Singapore Technologies Aerospace will establish an airframe and heavy maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Panama, marking its first advance into Latin America. One of the industry's fastest-growing regions, Latin America is drawing increasing attention for its potential for low-cost airframe overhauls, especially for narrow-body aircraft. Major investments have been expected for several years by the industry's overhaul giants.
A two-thirds jump in fuel prices caused annual profits for Cathay Pacific Airways to fall by 25% last year, even though revenues were up 19.1%. The Hong Kong-based carrier reported profits of HK$4.42 billion ($570 million) on revenues of HK$50.9 billion. Aside from its fuel costs, which reached HK$15.6 billion, Cathay was able to cut unit costs by 1.9%. It carried 15.4 million passengers, up 13.7 million from 2004, and had strong demand in first and business classes.
JEPPESEN IS TAKING AIM AT THE MARKET FOR HELPING AIRLINES make the transition from paper to digital flight decks. It is teaming up with Rockwell Collins to offer airlines and military transport operators an electronic flight bag (EFB) that can be tailored to their needs. The partners will employ all or part of the EFB hardware made by Rockwell Collins and all or part of the software developed by Jeppesen. They will also provide the ground-based infrastructure and configuration control to support the flight-deck systems.
China plans to increase military spending this year by 14.7% to $35.3 billion. The increase would be the largest in the past four years and is being driven by political tension between China and Taiwan. Funding for science and technology is up 19.2% compared with 2005. Defense representative Jiang Enzhu says China spent only 1.35% of its GDP on defense, compared with 3.6% for the U.S. and 2.59% for the U.K.
More groups of U.S. airline engineers could soon be seeking union protection, now that their counterparts at United Airlines have signed a contract with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.
Finnair is progressing with its strategy to expand long-haul operations, in a bid for higher profits. New routes to Nagoya, Japan, are to be opened in June and New Delhi in November. The carrier is also adding frequencies to China and come mid-May, operations to Hong Kong will be nonstop, with the elimination of the layover in Bangkok. Mid-year, the service on that route will also increase to four frequencies per week from three.
National Air Support (NAS), a private contractor that handles aerial coastal surveillance for the Australian government, has ordered three Bombardier Q300 turboprop Maritime Patrol Aircraft worth $53 million. NAS recently won a 12-year, A$1 billion ($0.73 billion) renewal of its contract with the Australian Customs Service. The maritime surveillance program uses five twin-engine Bombardier Dash 8/Q200 airplanes that have logged more than 70,000 hr. in the air since 1995.
Joshua Wachsmuth has been promoted to general manager of Signature Flight Support's FBO at Des Moines (Iowa) International Airport from operations manager at Minneapolis/St.Paul International Airport.
NASA says it's pleased with the number of bids it received Mar. 3 for its $500-million Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program from "the full spectrum of industry." But the space agency doesn't plan to announce any winners until this summer, and some industry insiders won't be surprised to find only familiar--and big--corporate names on that list. The COTS program was designed to spur private investment by space entrepreneurs willing to take some risks hauling cargo and eventually crew to the International Space Station.
Technology is moving expert linguists from the collection point to rear areas in aircraft-based eavesdropping missions. A top strategic defense planner describes an Air Force experiment that points toward a change in current practice, in which RC-135 Rivet Joint and EP-3 aircraft carry linguists forward to a coastline or an adversary area so they can listen in on conversations. "How do you find the right conversation?" the planner asks. "You can't do it by moving the person to the conversation.
Workings of the Cape Town Treaty, which establishes an international framework for protection of asset rights of owners, underwriters and lessors of aircraft and engines, will be the focus of a conference Apr. 27-28 at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington (AW&ST Mar. 6, p. 18). The conference's keynote address will be given by Ambassador Lorne S. Clark, chairman of the DJ Air Group, who headed the International Air Transport Assn. delegation to the Cape Town diplomatic conference.
Boeing and NASA are completing a series of wind tunnel tests in the National Transonic Facility at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. The experiments are designed to validate the high-lift flap for the Boeing 787 and are based on a 5.2% semi-span model of a Boeing 777 wing featuring a 787 flap configuration. The model provides detailed information on the new flap without building a dedicated 787 model.
Airbus officials are upping their aircraft demand projections, giving rise to hopes that any industry downturn will be less severe than in the past. After coming under criticism from their management for failing to anticipate the strength of demand in Asian growth markets, Airbus forecasters have undertaken a detailed review, particularly of India. And while India was already seen as a hot growth market, the in-depth assessment says the picture is even more positive than thought.
"Bravo" for the article "Securing Safety for All " by Pierre Sparaco (AW&ST Feb. 13, p. 54). It is encouraging to see an international perspective promoting non-political safety measures. I agree that blacklisting is not the answer for securing safer air travel. The answer lies with future international efforts in standardization, training and system safety programming.
European satellite manufacturers are increasingly turning to Russian partners to bolster their position in the telecom satellite business, paralleling similar efforts in the space launch sector.
Kenya Airways has given Boeing its first order of 2006 for the 787, purchasing six to replace its 767 fleet beginning in 2010. Kenya was the first sub-Sahara African customer to buy the 777 and becomes the continent's third customer for the 787. Its fleet of 21 aircraft also includes 737s, and it recently signed an agreement with Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprises for three 737-800s.
If as the FAA claims, the average age of the general aviation fleet is 35 years now, and expected to increase to 50 years by 2020 (AW&ST Feb. 13, p. 13), then the FAA shouldn't be worried about aging. In fact, that implies older aircraft are expected to hold up better than new ones.
The dog days of summer will be busy ones for Delta Air Lines, as it implements its restructuring strategy: right-sizing aircraft and adding feeder frequencies to connect with expanding international and transcontinental services at main hubs.
MOONEY AIRPLANE CO. HAS DELIVERED ITS 11,000TH production airplane, an Ovation2 GX. The single-engine, piston-powered monoplane is equipped with a Garmin G1000 avionics package, a GTX 330 Mode S transponder, XM satellite radio and an STEC 55X autopilot. The 10,000th airplane was delivered in 1991. Last year, Mooney delivered 85 aircraft.
Data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain's Sierra de Los Filabres were combined to produce this false-color image of one galaxy crashing into another at more than 1 million mph. The green shock wave, which is larger than our Milky Way galaxy, represents atoms of hydrogen gas heated as the galaxy designated NGC7318b (the pink dot on the left at the center of the image) careens into its neighbor.
Rob Maruster has been appointed senior vice president-airports and operational planning and Gerald Lee vice president-business development for JetBlue Airways. Maruster was vice president-operational planning, while Lee was assistant treasurer.
Taiwan-based China Airlines' subsidiary Mandarin Airlines is looking at eight Boeing 737-700s, Airbus A319s or Embraer 190s to replace its 11 Fokkers to operate on regional routes to Seoul; Hong Kong; Cebu Island, Philippines; and Yangon, Myanmar. A decision is expected by May, with aircraft to be delivered by 2009.
Eurocopter is introducing a more powerful version of the AS355N TwinStar helicopter to be designated as the AS355NP. It will feature upgraded Arrius 1A1 turboshaft engines, a new main rotor gearbox and a vehicle/multifunction cockpit display borrowed from the single-engine AS350 B3 AStar. In addition, Eurocopter says it has sold two EC225 medium-lift helicopters to ERA Aviation (Seacor) of Lake Charles, La., for use in offshore missions, and three EC155 twin-engine helicopters to Vectra, an Indian offshore operator.
Russia has delivered a second Ilyushin Il-96-300 long-haul passenger aircraft to Cubana de Aviacion airlines. The four-engine aircraft can accommodate more than 250 passengers; and the first-class cabin can be converted to VIP configuration for government use. The first Cubana Il-96-300 was shipped last November.
