U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement officers were holding a man in custody last week after an Alitalia Boeing 767-200 en route from Milan to Boston was diverted by U.S. officials to Bangor, Maine, where the passenger was ordered off the plane on May 17. A Transportation Security Administration official said the person, who the government hasn't named yet, turned out to be someone on the government's no-fly list as suspected. The flight with 126 other passengers and 10 crew continued shortly thereafter to Boston.
The Australian government last week committed itself to remaining a partner in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter development program beyond the ongoing systems development and demonstration phase, according to Defense Minister Robert Hill and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane. Australia plans to purchase about 100 conventional takeoff and landing versions of Lockheed Martin's multirole fighter. Canberra will wait until 2008, however, to make a formal production decision. Hill and Macfarlane made the announcement as Australia, the U.S.
Turboprop-powered aircraft, the most fuel-efficient and low-cost tool in regional manufacturers' arsenal, are making a comeback. Bombardier, ATR, Saab Leasing, Raytheon and BAE Systems each confirm a surge of acquisitions and a scarcity of available used turboprop aircraft. The aircraft are being selected for operations in short-haul markets where their economics cannot be beat.
Intruders into no-fly airspace over Washington will soon be greeted with another type of warning device--laser beams of USAF's Visual Warning System (VWS) that was scheduled to go into operation May 21. If an aircraft ventures into the area's prohibited zone, the VWS flashes low-level laser beams in alternating red-red-green light sequence at the offending aircraft.
Oliver Mills (see photos) has been promoted to project manager for Kinetic Energy Interceptor-Attitude Control Systems from chief project engineer in the Throttable Divert and Attitude Control Systems program at Aerojet, Sacramento, Calif. Webb Harwell has been named director of business development. He was deputy general manager/program manager for Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion in San Jose, Calif.
Air France has ordered five Boeing 777 freighters, with an option for three more. Air Canada previously announced plans to buy two of the 777-200LR derivatives, but Boeing won't make a formal launch decision until later this year. Air France Cargo would start operating the aircraft in the second half of 2008, replacing 747-200Fs. Additionally, the combined Air France-KLM announced first-year financial results for the merged group. Turnover was up 7.3% with 19.1 billion euros ($24.07 billion).
Alliant Techsystems reports good results from its deployment test of a 20 X-20-meter solar sail in a large NASA vacuum chamber. The first in a series that will run into July and involve two different companies' designs (AW&ST Apr. 25, p. 17), the ATK test used the 100-ft.-dia. vacuum chamber at NASA's Glenn Research Center to unfurl the square sail (see photo). The company said the test demonstrated the utility of its coilable graphite mast technology, which weighs only 70 grams per meter for an 80-meter sail.
The U.S. Air Force F-15Es here fly a mission they were never designed for, and it has drawn louder praise from the ground forces than their bomb dropping.
It's back to business in aerospace. After several years of general depression at major industry gatherings, a parade of new aircraft--led by the Airbus A380 ultra widebody and Dassault 7X business jet--and a plethora of expected order announcements leaves industry officials optimistic that Le Bourget 2005 will relegate those dark days to history.
The U.S. House and Senate Armed Services Committees are sending a message to the Pentagon: Watch those big money programs with state-of-the-art technology, or we will. The $441.6-billion National Defense Authorization Bill, which was cleared for floor action in the House, cuts funding for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) by $133 million. JTRS is an integral part of the Army's $124-billion Future Combat Systems (FCS) and other military programs, but the network-centric warfare project has run into problems.
Separately, Air France/KLM said it is negotiating to outsource computer reservation, flight program and other marketing and sales information activities to Amadeus, in which it is a major shareholder. The move, part of a plan to unify and modernize the airline's information systems and reduce their cost, could take 4-5 years to implement.
The European Union's tax on airline tickets to raise money to combat poverty has been approved, sort of. Because of opposition between governments, EU finance ministers watered down their proposal and made it a voluntary tax, leaving national governments to decide whether to impose it. Airline industry representatives had widely denounced the initial effort. The final version rebuffs French President Jacques Chirac's earlier version of the plan.
India's largest airline, Jet Airways, posted an after-tax profit of $89.6 million for the fiscal year ended Mar. 31. Sales were up 24% from the prior fiscal year, to $1 billion.
Aermacchi has flown the second prototype of the M-346 advanced trainer. The aircraft, which flew 42 min., will test structural and handling characteristics.
Five air traffic controllers at Tokyo's Haneda airport who forgot a runway closure and directed two arriving Japan Airlines flights to land there have received oral reprimands from the Civil Aviation Bureau of Japan's transport ministry. The 13 other controllers who also forgot the closure but did not specifically make mistakes were not punished for the Apr. 29 incident. Additionally, six senior CAB officials (including the administrator, director of the ATC bureau and airport master) were criticized for the incident (AW&ST May 9, p. 17).
The generally upbeat mood in the aircraft industry was reflected in the size of this year's European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva. Brian Humphries, chief executive of the European Business Aviation Assn., which hosts the event with the U.S.-based National Business Aviation Assn., said the exhibit hall was sold out, with floor space rentals running 21% higher than for 2004. The static park attracted 49 aircraft, compared to 36 a year ago.
Mohamed Al Zeer, president/CEO of National Air Services of Saudi Arabia, says seats on two Airbus A319 shuttle aircraft are virtually sold out, even though initial five-times-weekly service, between Riyadh and Jeddah will not start until mid-June. NAS probably will acquire a third aircraft to meet what Al Zeer sees as large pent-up demand for such services, becoming an ACJ service center along the way. Demand is also being driven by a hybrid plan that allows users of NetJets--a NAS partner--to interline with the shuttles.
Jean Chang has been appointed executive vice president-Greater China and North Asia for AirAsia. He was an executive with the China National Aviation Corp.
Neal Cohen has been appointed executive vice president/ chief financial officer of Northwest Airlines. Cohen succeeds Bernard L. Han, who has resigned. Cohen was executive vice president-finance/CFO of US Airways. T. Jeffrey Putnam has been promoted to senior vice president-finance from vice president-financial planning and analysis. Mike Becker has been named senior vice president-human resources and labor relations. He succeeds Robert A. Brodin, who will be retiring. Becker was senior vice president-human resources.
Peter F. Nostrand has been named to the board of directors of the Mesa Air Group Inc. He is chairman/president/ CEO of Sun Trust, Greater Washington. Nostrand succeeds Julie E. Silcock, who is managing director/head of Southwest U.S. investment banking for the Citigroup Corporate and Investment Bank.
United Airlines' termination of four employee pension plans will not increase the projected deficit of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), the federal agency that insures defined benefit pension plans, according to the American Academy of Actuaries (AW&ST May 16, p. 28). The $1.5-billion in securities the PBGC would receive through United's termination could help reduce the corporation's $23.3-billion deficit.
Your coverage of the latest Air Canada order for the Boeing 787 as well as Korean Air and Northwest's committed and pending orders illustrate that Boeing is finally on the right side of the drag curve in usurping not potential Airbus A330 customers, but critically, long-established ones (AW&ST May 2, p. 24).
In a push to expand the market for its US-2 search-and-rescue amphibian into the export arena, ShinMaywa is touting the aircraft's serviceability. In the past 30 years, 20 US-1/US-1As flown by the Japanese navy (the only customer to date), have made 763 rescue sorties. Aside from looking for international markets, ShinMaywa has adopted the four-engine US-2 for firefighting.
Legislation cleared by the House Armed Services Committee would require the Pentagon to consider the feasibility of changing the way it finances major acquisition programs. An amendment by Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) to the Defense Dept. authorization bill for Fiscal 2006 would order the Defense secretary--as well as the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force--to report to Congress by July 1, 2006, on what effects capital, or incremental, budgeting would have on military procurement.
Turkey's Atlasjet International Airlines has acquired two Bombardier CRJ700s. The Istanbul-based carrier, which started operations in June 2001 with two Boeing 757s, plans to employ the regional jets to new underserved domestic markets.
