Japan Airlines forecasts a net loss of 47 billion yen ($404 million) for fiscal 2005, which ended Mar. 31, 2006. A recent article (AW&ST Mar. 6, p. 39) incorrectly reported that loss as occurring in the last fiscal year when the carrier actually made a profit of 30.9 billion yen.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey says civil airspace will soon be "filling up very, very rapidly" with more commercial aircraft of all sizes--including unmanned aerial vehicles. The FAA has issued its first airworthiness certificate for a non-government UAV, she says, and "you're going to see more and more applications for it." The agency has issued a temporary flight restriction (TFR) in Arizona, where a Homeland Security Dept. Predator B patrols at night. But general aviation pilots fear security demands will shrink the airspace open to them.
Mesa Air Group is acting on plans to offer low-cost Hawaiian inter-island service beginning in June with CRJ200s. The Phoenix-based company formed the new airline Go! and is now offering introductory one-way fares as low as $39. Reservations can be made through www.iflygo.com or a toll-free number.
One B-2 upgrade has been completed with delivery of the 54th smart bomb rack assembly to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo. With the new dispensers, the bomber can deliver 80 500-lb. GBU-38 smart weapons with each targeted against a different aimpoint. The bomb racks are part of a continuing program to improve weapons loads, precision targeting, communications and airframe maintainability.
Air Jamaica is embarking on a plan to increase utilization of its 16 Airbus aircraft and expand air service, using airports in Kingston and Montego Bay as hubs for additional destinations in the Caribbean, Central and South America. The government-owned carrier serves 11 cities in North America and plans to add service to Western Europe, likely to Spain, in addition to its London service. CEO Michael Conway, a veteran U.S. airline executive, says the Air Jamaica pilot group has agreed to flying 75 hr. per month, which allows the expansion.
There's no denying the ignominy of dropping a flaming rocket 100 yd. from the pad. But SpaceX made a worthy attempt to put its first Falcon 1 rocket into space and the company's determination to recover from that loss is heartening (see p. 38).
Some of the Asia-Pacific region's better known carriers have voiced concern over the past few months about the expansionist ambitions of the well-financed airlines from the Middle East. Now, small island nations are beginning to feel the strain.
Capt. Brian Wilson's letter (AW&ST Mar. 13, p. 9) puts an interesting spin on deregulation history. He implies that, post-deregulation, it is unions and their "demands" that have brought once-profitable carriers to their knees. As a 20-year-plus ALPA member, I have a different view of what's gone down since deregulation.
Boeing is courting several major European carriers as potential launch customers for the passenger variant of the Boeing 747-8. The manufacturer expects proposals already submitted to airlines will result in the first order this year for what Boeing dubs the Intercontinental. Jeff Peace, Boeing Commercial Aircraft's vice president and 747-8 program manager, says the company has "proposals out [with airlines] approaching 100 aircraft. These are pretty much split 50-50" between the Intercontinental and the cargo variant of the aircraft.
As the aerospace industry shifts toward the increased use of composites more small suppliers are entering the field. One of the latest is P+Z Engineering in Munich. The company has established a composite engineering division and turned to Vistag Inc.'s FiberSim software as its design tool (see photo). P+Z also designs parts for the automotive industry and is seeking contracts for military and commercial aircraft.
A pair of new satcom operators north and south of the U.S. border are poised to reinforce a close operational partnership involving direct broadcasting system provider EchoStar and wholesaler SES Americom. But with EchoStar also accelerating its own satellite procurement plans, some are wondering about the future of the arrangement.
Bob Kane has been named director of Canadian sales for Teterboro, N.J.-based Dassault Falcon. He was head of concept sales in the Western U.S. Kane succeeds Cass Anderson, who is now Western U.S. sales manager.
Air Transport Assn. traffic and yield data for U.S. airlines in January and February, plus gains in March from Southwest Airlines' widely followed fare increase, lend promise to first-quarter airlines' financial results, expected this month. The ATA reports that mainline passenger traffic was up 1.1% in the first two months of 2006, a modest amount, but capacity was down 2.2% and load factors increased 2.5 percentage points to 75.1%.
Bombardier is profitable again. The Canadian aircraft and mass transit company posted net income of $249 million for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, compared with a net loss of $85 million the previous year. Business aircraft deliveries surged 45% to 186, helping offset a 25% slide in regional aircraft deliveries, to 149. Total revenues in the company's aerospace business increased 1%, to $8.1 billion, while order backlog rose 5% to $10.7 billion.
After 18 very exciting and rewarding years as publisher of Aviation Week & Space Technology and leading the Aviation Week Group, now McGraw-Hill Aerospace & Defense to reflect its transformation and expansion, I will retire from The McGraw-Hill Companies at the end of 2006.
A possible mega-merger between French telecom giant Alcatel and Lucent Technologies Inc. is driving new interest in defense electronics company Thales, long a target of bigger European defense players. An Alcatel board meeting, convened late last week to discuss the Lucent proposal, also dealt with separate negotiations that would center on Alcatel transferring its space and secure communications businesses to Thales in return for additional equity. The move would increase Alcatel's stake in Thales to 25% from 9.5%.
No clear directive actions are emerging from the investigation into the crash of a Flash Airlines Boeing 737-300, largely due to disagreements among the Egyptian, French and U.S. authorities. There are only a few areas of consensus between the Egyptian investigators--who emphasize technical faults with the aircraft--and their French and U.S. counterparts--who suspect that the flight crew was instrumental in the Jan. 3, 2004, crash that killed 148 people, primarily French tourists.
Boeing and Alliant Techsystems have teamed to compete for the new Israeli Short-Range Ballistic Missile Defense program that Boeing is pursuing with partner Israel Aircraft Industries. ATK is to build the system's rocket motor components, which it already does for the first and second stages of Israel's Arrow II interceptor program.
Space Exploration Technologies had a rough start with the loss of its first Falcon 1 rocket on Mar. 24, but its future customers are hanging in with the low-cost launch company, says SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. SpaceX engineers believe they know the reason for the accident, and Musk hopes to make the second flight by September or October.
I had to laugh when I read Mr. Boyd's comments (AW&ST Feb. 27, p. 12) where he opines that passengers will select planes equipped with entertainment systems over bare bones aircraft. I do not fit his passenger model. I recently flew from South America on a U.S.-built aircraft. I was in one of the three seats out of each row of seven that contained a large box--full of the same entertainment system that also took away half the length of each armrest's padding.
Lockheed Martin is not a bidder in the Gulf Cooperation Council's Hud-hud intelligence satellite system program. The company was described on this page in the Mar. 27 issue as the leader of an industry team competing for the contract.
Alaska's Cope Thunder exercises, which have provided a forum for international participation with U.S. forces, is being renamed and upgraded to provide training on the same level as the Red Flag event held at Nellis AFB, Nev. The idea is to produce a common set of exercises for standardized training capabilities at both sites. However, the first Red Flag Alaska will be conducted without international participation and without the newly operational F-22, scheduled to take part in a separate exercise in Alaska this summer.
