Bangkok's $3.3-billion Suvarnabhumi International Airport may be located on golden land, as its name suggests, but it is wrought with challenges as it nears its Sept. 28 opening. Critics worry that national authorities rushed systems testing and they predict a rough transition because this city's current airport, Don Muang International, will be shut down completely.
Relative to Julius Maldutis's comments and Kenneth J. Kahn's observations (AW&ST Sept. 4, p. 6), the airline finance problem did not start with the 1978 deregulation act, although it was triggered by it. It started with the well-intentioned 1938 act that established the Civil Aeronautics Board, in the interest of founding a strong airline industry. CAB sunset should have come in the early 1950s.
David A. Fulghum (Practica Di Mare AFB, Italy), Andy Nativi (Genoa)
Italy's KC-767 will be a simple aircraft initially, dedicated to refueling, cargo-hauling and shifting personnel during far-off deployments. But in the military's long-term vision, the aircraft may prove to be the ticket to network-centric operations, advanced command and control, and intelligence-gathering. The Italian air force (ITAF) is ready for the "smart tanker" concept, which can offer--to a nation suffering from a natural disaster or war--communication links and real-time information.
EADS and Finmeccanica-Alenia expect to hire in the next few months a combined 2,000 additional workers to support Avions de Transport Regional's need to boost its production rate. This year, the Franco-Italian manufacturer (which subcontracts airframe subassembly manufacturing to its parent companies) is set to deliver 26 twin turboprops, up from a low of 10 in 2005, and plans to produce 44 aircraft in 2007 and about 60 in 2008. The 700th aircraft was delivered amid much fanfare to India's Air Deccan on Sept. 8.
Airbus has adjusted its A380 test plan to gain aircraft type certification by year-end. But questions are being raised about whether the program will suffer further delays. Flight test officials say they hope to wrap up the systems validation phase by the end of October and begin long-range proving flights in November. "We're starting to see the bright light at the end of the tunnel," says Fernando Alonso, vice president of flight tests at Airbus.
Ricky Peters (see photo) has been appointed executive director of the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold AFB, Tenn. He was chief of the modeling and simulation division of the Capabilities Integration Directorate at the Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Finmeccanica has posted a record net profit of €575 million, up 448% in the first half of the year, on revenue of €5.9 billion, mainly driven by the income from the sale of shares in Ansaldo STS rail business. Even without the out-time deal, profit was up 62% to €170 million. Earnings before interest and taxes increased to €305 million, with a relatively flat order intake of €8 billion. Total backlog now stands at €35 billion. Net debt increased once again, reaching €1.4 billion, compared with €1.1 billion in first-half 2005.
NASA has awarded almost $730 million in spaceflight-support contract extensions to Boeing and Lockheed Martin for services at its Kennedy and Johnson centers. Boeing will get a $278.5-million extension on its checkout, assembly and payload processing contract at Kennedy, running through September 2009 and bringing the total contract value to about $856 million. Lockheed Martin will get a five-year extension worth as much as $488.8 million from Johnson for space shuttle and International Space Station mission operations support work.
Do today's compressed airline operations allow flight crews sufficient time to safely prepare their flights? Is a nominal 40-min. check-in enough time to review weather, route of flight, fuel, weight and balance, notams, pre-flight inspection and taxi planning, along with flight management system programming and cross checking? Are the "leftovers" conducted heads-down while taxiing, when high levels of vigilance and situational awareness are needed from all flight crewmembers?
The Atlantis mission, set for landing this week, reinitiates International Space Station assembly while also clearing the way for resumption of night launches critical to completion of the ISS before shuttle phaseout in 2010. Pending a final data review, STS-115 also validates key post-Columbia shuttle changes supporting the expected mid-October approval for a final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope between December 2007 and April 2008.
With more losses to its name, long-struggling Alitalia is setting out on yet another turnaround plan. In the meantime, the Italian government has sided with CEO Gianfranco Cimoli, whose job was in doubt. The latest turnaround plan will aim to discover new cost-cutting opportunities and boost revenue and profits. Last week, Alitalia reported a first-half loss of €221 million ($281 million). Revenue was €2.04 billion, up by 2.8% from the year-ago period.
Satellite communications supplier TriaGnoSys says its Internet access software for the inflight broadband service to be offered on the Airbus A380 has passed all tests with flying colors. The software will host both passenger and crew/cockpit applications. The first A380 broadband service will be offered by Airbus-led OnAir with an unidentified airline in 2008 (AW&ST Aug. 7, p. 54). TriaGnoSys also introduced what is claimed to be the first third-generation cell phone system for business aviation users, in partnership with 3Way Networks.
The F-117A may yet be released from the operational bonds that restrict its combat operations to nights, although the Operational Testing unit is to be disbanded as an Air Force cost-cutting measure in an announcement scheduled for Sept. 15.
Julius Maldutis and Peter Lubitz are both right and both wrong. Maldutis is right that industry problems are result of bankruptcy laws and courts. Lubitz is also right that the ills result from economic factors and airlines management style. Both experts are wrong by not connecting their two points of view. Bankruptcy laws and courts protect status quo management teams and their failed philosophies, which are the core of Lubitz's argument that management is the culprit.
Robert Wall (Beijing and Shenzhen), Michael Mecham (Beijing)
As China's airlines ride an economy that's surging 10.5% a year, an expanding market for maintenance, repair and overhaul services is sure to follow. Lufthansa has gained a major stake in the market and a secure stream through its Ameco Beijing joint venture with Air China. The partnership has become one of the industry's strongest and was recently extended another 25 years. In addition, Lufthansa Technik has established separate MRO facilities in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong.
Ryanair plans to begin services to Morocco by November, adding another nearly 4-hr. sector to its expanding route structure. The low-cost carrier last week began flights from Dublin to Malta, again with a roughly 4-hr. flight time. Meanwhile, inflight voice/data operator OnAir named ECS of Franklin, Wis., to install cell-phone equipment on Boeing 737s, beginning with Ryanair's 200-aircraft fleet. The first aircraft will be equipped in mid-2007.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne admits he is pushing an upgrade to the F-22--a move that breaks his own rule of "fighting off people who want to add that extra radio signal or the odd antenna." Nonetheless, "we would like [the F-22] to be multi-mission from the standpoint that it has the best radar on the battlefield," Wynne says. He wants that radar picture shared with everybody else on the battlefield.
A Pentagon funding squeeze is prompting the Air Force's top general and political appointee to mount a frontal attack on laws restricting aircraft retirements. Their predecessors have not been successful persuading lawmakers to allow aircraft based in their districts to leave the force. But unless USAF can shed old, maintenance-hungry airframes, it cannot reallocate funds to buy new tankers and rescue helicopters, say Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Secretary Michael Wynne.
Japan has launched the second of two optical reconnaissance satellites on board an H-IIA booster from the Tanegashima Space Center, improving its surveillance capacity for watching North Korean missile programs. Development of a four-satellite recce program, with two optical and two radar spacecraft, has been a major drive of the country's space program, consuming about a third of its development budget in recent years. Officially called "Information Gathering Satellites," they are built by Mitsubishi Electric.
Airbus's ongoing crisis, although not a rare occurrence in the corporate world, may signal that the cross-border company's prevailing governance has reached its limits. If the in-house investigation shows that the A380's costly delay and A350's aborted launch resulted from a cover-up and flawed market analysis, much more than a mere top-management reshuffling will be needed to restore superior efficiency and reestablish confidence in the company's future.
The topic of airline bankruptcies is an oft-visited water-cooler discussion at my place of business. It was interesting to note that both authors of the point-counterpoint pieces gave nod to the original design of Chapter 11 regulations--allowing breathing room for a struggling corporation to regroup, adjust its business model and (hopefully) emerge a fitter competitor, worthy of survival (AW&ST Aug. 21/28, pp. 62-63).
MBDA has carried out the third firing of its Meteor rocket-ramjet powered radar-guided air-to-air missile, as part of its air-launched demonstration campaign for the weapon.
Pratt & Whitney Canada will establish a PW100 hot section overhaul shop by year-end in India to service ATR 42/72 turboprops as part of a general expansion of United Technologies Corp.'s presence here, says President and Chief Operating Officer Louis Chenevert.
Government control over key strategic and defense assets is on the rise, whether in the form of Russian nationalization of energy and raw material companies or the assertions of U.S. policymakers that "strategic" assets such as ports and oil companies should be subject to greater government oversight. This comes at a time when, throughout the world, lower levels of innovation and poor financial management are generally the hallmarks of government-owned companies.
