British Airways has bought American Airlines' remaining 1% share in Spanish flag carrier Iberia for £13 million ($24.6 million). This takes BA's stake to 10%.
Saudi Arabia is considering reengining its fleet of 70 Boeing F-15S aircraft with General Electric F110-GE-129 turbojets, the Pentagon has told Congress. Sustainment problems have affected Saudi Arabia's air operations. Besides the switch to GE powerplants, the kingdom also is considering buying 20 Pratt & Whitney F100-PW229 engines and overhauling the rest. The program could cost up to $1.5 billion.
As the Iraq war continues and the 2008 presidential campaign looms, Aerospace Industries Assn. President and CEO John Douglass doesn't expect much change in defense spending under a Democratic Congress. "I do not believe either party will come out with a 'slash defense' strategy," he says. But one likely change is an end to what he calls the "draconian" Buy America legislation that has come out of the House of Representatives every year.
Michael Brazill has been appointed vice president-national fleet development for JetDirect Aviation, Berwyn, Pa. He was president/chief operating officer of Summit Aviation.
In another group of aircraft from the unidentified customer list, Boeing acknowledged that Aeromexico has increased its 787 order book to five aircraft, up from three, while adding 10 737-700s. The 787s are to arrive in 2011 and the 737s in 2010. The aircraft have a combined list-price value of about $800 million. Aeromexico previously ordered six 737 NGs. General Electric's GEnx won the engine contract for the 787s.
South Korea and Taiwanese space agencies plan to reinforce their space imaging capabilities--yet another sign of fast change in this sector, and the diminishing ability of the U.S. and other Western powers to control it.
China will launch two more Beidou "Compass" navigation spacecraft in 2007, increasing to five the number of satellites in the Chinese space-based positioning system. Even in its rudimentary form, the Beidou navigation satellite system can help new Chinese Type 094 ballistic-missile submarines better target their missiles. Plans call for a 35-satellite Beidou system, with five in geosynchronous orbit and the rest in medium-altitude orbits. China Aerospace and Technology Corp. recently unveiled a family of satellite-guided weapons for export (AW&ST Nov. 6, p.
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Before US Airways gets bogged down in a massive potential merger with Delta, management admits it needs to get its own house in order and repair some nagging operational problems at Philadelphia, its key hub. The company plans to invest millions of dollars and hire at least 250 staff to eliminate costly hiccups and distractions there. At the same time, the carrier is pressuring the airport for more gates for a multi-year international expansion.
Consolidation of the U.S. airline industry toward three or perhaps four network carriers, at long last, has begun. The trigger for a new round of concentration of the six largest major airlines came from an unexpected source. US Airways, still merging with partner America West, is seeking to include the U.S.'s third-biggest carrier, Delta Air Lines, itself in bankruptcy reorganization, to create the nation's largest airline.
Prof. John H. Marsh, who is co-founder/ chief technical officer of Intense Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland, and University of Glasgow Prof. Catrina Bryce have won the 2006 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Lasers and Electro-Optics Society's Engineering Achievement Award. The award was presented "for extensive development and commercialization of quantum well intermixing for photonic devices."
Boeing has won a $108-million contract to deliver Radar System Improvement Program kits to the Japanese air force for its four E-767 AWACS aircraft. Boeing is the integrator for the kits, which will include a new radar computer, radar control maintenance panel, and software upgrades to radar and mission system programs.
Analysis of the 24 most distant supernovae visible with the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed that the mysterious force astronomers call "dark energy" existed up to 9 billion years ago, and overcame the gravitational pull of matter between 5 and 6 billion years ago. The finding, based on the relative brightness of the most distant supernovae--in space and time --that the Hubble can detect, lends weight to Albert Einstein's hypothesis that a repulsive force is countering the inward pull of gravity.
AirAsia wants to order another 60 A320s, if only Airbus could deliver them early enough. The rapidly growing Malaysian no-frills carrier has 13 A320s in service, 87 on order and 30 covered by options that didn't come with delivery slots. "Ideally, we'd like to get 24 aircraft a year," says investor relations officer Mohshin Aziz.
Airbus's order book is again showing life, and could allow the aircraft maker to retain at least one championship belt this year in its competition with Boeing: the highest sales total for single-aisle aircraft. Moreover, after two years of strong orders for both Boeing and Airbus, it is looking like 2007 will prove to be another very good year.
Prospects for continued domestic funding support and a breakthrough export sale for France's Rafale F2 multirole fighter have been boosted by the aircraft's successful showing in a recent allied exercise and the contracting of a new upgrade package to enhance the aircraft's competitiveness.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a man at Detroit Metro Airport on Nov. 14 after he was found to be carrying a large amount of cash and a laptop computer with information on cyanide and nuclear materials. Sisaychiticha Dinssa, a U.S. citizen who was born in Ethiopia, was being held pending a federal court detention hearing Nov. 20. ICE agents said in an affidavit on the incident that the man arrived in Detroit from Amsterdam on board Northwest Airlines Flight 93.
Arianespace continues to garner new launch business, benefiting from what has become a seller's market. Last week CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall revealed the company had signed up its eleventh payload of the year, for an unannounced customer, just one week after landing an award for the TerreStar-1 mobile communications spacecraft. Le Gall says the new orders--three more than originally targeted for 2006--reflect the company's dependable launch record over the past three years and a scarcity of available capacity elsewhere.
Revenue at Thales for the first nine months of 2006 is up only 1%. Total consolidated revenue for the period is €6.9-billion. Aerospace remains the company's largest activity with €1.7-billion in revenue and 12% growth through September. Land and joint systems achieved the greatest expansion at 18%. In the third quarter alone, growth for joint systems reached 23% in a year-on-year comparison. Aerospace in the second quarter was up 14% as the first revenue was generated from the U.K.'s Watchkeeper unmanned aircraft program.
The final accident report on the Sept. 29 midair collision of a Gol Lineas Aereas Boeing 737-800 and an Embraer Legacy business jet over the Amazon rain forest will be completed in about a year, say Brazil's accident investigators.
Apple Computer Inc. is working with six airlines to connect Apple's iPods with in-flight entertainment systems. Airlines may be offering iPod seat connections as early as the middle of next year. Users will be able to power and charge iPods during flight and view video content from them on seat displays. The six carriers are Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United. Apple is working with Panasonic Avionics Corp. to add more airlines to the list.
Raytheon will provide ALR-67(V)3 radar warning receivers to Australia for its F/A-18 fleet after Canberra determined using the BAE Systems ALR-2002B would be too difficult. Australia sought to standardize early warning equipment on the ALR-2002, which is being installed in helicopters and transports, but integration with the fighter proved infeasible. The government recently said it was reviewing the program status and has opted for the Raytheon system compatible with the F/A-18. Installation will begin in 2008, with full operational capability in 2011.
Russia's effort to consolidate--and arguably renationalize--its aerospace manufacturers has begun in earnest. The consolidation is an attempt to structure what remains of Russia's aerospace development and manufacturing base to secure a long-term future.
NASA's Ares I project manager is hopeful a way can be found to allow the space shuttle program to retain control of Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center for a Hubble Servicing mission and still leave room for the first Ares I test flight on schedule.
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