Ryanair has increased its share in Aer Lingus to more than 25%. Europe's leading low-fare carrier has launched a takeover bid for Aer Lingus, but the Irish network carrier has rebuffed the offer.
Airbus is clearly flailing, trying to deliver the revolutionary A380 in the midst of corporate turmoil. They will likely succeed and have a flagship product that is advanced beyond its competition. The question remains as to why Airbus is trying to build the A350XWB, an aircraft that, in the end, will likely be not quite as good as the Boeing 787 and will be shipped at the earliest many years later. Boeing has designed a plane every bit as revolutionary as the A380, and will almost certainly dominate the market if they can build as many as they can sell.
The proposed $8-billion private takeover of Qantas Airways is gathering strength, with the bidders clearing the hurdle of public acquiescence from the government. As the private equity bidders led by Texas Pacific Group and Macquarie Bank negotiate with Qantas management and delve into the Australian airline's books, the government is responding with only stern words to satisfy concerned voters, stopping well short of saying it will use its powers over foreign investment to block the deal.
In a few years, there may be transmitters so small they can be spray-painted onto a surface, UAVs one-tenth the size and cost--but with several times the capability--of current designs, and disposable electronic warfare systems that are cheaper to replace than repair. That's all part of the future--much of it in the next 5-15 years--of electronic warfare (EW), say top BAE Systems officials who are mapping the company's technology investments.
Bob Sobey has been named program manager for the Bell-Boeing CV-22 in Amarillo, Tex. He was deputy director of the Chinook program at Boeing Rotorcraft. Sobey succeeds Charlie Griffin, who has been appointed Bell Helicopter V-22 program manager.
A strong late fall storm forced cancellation of more than 250 flights out of 1,000 scheduled departures at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Nov. 30, but all runways and roadways remained open. Freezing rain throughout the afternoon required deicing of outbound jets, which further slowed operations. Weather delays at Philadelphia, New York and airports in the upper Midwest also had an impact on DFW's activities.
The crash of Grob Aerospace's second SPn light jet prototype is likely to set back plans for certification next summer. The all-composite aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff, killing the two pilots. The aircraft joined the flight test program in September.
As the holidays near--and even though Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has resigned--wary program officials in the Pentagon and industry are preparing for a third annual surprise budget slashing. The White House and Pentagon are finalizing the second Fiscal 2007 supplemental appropriation request, which is expected to come in between $130-160 billion.
New avionics features and a redesigned cabin set Raytheon Aircraft Co.'s Beechcraft Premier IA apart from its predecessor as well as the competition. It had been five years since I flew the Premier I, and it was time to assess the latest version of the company's small-cabin jet. The Premier IA's chief competition is Cessna Aircraft Co.'s Citation CJ series jets, especially the CJ3.
James Halsell has been appointed vice president/program manager of the Alliant Techsystems-led ARES I Upper Stage team, Huntsville, Ala. He is a former astronaut and was assistant director for aircraft and flight crew operations for the space shuttle program.
ONE SIGN THAT THE U.S. MAY BE ABLE TO KEEP UP with the growth in traffic is a "controller workload concept demonstration" being conducted by the FAA. The agency's chief operating officer, Russell Chew, mentioned this simulation at an Air Traffic Control Assn. conference last month. When controllers in the exercise were given the sorts of integrated automation tools that the JPDO envisions for NGATS, they were able to handle the growing traffic volumes expected in the next 10-20 years, but without them it proved to be an impossible task.
Gordon Wishart has become Tucson, Ariz.-based regional vice president-aircraft acquisition and sales for TAG Aviation. He has been a sales executive with Avpro Inc. and Bombardier Learjet.
Australian low-fare carrier Virgin Blue and Hawaiian Airlines are forging an interline bond just as Qantas's low-fare offshoot prepares to start flights from Melbourne and Sydney to Honolulu at the end of December. Virgin Blue customers traveling to Hawaii from Australia can check their bags straight through to Honolulu. Hawaiian flies three flights per week between Sydney and Honolulu with continuing service to Kauai, Maui and the Big Island. Passengers on the Sydney-Honolulu flight also have access to nine U.S.
Regarding the Washington Outlook item "A Perfect Storm" (AW&ST Nov. 6, p. 25), JPMorgan's Joseph Nadol, 3rd, shouldn't be surprised if the new Congress provides more military contracting oversight if he and the rest of the industry regard such work as "interference," rather than its constitutional obligation. Interference is needed if that's the attitude the industry has toward oversight of spending of my tax dollars.
Michael Brown, a retired managing director with Wells Fargo Securities and pension consultant Ron Pattison have been named to the board of directors of Alpine Air, Provo, Utah.
It was the safest flying year ever, in 2006, for the U.S. Air Force, measured by the number of major aircraft accidents--19 with eight destroyed aircraft--and a single fatality. The chief of USAF safety, Maj. Gen. Stan Gorenc, contrasts 2006 with the service's first year, 1947, when there were 1,500 major accidents, 500 destroyed aircraft and more than 500 deaths.
With a backlog of $2.3 billion and a commanding share of the world's aircraft simulator market, Canada's CAE Inc. isn't especially worried about a privately owned competitor with just 200 employees. Then again, this challenger can hardly be ignored--it's literally down the street.
The Boeing/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency X-37B unmanned winged Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) is in advanced development, and is being aimed for a first launch from Cape Canaveral in early 2008 on board a Lockheed Martin Atlas V. The spacecraft, about one-fourth the size of a shuttle orbiter, will give the U.S. Air Force a reusable vehicle equipped with a payload bay from which to deploy small spacecraft and recover small payloads tested in space. The Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) will acquire, test and demonstrate the OTV.
THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD HAS ISSUED its final report on the crash of a Gulfstream business jet in November 2004 at Houston Hobby Airport. The airplane was scheduled to fly former President George H.W. Bush to Ecuador. The NTSB found that the pilots failed to adequately monitor and cross-check flight instruments during an ILS approach to the airport. A copy of the report is available at www.nbaa.org/safety.
Airbus has slashed its forecast for Chinese orders of aircraft in the A380 and 747-8 category, the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation has found, comparing this year's outlook with the previous one. Airbus is now forecasting 113 sales of such aircraft to China between now and 2025. "In March 2005, Airbus VP for Market Forecasts and Research Laurent Rouaud stated China could need some 200 very large aircraft by year 2023, while CEO of Airbus China Laurence Barron stated China would need 'at least' 200 aircraft in this category," the Sydney-based consultancy notes in a Nov.
Air India will become the 21st member of Star and the first in India to join such a global alliance. The entry is to occur after Air India and Indian Airlines merge in April.
Military planners are turning their attention to the preparation of bigger, theater-scale capabilities now that North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union rapid response forces designed to deploy battalion- and brigade-sized units to overseas crisis spots are nearly fully operational.
