Delta Air Lines' application for a Section 1113 nullification of its Air Line Pilots Assn. contract went to a hearing Nov. 16 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. As testimony continued, the situation remained fluid. Pilots have threatened to strike if the court decides in favor of Delta's request for pay, benefit and work-rule savings totaling $325 million per year, in addition to the $1 billion per year the pilots agreed to last year. The timing of a court decision was uncertain as the hearing proceeded.
The U.S. Air Force has given Lockheed Martin an $89-million contract for six long-range AN/TPS-77 transportable radar systems for Pakistan under the Foreign Military Sales program. The L-band, tactical radar provides continuous 3D surveillance of air targets at ranges up to 280 mi. and at altitudes up to 100,000 ft. The contract includes support equipment, spare parts, training and logistical support services. The radar is the latest version of the AN/FPS-117 system.
Southwest Airlines doesn't hold a monopoly on effective hedging of fuel prices. Ryanair has hedged 90% of its estimated demand for the second half of its fiscal year, which extends through Mar. 31, 2006, at prices corresponding with oil averaging $49 per barrel. The carrier intends to build hedges forward and has the cash position--435 million euros ($508 million)--to succeed. British Airways is hedged at $45 a barrel for 81% of its needs through the end of its 2005-06 financial year, and at $55 a barrel for 50% in the following year.
As director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler manages government-to-government weapons sales, which last year reached $13.5 billion, as well as his agency's work on foreign military training and humanitarian assistance. The foreign market for U.S. weapons is big business, and politically charged. Sales are primarily to advance U.S. foreign policy, not make money. In the past year, however, concerns about U.S. allies' sales to China have mixed business and politics and led the U.S.
Israel's first synthetic-aperture "Tecsar" radar satellite for the acquisition of all-weather/night strategic imaging intelligence--a top priority of the Defense Ministry and Israel Air Force--is to be lofted on India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in October 2006. The 220-lb. Tecsar is being developed by Israel's Elta Electronic Industries to provide high-resolution and wide-area coverage of up to nearly 4,000 sq. mi. per minute.
Manufacturers of very light jets are more confident than ever that the new class of aircraft will succeed economically, though none is in service yet and estimates of the size of the market still vary wildly. Confident, too, are the planners of "air taxi" services, though not a passenger has flown on the VLJs they plan to use. And other parts of the traditionally conservative aviation world seem increasingly receptive to the VLJ concept.
The resurrection of a contest to purchase several hundred "third-generation" battle tanks by the Turkish army has confounded skeptics who thought it would never happen. Turkey in 2002 shelved plans to buy tanks to replace the country's aging 1970s-era fleet.
"We are in a revolution," says Israel's southern regional navy commander, standing on the seaside border of the newly evacuated Gaza Strip. Before August's widely publicized withdrawal from Gaza, the Israeli navy had already set a course for radical modernization encompassing new technologies and changes to its command and control structures, according to the commander, who can be identified only as Capt. L. "With disengagement, we had to do what would have taken three to five years and do it in a matter of months," he says.
Carlos Galvan, an engineer for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems for the F/A-18 program in St. Louis, has won the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference's (Henaac) Luminary Award. Henaac is a nonprofit organization committed to motivating students to pursue careers in engineering, science, technology and math, and increasing the role the Hispanic community plays in maintaining America's status as a technology leader.
Airbus put suppliers on notice last week that it has tightened its criteria for contractors with whom it does business--including a requirement that Tier 1 suppliers must outsource a minimum amount of work to companies in Asian countries, such as China and India.
Major adjustments to the Pentagon's conventional land attack weapons programs are not expected, as a recent review of its conventional land-attack arsenal reveals the planned procurements will satisfy future needs.
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In the middle of the night last November, an Israeli sensor operator noticed a dark shape crawling toward the surf in the Gaza Strip. She immediately notified her watch commander and began tracking the figure as it swam toward an Israeli seaside community. There is only one chance to intercept a suicide-bomber laden with explosives.
Shunichi Fujimura has been named senior vice president-Americas/general manager in New York for Nippon Cargo Airlines. He succeeds Naoshige Makino, who has returned to Japan. Fujimura was general manager for sales for Japan. Terry McDonald has been named New York-based director of sales and marketing for the Americas, Takashi Okushima director of administration for the Americas and Satoshi Shimura marketing manager.
Iberia achieved third-quarter net earnings of 372.6 million euros ($437 million), more than quadrupling its performance during the same period last year. Fuel costs were up 36.4%, despite hedging and other measures, causing the operating revenue per available seat kilometer to fall 0.4%. Excluding fuel, operating expenses per ASK came down 2.5%.
Mike Szucs has been appointed chief operating officer of EasyJet. He succeeds Ed Winter, who has retired. Mike Campbell has been named people director. He succeeds Stephen Connock, who has left the company.
Greece is once again changing strategies on what to do with financially struggling Olympic Airways after an effort to privatize the carrier failed. Under the new plan, Athens plans to restructure the carrier and set up a new company.
Next spring could finally see Britain and France launch a multibillion-dollar project to develop a new generation of conventionally powered aircraft carriers. The decision by the French government to include the equivalent of $1.16 billion to build an aircraft carrier in its September 2005 defense budget clears a major hurdle to launching the Anglo-French venture. Next spring the British are expected to formally launch the project by authorizing construction to begin on two 60,000-ton carriers.
The best thing about the cover of the Oct. 24 issue that featured the bright orange nose cone of the Quick Reach 1 test vehicle was all of the signatures. Seeing that much pride is as inspiring as the novel nature of the vehicle itself.
The Socom weapon's young life can be summed up like this. Time from program birth to scheduled initial fielding: a bit over two-and-a-half years. Cost for the first year of development to create a family of weapons around the desires of the operator: $634,000. Having your acquisition separate from the Army: Priceless.
The European Commission is signaling the start of its next major space endeavor--the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security network--with plans to launch a series of pilot projects underpinning it.
In its rush to field equipment to protect troops in Iraq from improvised explosive devices, the Army's Rapid Equipping Force is known for cutting through red tape. But at least in one case, that's led the Army to buy Chinese-made blinding lasers designed to prevent suicide bombers from rushing checkpoints.
It's back to the future for a revolutionary concept in aerodynamics called the oblique wing, a conceptual aircraft featuring one wing angled forward, the other angled back. At transonic and low supersonic speeds, this unusual configuration offers advantages over the familiar swept-wing layout of high-performance military and civilian aircraft.
Allan Skramstad, assistant chairman of the Aviation Dept. at the University of North Dakota, has been elected president of the Auburn, Ala.-based University Aviation Assn. for 2005-06. Other new officers are: president-elect, Guy M. Smith, who is associate program manager for the master of science in technical management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and managing director of Ypsilon Associates; secretary, Bruce D. Hoover, who is flight training director of St. Louis University's aviation program; and treasurer, Robert F.
