The National Mediation Board has released World Airways and its pilots from mediation that began in January 2004, starting a 30-day cooling-off period that runs through Jan. 27. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents 430 pilots at the carrier, rejected the company's final offer, World Airways says.
Delta Air Lines and China Southern Airlines are seeking a broad expansion of their code-share authority under the terms of the July 2004 U.S.-China protocol. The carriers asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. for permission to place China Southern's code on Delta flights between China Southern's gateways and any point in the U.S., and Delta's code on China Southern flights between Delta gateways and any point in China. In initial applications, Delta would carry passengers with China Southern tickets between Los Angeles and six U.S.
It's sad to see UAL Corp.'s management requesting 17 million shares of the company's new stock to distribute among themselves upon bankruptcy exit. While its employees are locked into concessionary contracts for years, prolonging the suffering that according to CEO Glenn Tilton was supposed to be "shared by all," top managers are on their way to making themselves whole for their "sacrifices." It's just more of the same engorgement that helped bring UAL to a court-aided restructuring.
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines are replacing the secondary blades in the high-pressure turbines of the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines for their Boeing 777 fleets. Airline officials said some blades were experiencing unusually high erosion rates that prompted recurrent inspections. As a precaution, they decided to replace all the blades, doing the work so as not to interrupt flight schedules. Of the 62 engines (including spares) in ANA's fleet of 27 777s, the airline found 42 needed repairs. The repairs are estimated at 5.2 billion yen ($44 million).
The French civil aviation authority, the BEA, has issued an urgent bulletin over the increase in runway incursions at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. In November alone, six transgressions occurred, mainly on the two runways at the northern end of the facility. Complex procedures and use of two languages (English and French) were among the reasons cited for the incursions.
CHC Helicopters received a five-year contract from the U.K. Coast Guard to provide search-and-rescue services from four British bases, starting in 2007. The award, the fifth of its kind for CHC, calls for the purchase of four Sikorsky S-92s and three AgustaWestland AB139s. CHC ordered a pair of Eurocopter EC225s earmarked for operations in the North Sea under a five-year agreement last October. Eurocopter also landed an order for two EC225s from U.K. oil and gas operator Bristow, under an option to a previous two-unit purchase in May.
The six months of major combat in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan saw not only centralized planning, but also a degree of centralized execution that was unique in the U.S. experience. Greatly expanded global communications connectivity provided unprecedented real-time situational awareness at all levels. That new capability allowed sensor-to-shooter links to be shortened, in some cases, from hours to minutes. It also, however, resulted in an oversubscribed target-approval process that lengthened rather than compressed the kill chain.
An improved version of the solid propellant booster motor for India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle completed a successful static test-firing at ISRO's Dhawan Space Center on Dec. 29.
Raytheon has agreed to sell its 49% stake in Indra ATM to the Spanish information technology and defense systems company for $58.6 million so Indra can become the sole owner of the former joint venture. Raytheon has purchased the remaining equity in fractional ownership operator Flight Options International. Raytheon had owned 97.6%.
The Transportation Security Administration ended an up-and-down 2005 in up-and-down fashion. Administrator Kip Hawley removed some items, like small scissors, from the list of objects banned from airline cabins, aiming to focus airport screeners on explosives rather than small weapons. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff cited that step among the year's accomplishments. But flight attendants and some members of Congress say sharp objects, however small, can be dangerous in the hands of a terrorist, and they're fighting to have the ban reinstated.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating ground crew training procedures after an Alaska Airlines MD-80 experienced a rapid depressurization at 26,000 ft. on Dec. 26 after taking off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The crew made an emergency descent; no one was hurt. The plane was carrying about 140 passengers and a crew of five. NTSB investigator Jim Struhsaker found that while on the ground, the MD-80 fuselage was scraped by a tug near a forward cargo door. In flight, the sheet metal tore open, creating a 6 X 6-in.
News Breaks 18 U.K. begins to receive imagery from Topsat micro-satellite demonstrator 19 Some evidence surfaces on fate of Britain's Beagle 2 Mars lander 19 NTSB probes metal fatigue in breakup of Chalk's amphibian 20 Boeing closes out record year with four more 777F orders from Avion World News & Analysis 22 Critics accuse Pentagon's civilian leaders of quashing dissent 22 Key mobility, airlift studies may stay under wraps as budgets flatten
Wheel fragments from exploding tires on takeoff penetrated the pressurized fuselage of an Air-India Boeing 747-400, causing the crew to dump fuel and return to Los Angeles International airport on Dec. 19. The aircraft made a safe landing 85 min. later and no one was injured.
The U.S. Transportation Dept.'s tentative decision in the SkyTeam consolidation case grants expanded code-sharing authority but denies what the applicants wanted most--immunity from antitrust laws. Denial reflects a finding that the proposal would create few if any benefits for consumers.
Aviation Week & Space Technology's Person of the Year--the first such feature in the magazine's 89-year history--is meant not to laud personal achievement per se, but to recognize the impact individuals have on the broader aviation, aerospace and defense community. Finmeccanica Chairman and CEO Pier Francesco Guarguaglini has done just that in spades. When he took the helm in 2002, this Italian company seemed destined to operate in the shadows of the global aerospace/defense industry's industrial juggernauts.
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SES Americom's AMC-23 satellite was headed for its orbital checkout position at 170 deg. W. Long. after a Proton launch from the Baikonur Cosmo-drome on Dec. 29 at 8:28 a.m. local time. After checkout, it will be positioned early this year at 172 deg. E. Long. AMC-23 is a hybrid C-/K u-band satellite that will combine landmass coverage from Bangladesh to Califor- nia with K u-band links for Connexion by Boeing over transpacific routes.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. (ret.) William Russ (see photo) has been appointed vice president-Washington operations for Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems. He succeeds John Grimes, who is now U.S. Defense Dept. chief information officer. Russ was commanding general of the Army Communications-Electronics Command and Ft. Monmouth, N.J.
In another sign that the aerospace industry is hitting on all cylinders as it begins 2006, Heico Corp., a supplier of niche commercial aviation and military products, reports that its sales were up 25% to $270 million in the fiscal quarter ended last Oct. 31. The Hollywood, Fla.-based company is telling investors to expect even bigger sales growth--in the 35-40% range--during the current fiscal year, thanks to robust demand. Wall Street likes what it sees: as of last week Heico's stock was up 45% since May.
Jesse T. McMahan and Philip L. Soucy, co-presidents of Modern Technology Solutions, have won the Combat Survivability Award for Leadership from the Arlington, Va.-based National Defense Industrial Assn. Carl S. Carter, who is chief engineer for low-observables technology at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, received the Combat Survivability Award for Technical Achievement. The awards honor individuals or teams for their performance across the spectrum of survivability--including susceptibility reduction, vulnerability reduction, and related modeling and simulation.
Chris Marzilli has been promoted to president from senior vice president/deputy general manager of General Dynamics C4 Systems, Falls Church, Va. He will succeed Mark A. Fried, who has retired.
