Malaysia Airlines Managing Director Idris Jala is on a cost-cutting spree that is focused on staff cuts. Already, more than 3,200 airline employees are taking advantage of a buyout plan that is expected to save the airline $55 million a year. MAS wants to cut a total of 6,500 jobs. The carrier had an $88-million loss in the first quarter, following a $30-million profit last year. With more losses in sight, it is withdrawing from unprofitable domestic routes in order to concentrate on higher-profit international flights from Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Lockheed Martin will launch the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover for NASA in late 2009 on an Atlas V under a contract worth nearly $195 million. NASA selected the Atlas V for the job, which covers spacecraft integration and launch services, over a Boeing Delta IV. The 3,000-kg. launch mass for the MSL rover is about triple the launch weight of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that were both launched on Delta IIs in 2003. The launch will be carried out at Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 41.
Ryanair is looking for 20% traffic growth this year, topping 40 million passengers, and even stronger than expected growth of 22% in 2007, the European low-fare carrier says. For the past financial year, the airline saw traffic grow 26% to 35 million passengers, and revenue increase 28% to 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion). Profit for the carrier reached 302 million euros, but profit growth for the current year is estimated only at 5-10%, largely due to fuel costs.
Sony Ericsson M600 3G World mobile phones will be put to test this month on SAS Scandinavian Airlines. Volunteer passengers on four New York-Stockholm flights are to try the efficiency of the new phones with VOIP (voice over Internet protocol). The phones will be connected via laptop computers using SAS Net Access, a high-speed wireless Internet service from Connexion by Boeing.
Edwin C. Humphreys, 3rd, has been promoted to senior vice president/director of the Professional Services Solutions Sector from head of the Systems Support Div./program manager for the Flexible Acquisition and Sustainment prime contract for the Air Forces Group (AFG) of MTC Technologies Inc., Dayton, Ohio. Robert D. Shuey, 3rd, has been promoted to senior vice president/director of the AFG's Legacy Systems Solutions Sector from technical director of the engineering group. Ron Lee and Brian Jones have been promoted to vice president.
The Brazilian government is close to ordering EADS CASA C-212 transport aircraft to replace Embraer-built Bandeirantes. Embraer, usually a partner on such projects, opted not to become involved because the work on the C-212s offered no technological benefit to the Brazilian aircraft maker, company officials say.
Data on traffic and other variables suggest that the six big U.S. network airlines, the world aviation industry's endangered species since 2001, stand a reasonable chance of turning in a collective operating profit during the current fiscal quarter.
JAXA Project Manager Junichiro Kawaguchi says Hayabusa, which has surprised the science community with startlingly clear images of the asteroid Itokawa, is in good shape to return to Earth in 2010. The Japanese space agency has stabilized the spacecraft, which had attitude control issues because of the loss of its reaction control system. Extensive baking cycles have purged fuel leaked from the broken RCS. Run tests of the B and D engines in Hayabusa's A/B/C/D-ion propulsion engines showed them in "very good" condition, Kawaguchi said.
Elaine Roberts, who is president/CEO of the Columbus (Ohio) Regional Airport Authority, has been elected national chair of the executive committee of the Alexandria, Va.-based American Assn. of Airport Executives for the 2006-07 term. She was first vice chair. Roberts succeeds Lowell Pratte, deputy executive director of Louisville (Ky.) International Airport, who will be first past chair.
Transport Canada has awarded type certification for the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW980A auxiliary power unit for the Airbus A380. The APU, which provides power equivalent to more than 1,800 hp., is the largest unit on the market, according to Pratt & Whitney.
Morocco is said to be interested in acquiring 12-18 Rafale multirole fighters, reportedly with financing from Saudi Arabia. French defense officials say Rabat "is clearly showing an interest" in the aircraft, but note that the exact level of interest and the role the Saudis would play remain unclear. Both the government and prime contractor Dassault Aviation insist no talks are underway.
Niall Greene has been appointed managing director and Rob Cowan head of operations of Dublin-based Aviareto. Greene was senior vice president-business development for GE Capital Aviation Services, while Cowan was an official of the Irish Aviation Authority.
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Hamilton Sundstrand will use Vienna-based TTTech Computertechnik's time-triggered protocol fault-tolerance software to help design the electric and environmental control systems for the Boeing 787. The software monitors operational consistency and detects errors during the design of distributed electronic systems.
Paul Marchisotto, a Northrop Grumman vice president who was instrumental in crafting the company's Joint Strike Fighter partnership with Lockheed Martin, died May 27 in a airplane crash near Redding, Calif. He was 49. Marchisotto's wife Linda and 15-year-old daughter Amy also died when the Cessna 182 went down in a rugged area. Linda Marchisotto was an engineer for Northrop Grumman's Space Technology Sector in Redondo Beach, Calif. Paul Marchisotto was piloting the aircraft. A Northrop Grumman official said it was too soon to know what caused the crash.
A new civil aviation policy is expected to provide a major boost for 70-90-seat regional jets in India as low-fare carriers follow the demographics of the rising incomes of the nation's middle class--and the rising transportation expectations that come with them. The long-awaited aviation policy remains a pending issue. It is expected to include policies to help smaller towns join India's airline boom.
Abdul Kalam, India's president and supreme commander of armed forces, has become the first president of any country to fly a Sukhoi Su-30MKI. Kalam, 75, whom Indians call their "missile man" because of his development work, climbed to 20,000 ft. as a passenger in a jet flown by an Indian air force pilot.
Larry Harrell, who is Northrop Grumman International's vice president-programs, has been appointed managing director/CEO of Alliance Ground Surveillance Industries GmbH., a joint venture of EADS, Galileo Avionica, General Dynamics Canada, Indra, Northrop Grumman and Thales.
United Airlines plans to decide within the next six months whether to move its corporate headquarters from Elk Grove Township, Ill., outside of Chicago, to a downtown location, or relocate altogether to San Francisco or Denver as a way to cut property costs. The airline has been quietly working on the project for weeks, but CEO Glenn Tilton and the top executive leading the project confirm that work is well underway and the actual move could happen in 2007.
Results of a nine-month review of Australia's aviation policy passed with little fanfare when they were announced in February. But as fall tourism statistics began pouring in last week, the trumpets started blaring.
NASA is moving toward using the same venerable rocket engine to power both its planned robotic lunar lander and the generic descent module that will deliver crew and supplies to future Moon bases.
MBDA has successfully test-fired the Teseo Mk 2/A, an improved version of the Otomat antiship missile earmarked for the Italian navy. The Mk 2/A is equipped with a new launch system, a data link for revectoring in flight and a radio seeker identical to that on MBDA's new Marte Mk 2/S helicopter-borne light antiship missile, which underwent trials in May.
Peter H. Diamandis, founder/chairman of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based X Prize Foundation, is among the winners of a 2006 Lindbergh Award, as granted by the Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation. He was honored for his efforts toward achieving the Lindberghs' vision of balance. Diamandis was cited for "his ability to inspire the brightest minds on Earth to tackle the world's most pressing issues." Diamandis also recently was named to receive the first $500,000 Heinlein Prize, which was founded by the Robert A.
Pentagon concerns about China's military buildup don't raise the question of a Cold War-style arms race between the two countries, says a panel of China experts. The economies of China and the U.S. are too intertwined to revert to the ideology-driven conflict between Soviet expansion and U.S. containment, according to speakers at a Heritage Foundation discussion of the Pentagon's latest report on China's military expansion.
The British Defense Ministry is to allocate six Jaguar ground attack aircraft along with two tankers--likely VC10s--as part of the NATO Response Force (NRF). The assets will be available from July to December of 2006, the period covered by NRF7. Four Rapier surface-to-air missile fire units are also part of the package.
