Russian flag carrier Aeroflot officially joined the SkyTeam Alliance last week, becoming its 10th member. Russia's largest airline, which last year handled 6.7 million passengers, will provide alliance passengers connections with its domestic and international route structure through Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. The airline, which recently successfully passed an IOSA audit, operates an approximately 90-aircraft fleet serving 87 destinations in 47 countries.
Faced with a daunting pilot shortage, Asia's legacy and budget carriers alike are looking for innovations in type-rating training. One approach in particular, the International Civil Aviation Organization's Multicrew Pilot License training program, is generating a lot of interest.
As General Electric and Rolls-Royce surge ahead with powerplants for the industry's new midsize transports, Pratt & Whitney is the third man out. Once the dominant force in commercial engine manufacturing with the venerable JT8D, Pratt no longer wants a solo lead in major engine-development programs, choosing instead to be a team player on selected projects.
Douglas Barrie (London), Robert Wall (Paris), Pierre Sparaco (Toulouse)
Inflated acquisition prices, transatlantic tensions with the Pentagon and an increasingly hostile legislative environment threaten to hamper BAE Systems' intent to fully cash in on selling its Airbus share to fund a further U.S. acquisition. The move to sell its 20% share in Airbus to EADS, the majority shareholder in the commercial aircraft manufacturer, reflects BAE's continuing focus on the U.S. defense market, at the expense of Europe.
Air Chief Marshal Glenn Torpy took over as British Royal Air Force chief of air staff last week. He succeeds Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, who will become chief of the defense staff at the end of this month.
Richard Tuttle (Colorado Springs), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington )
China's progress in space and NASA's new exploration policy might be ingredients for space cooperation between Beijing and Washington, but the U.S. space agency and its White House bosses are remaining aloof.
The three European partners in General Electric's GEnx continue to increase their share of the new engine program, as delivery of first components begins to ramp up.
BAE SYSTEMS HAS BOOSTED PRODUCTION OF COMMON MISSILE warning systems (CMWS) for the U.S. military to 40 systems a month and plans to increase the tempo further. It has just received a U.S. Army contract for more than 200 of the systems to protect fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Earlier deliveries to the Army have been under a September 2004 contract and have been made "as quickly as possible" as requested by the military. BAE Systems personnel have also been supporting the systems in the field in areas where U.S. aircraft have been attacked with heat-seeking missiles.
Northwest Airlines has received court approval for restructured agreements covering 12 Boeing 747-400 aircraft. The Eagan, Minn.-based network carrier operated 16 747-400s prior to its filing for Chapter 11 reorganization last year. It is negotiating with parties for other aircraft agreements as part of the reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Thus far, Northwest has rejected or abandoned 51 mainline and regional aircraft.
Boeing will soon close deals with Chinese carriers for the purchase of 80 Next-Generation 737s. The aircraft will be assembled on a moving production line at the company's Renton, Wash., facility.
Qantas will close down its economy carrier Australian Airlines in July and focus on a two-brand strategy: Mainline Qantas will target premium business and leisure passengers and budget Jetstar, leisure markets. The Australian Airlines staff will operate under wet-lease agreement with Qantas until November, when Jetstar is to start flying international routes. Its proposed route network includes Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand; Osaka, Japan; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Bali, and Honolulu. Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon says the services will operate in Qantas livery.
Who's the fairest airline of all? JetBlue Airways ranked No. 1 performer in the 16th annual Airline Quality Rating report released last week. It was followed by low-fare brethren AirTran, now-defunct Independence Air and Southwest. However, 15 of the 17 largest U.S. airlines ranked in the study showed an overall decline in performance in 2005 compared with 2004, using four criteria: on-time performance, denied boardings, mishandled baggage and customer complaints.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Apr. 25-26--MRO Military, Phoenix. Apr. 26-27--MRO USA, Phoenix. May 16-17--MRO Military Europe, in conjunction with ILA air show, Berlin. Sept. 19-21--MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition, Xiamen, China. Oct. 24-26--MRO Europe Conference & Exhibition, Amsterdam.
Japan Airlines and China's Hainan Airlines are expanding their code-sharing agreement to increase JAL's penetration of the Chinese market in Beijing, Kunming and Xian. The two carriers already code-share on some Beijing and Chengdu flights to Osaka's Kansai International Airport and Haikou on Hainan Island.
Not to be outdone by the Air Force's performance using unmanned aerial vehicles to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Navy is considering sending its first Global Hawk, delivered from the factory only last month, to the Middle East for duty. N-1 would carry its integrated sensor suite and specialized maritime surveillance software to the theater and collect data on targets in and around the Persian Gulf. The Navy has long been worried about asymmetric maritime threats, such as a swarming boat attack.
Richard Bloch admonished the Delta pilots' union and airline management in highly unusual, impassioned remarks at the close of the hearing on Delta's 1113 motion to nullify the pilots contract (see main bar). Bloch is chairman of the three-member panel that by Apr. 15 is to decide, albeit reluctantly, on the motion. Following are excerpts:
Frank Brittain (see photo) has been named vice president-Washington operations for AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Md. He succeeds Albert Barry, who is scheduled to retire. Brittain has been a member of the Washington office staff.
NASA's nuclear-powered Cassini probe continues to rack up spectacular images of the ringed planet Saturn and its many moons, but the Cassini imaging team has also put out the best color maps of Jupiter yet, as this South Pole view shows. Based on images collected Dec. 11-12, 2000, as Cassini approached Jupiter en route to its ultimate destination, the maps cover the entire planet with a peak resolution of about 75 mi. Overall, the imaging team used 36 images, collected hourly for 9 hr.
Financial analysts are wondering if recent selloffs by two of EADS's main shareholders signal declining hopes of buying a piece of defense contractor Thales to balance out its Airbus commercial business--and that rival Boeing Co. may be gaining a strategic edge in the civil aircraft business.
CAE Inc. has received contracts worth $33 million from EADS CASA and the Australian government to provide the Royal Australian Air Force's A330 tanker program with a simulator, mission systems trainer, new training facility and five-year support package. The simulator will be delivered to RAAF Amberley in 2009. The A330 beat out the 767 in the Australian tanker competition on the basis of more cargo-carrying capacity and the maturity of its hose-and-drogue refueling capability.
Embraer wants to improve the production flow on its regional jet line, and hopes the coming months will see start-up problems slowly fade into the background.
Sweden has taken delivery of the first two of 20 AgustaWestland A109 light utility helicopters that the country has ordered. The A109s, which are powered by Turbomeca Arrius 2K2 engines, will be used for surveillance, troop transport and emergency medical services.
