Australian low-cost carrier Virgin Blue and the Samoan government in October will begin operating a joint venture airline, Polynesian Blue. Each holds a 49% share; an independent shareholder holds the remainder. The carrier will operate Boeing 737-800s on routes now served by Polynesian Airlines to Australia and New Zealand. Polynesian Airlines will continue to operate its turboprop aircraft and ground handling division.
Component manufacturing and quality control issues associated with flight termination batteries built by Plainfield, Conn.-based BST Systems Inc. will hold up Boeing Delta IV launch schedules for a new geosynchronous orbit GOES weather satellite and launch of the first modernized GPS on a Delta II. Those missions are being delayed by several weeks to late July or into August at the earliest.
Since its start in November 2003, Guggenheim Aviation Partners has been ready to do any good aircraft deal, from leasing passenger planes to buying them, cutting them up and selling off the engines and components.
The FAA has issued an airworthiness directive for some Boeing 727-100/ -200-series aircraft that require repetitive inspections of the carriage attach fittings on the foreflaps of each wing for cracking and other discrepancies. The move is aimed at correcting any fatigue cracking.
Contract negotiations between the FAA and its largest union, the 15,000-member National Air Traffic Controllers Assn., begin this week, and FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and Natca President John Carr gave previews last week in what Carr called "dueling press calls." Actually, Blakey's was an old-fashioned, in-person press conference in which she said the coming talks needn't be contentious but staked out going-in positions virtually guaranteed to make them so.
Mike Brand has been named president of the Cleveland-based Landing Gear Div. of the Goodrich Corp. He was president of the Teleflex Aerospace Manufacturing Group.
Hundreds of NASA and space shuttle contractor personnel in more than a dozen teams across the U.S. are being marshaled to find the cause of a hydrogen depletion sensor problem that forced the July 13 scrub of the space shuttle Discovery's initial return-to-flight countdown. Aging avionics and manufacturing quality issues on electronic components are potential factors being investigated in connection with the hydrogen fuel engine cutoff (ECO) sensor problem.
An economic cooperation pact signed in late June between the governments of India and Singapore has opened the way for Singapore's entry into India's fast-growing aviation market to provide airport ground-handling and maintenance, repair and overhaul services.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. is grappling with production schedules, funding and supply-chain structure as it presses ahead toward achieving first flight of a pre-production F-35 in 2006, followed by low-rate initial production in 2007.
The U.S. Marine Corps plans to arm the MV-22 with a gun mounted on the aft ramp. The M240, a 7.62-mm. weapon built by Belgian firm FN Herstal, will be fielded with the first MV-22s to begin operation by spring 2007. USMC also is looking at options to provide a door-mounted gun on both sides of the tiltrotor and have it swivel about 180 deg.
For air travelers, the time-saving capability of supersonic aircraft gets a thumbs-up. For many on the ground, the noise gets a thumbs-down. With the aim of decreasing noise, NASA and four industry teams have begun a five-month study of how to design and build a low-sonic-boom demonstration aircraft--at an affordable price and within a reasonable timeframe. Boeing Phantom Works, Raytheon Aircraft, Northrop Grumman/Gulfstream Aerospace and Lockheed Martin/Cessna Aircraft Co. are the four other teams.
SEA, the company running the Milan airports, Linate and Malpensa, is headed for partial privatization. Milan's municipal authority, which owns 84.5% of SEA, plans to offer 34% of the company's shares, with the aim of raising as much as 600 million euros ($732 million). The money would then be spent on several municipal projects. Milan's mayor, Gabriele Albertini, wants the competition opened to both private and public investors, but still needs to have the plan endorsed by the Milan municipal council.
U.K.-based materials manufacturer Magnesium Elektron is completing development of a wrought magnesium alloy, Elektron 675, that is capable of retaining its strength at substantially higher temperatures than similar alloys. The company claims it will be the strongest magnesium alloy at "temperatures above 100C." A spokesman for the company, which specializes in producing metal alloys for the aerospace sector, believes Elektron 675 will be suitable for component manufacture that may have previously required the use of titanium.
Transaero Airlines has begun flying the first of four leased Boeing 747-200s, which had been operated by Virgin Atlantic Airways. Transaero is the first operator of passenger 747s in Russia and plans to use them for international charter flights and scheduled services connecting Russia with Southeast Asia, South America and Canada.
The Boeing Co.'s St. Louis-based Integrated Defense Systems has received a $175-million contract continuance from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for work relating to the X-45C portion of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) demonstration program. The extension will allow Boeing to conduct a robust autonomous aerial refueling demo and will prolong the current flight test effort by 18 months. The company will keep to the full scope of its previously awarded efforts while maintaining the first flight schedule for the initial two X-45C vehicles.
In the not-too-distant future, U.S. airlines may have a unique opportunity to further irritate their already cranky clientele. Increasingly bereft of "frills" such as sufficient leg room, pillows and food, passengers now face the possibility of non-stop aural assault as their neighbors yak away on cell phones.
Ron Abbott (see photo) has been promoted to executive vice president-mission assurance for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla. He was vice president-tactical missiles at the division's facility in Dallas. Stan Arthur has retired as division president.
Once again, the future of the Air Force's Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) High is in question as the Pentagon reviews options to satisfy the program's requirements. After disclosing a significant cost overrun and schedule slip last year--the latest in a string of such disappointments--officials have not yet announced their strategy to purchase up to five geosynchronous satellites for the system. Originally billed as a $4-billion system, Sbirs High's cost has swelled to the $10-billion mark.
Boeing has selected Rockwell Collins to provide the display for the B-1B threat situation awareness system upgrade. The 8 X 6-in. multi-function display will show flight information to improve crew situational awareness and enable inflight mission planning. Link 16 and other data link connections will allow the upgraded system to help crews improve targeting and threat avoidance. In another contract, USAF has selected Rockwell Collins as prime contractor for the second phase of the Ground Element Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network System.
The U.S. Air Force recently completed a major system design review of the Transformational Communications System satellite segments under development by rival contractors Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Each team is working under separate contracts worth about $500 million to develop a system that can transmit high-bandwidth data securely through space and from space to high altitudes using lasers. Fielding is not expected until roughly 2015.
Another airplane has joined Dassault's Falcon 7X flight test program, which has now accumulated 27 flights and 65 flight hours since the first aircraft took to the air on May 5. A third unit will fly in September, completing the flight test fleet for the ultra-long-range model due to enter service in late 2006.
Once straitjacketed by bureaucratic hurdles and little imagination, India's aviation sector is on a roll. When it racked up $13 billion in orders for 156 aircraft at last month's Paris air show, nobody batted an eye. A decade ago, such orders would have created quite a stir. In those days, when a Boeing manager couldn't drive home long-sought deals, he consoled himself with the fact that at least Airbus hadn't either.
As part of an ongoing effort to increase the profile of next year's Berlin air show (ILA), organizers say the event will mark the first presentation of the Airbus A380 mega-transport to the German public. The aircraft will actually be in Germany long before then, since Airbus' Hamburg facility is used to fit the interior of the aircraft and will serve as the site for evacuation testing later this year. Show organizers also plan to sign a deal next month with Russian air show officials to work more closely together.
