 777 and 787 families.
The Korean Aerospace Research Institute has awarded Arianespace a contract to launch Coms-1, a hybrid satellite earmarked for broadband/ multimedia communications, ocean monitoring and weather forecasting applications.
British Finance Minister Gordon Brown came under fire from both trenches of the environmental front last week, following his pre-budget report. Condemned by green lobbyists for not going nearly far enough, he was also attacked by the airline sector for his increase in airline passenger duty.
Astronauts will have an easier way to monitor their closed environment in space with a new medical device set for delivery to the International Space Station on the STS-116 space shuttle mission. Using lab-on-a-chip technology, the portable test system will give ISS crews a quick readout on whether surfaces carry bacteria, mold or other contaminants. Ultimately, the system will let crews determine if they are at risk from dangerous bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.
Many in the emerging commercial spaceflight business will be heartened by G. Scott Hubbard's Viewpoint. Space tourism entrepreneurs must feel much more secure now that Hubbard and seven university students have confirmed the validity of their business plans.
I really must take issue with David Maker's plea for keeping hobbyism out of space (AW&ST Nov. 20, p. 7) and side somewhat with G. Scott Hubbard's Viewpoint article. If, in the early 1900s, hobbyists such as the bicycle maker Wright brothers, motorcycle builder Glenn Curtiss and their numerous European counterparts had stayed in the boxes assigned to them by the David Makers of this world, we probably wouldn't have an aviation industry today.
Ashleigh de la Torre has become director of legislative affairs for the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn. She was director of the Airport Legislative Alliance for Airports Council International-North America.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is reviewing what went wrong during a Dec. 7 test of the Aegis missile defense system at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii. Two targets launched from the USS Lake Erie were to be engaged by two interceptors--a Standard Missile 3 and a Standard Missile 2. After an "incorrect configuration prevented the fire control system . . . from launching" the first interceptor, MDA scrubbed the test.
United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture that combines Boeing's Delta and Lockheed Martin's Atlas rocket programs, officially became a stand-alone enterprise on Dec. 1. The new entity combines Delta and Atlas workforces, including mission management, support, engineering, production, test and launch operations. Annual ULA revenues are projected at $2 billion, and will be evenly split between the two shareholder companies, according to Michael C. Gass, president/CEO of the venture.
The Air Force is clarifying a number of controversial issues in its $200-billion refueling tanker competition that officials hope will keep both Boeing and a Northrop Grumman/EADS team in the running.
USAF Brig. Gen. James P. Hunt has been appointed director of air and space operations for U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Ramstein AB, Germany. He has been deputy director of force application for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Hunt will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Gregory A. Feest, who has been director of logistics, installations and mission support for the Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Tex.
Turkish Aerospace Industries has been contracted by the defense ministry to start the upgrade of 13 C-130s under the Erciyes Program. The 56-month effort will see TAI upgrade two aircraft at its facilities, with the rest of the work done at an air force maintenance center under TAI leadership. The avionics enhancement includes integrating 17 new systems and upgrading five, according to TAI. Turkey is bringing hardware and software of the central computer in-country, in the hope of reducing long-term maintenance and upgrade costs.
