Boeing is expanding the nominal three-class seating capacity of the 747-8 Intercontinental to 467 passengers as its searches for its first customer in a sluggish market for very large aircraft.
French aerospace and defense executives are bracing for possible repercussions to a bill before the House of Deputies that would make it a criminal offense to deny that the death of one million or more Armenians in Turkey in the aftermath of World War I constitutes genocide. Although President Jacques Chirac has promised not to sign the bill, which follows an earlier law equating the killings with genocide, Turkish officials have called for economic reprisals. Among the casualties could be a large contract for transport helicopters.
For American and Continental, the minor victory of a profitable third quarter should be a prelude to an even more important achievement--both carriers are poised to record full-year profits after spending almost all of the past six years in the red.
The Japanese coast guard has selected the AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter to replace its fleet of Bell 212s for all-weather search-and-rescue duties. The initial firm order covers only three helicopters, but the coast guard is expected to buy up to 24 AW139s for about $300 million.
Airbus is starting to implement the first elements of a recovery plan to increase its competitiveness. The effort has taken on further importance as the company acknowledges A380 profitablility will be pushed back almost a decade.
Starsem indicates it is studying the possibility of launching the planned second-generation Globalstar mobile satellite system using the Soyuz Fregat, instead of the Ikar version employed for the initial spacecraft. The Fregat could orbit six spacecraft at once, despite the fact that the new spacecraft will weigh 200 kg. more than present units, executives say. Globalstar says it will decide by Nov. 15 whether to turn a €7.7-million authorization to proceed for 48 Globalstar 2s and a ground segment upgrade--issued to Alcatel Alenia Space--into a firm contract.
I agree with John Guthridge's letter "Turboprops Have Benefits" (AW&ST Sept. 11, p. 6) regarding the many advantages of turboprops versus jets for regional airlines. Unfortunately, the accident rate for "puddle-jumpers" has been less than stellar, causing some passenger avoidance. If turboprops are to gain wide acceptance on regional airlines, two important design issues should be addressed:
Mikael Grodzinsky has been appointed director of human resources for Saab. He succeeds Mats Lindman, who will be retiring. Grodzinsky was managing director/business manager of Saab Underwater Systems. He will be succeeded by Lars Tossman, who has been marketing manager for Saab Bofors Dynamics.
Airbus's order intake for October is shaping up to make people forget a dismal September, when it booked only four narrow-body sales. Two deals from Germany alone totaled 55 aircraft, and Singapore's Tiger Airways opted for eight A320s. The sales, announced within a week, represent a more than 25% boost to the order book at the end of the third quarter. Lufthansa firmed up its order of five A319s, 10 A320s, 15 A321s and five A330-300s, while Blue Wings inked a previously announced deal for 16 A320s and four A321s.
Piaggio Aero Industries has agreed to take a 25% stake in the P&WC Turbo Engines, the Pratt & Whitney Canada venture making the PW206 and PW207 helicopters engines. They power a variety of rotorcraft, from the AgustaWestland A109 Power, to the Eurocopter EC135, to the Bell 427. Piaggio wants to strengthen its aero-engines business and has invested close to €50 million ($62.6 million) in the deal. It hopes to generate €500 million in revenue in the coming two decades through this arrangement.
Steve Hewitt has been appointed director of aftermarket services for Meggitt Aerospace Equipment, Simi Valley, Calif. He was director of customer service director for Whittaker Controls.
NASA is eyeing slips of roughly one month in the launch dates for at least the first three space shuttle missions of 2007 as it prepares to launch Discovery on the STS-116 International Space Station (ISS) assembly flight as early as Dec. 7. The schedule changes are related to external tank production scheduling at the NASA/Lockheed Martin Michoud facility in Louisiana, which is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The delays also are related to spacing between Russian Soyuz and Progress launches to the ISS in 2007.
International Launch Services (ILS) has scheduled its next Proton M launch--the second since the booster returned to service and the first since the withdrawal of Lockheed Martin from ILS--for Nov. 9. The payload will be Badr-4 (Arabsat 4B), the first of two fourth-generation satellites to be put in operation by Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat). The 32-transponder K u-band spacecraft was built by Astrium with the payload supplied by Alcatel Alenia Space.
Jim McNeill (see photo) has become regional vice president-FBO operations for Tempe, Ariz.-based Landmark Aviation. He was general manager of Landmark's fixed-base operation at Washington Dulles International Airport.
U.S. Air Mobility Command has declared an initial operational capability for the C-130J airlifter. During the aircraft's first deployment to Southwest Asia, two C-130Js from the Maryland Air National Guard's 135th Airlift Group marked a 93.1% mission-capable rate during 1,381 hr. of flight. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has received a $110-million contract to upgrade C-130Js flown by Britain, Australia, Italy and Denmark.
Gerson S. Sher has been appointed president of the Arlington, Va.-based United States Industry Coalition. He was president/executive director of the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation.
Fixed-wing aircraft may not operate in New York's East River VFR Corridor unless they are under air traffic control jurisdiction. The FAA last week issued a Notice to Airmen, limiting airspace use to helicopter operations and seaplanes flying out of New York Skyports Seaplane Base. The FAA's move follows the Oct. 11 crash of Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle's Cirrus SR-20 into a Manhattan high-rise condominium (AW&ST Oct. 16, p. 22). The VFR corridor extends from the southwestern tip of Governor's Island to the northern tip of Roosevelt Island, under 1,100-ft. AGL.
Pressure on research and development funding is forcing the British Defense Ministry to put high-speed weapons work on the back burner, despite an ongoing program into ramjet propulsion.
First results from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provide provocative new evidence that there were diverse watery habitats capable of supporting life on Mars eons ago. MRO is also finding evidence of recent Martian climate changes only hundreds of years apart that could influence Earth climate studies.
The European Commission has approved a directive to oblige Europe to open its postal service market to full competition by 2009. The directive would notably liberalize parcel express shipments, which account for 13% of the €90-billion postal market. The measure must still be OK'd by the European Parliament and the 25 states of the European Union.
Your report on the Amazon midair underlines the tragic consequences of a single altitude error, regardless of who made it. On two-way airways, the risk of a midair following such an error is obvious, and modern navigation capability means there is no longer any protective track scatter. But there is a simple defense: Flying an offset of 1 mi. right would have put 2 mi. between the two aircraft.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and top Hubble Space Telescope and space shuttle managers are scheduled to meet this week for a decision on whether to proceed with a final shuttle mission to service the telescope on flight STS-125 in mid-April 2008. All indications are that the mission will be approved.
Anyone who has flown in the high-altitude structure in South America knows of the inadequacies of air traffic control over Brazil and most of the rest of South America. Embraer 600 Legacy Capt. Joe Lepore and First Officer Jan Paladino are being made scapegoats for a broken ATC system. Little is being said in defense of these two pilots, whose aircraft was involved in a midair collision with a Gol Boeing 737-800 on Sept. 29 (AW&ST Oct. 9, p. 44).
U.S. aerospace companies began announcing third-quarter earnings last week. United Technologies Corp. reported net income of $996 million, up 21% from the same period a year ago. Quarterly revenues rose 12% to $12.2 billion. Among UTC units, Pratt & Whitney revenues were up 15% to $2.8 billion and operating profit rose 17% to $443 million. Sikorsky's revenues rose 36% to $867 million, and profit increased 9% to $70 million.
