Write-offs and multimillion-euro restructuring plans may be ways for major European aerospace and defense companies to deal with steep euro-dollar exchange rates, but are not an option for many suppliers. In companies with revenues in the millions, not billions, the choice is often more stark: accept it or exit the market.
Swiss International Air Lines CEO Christoph Franz is pushing to restructure the ailing carrier--even as it is becoming part of the financially sound Lufthansa group--and he hopes for strong synergies and acceptance into the Star Alliance.
It may not be a household name, but Aviall Corp. has been one of the stock market's hottest aviation plays. Shares in the Dallas-based company, which sells aircraft replacement parts made by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), have nearly doubled in price during the last year. The stock is up about 25% since Jan. 1, bolstered by the recent acquisition of exclusive aftermarket distribution rights to General Electric Co.'s widely used CF6-50 and CF6-80A aircraft engines. The deal ultimately could add $5 billion to Aviall's sales.
In the past three weeks, Cessna Aircraft Co. has received orders for 450 single-engine airplanes. Production in 2005 already is sold out and the new orders won't be filled until 2006, says Phil Michel, vice president of marketing. He attributes the surge in orders to growing demand for the Garmin G1000 glass-cockpit avionics suite available as an option in the Skyhawk, Skylane and Stationair. Last year, Cessna delivered 654 piston-powered airplanes. More than 90% were equipped with Garmin G1000 avionics.
Melbourne will become the first Australian airport to prepare for the Airbus A380. The $65-million expansion project will widen the north-south runway by 15 meters to accommodate the large transport. Plans call for the A380 to begin operating at Melbourne in June 2006.
John Casani, who is chief engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has been named to receive the Goddard Astronautics Award, one of the Aerospace Spotlight Awards, from the Reston, Va.-based American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Other recipients are expected to be: Reed Aeronautics Award, Ralph Heath, executive vice president-aeronautics at the Lockheed Martin Corp. in Fort Worth; Public Service Award, USN. Adm. (ret.) Harold Gehman, Jr.; AIAA Distinguished Service Award, Michael S.
TSA started enforcing a ban on lighters within secure areas beyond airport checkpoints last week. TSA director David M. Stone says the ban adds another layer of protection and is necessary to mitigate risk. The Transpor- tation Dept. regards lighters as hazardous materials and prohibits their stowage in checked baggage.
ENHANCED AND SYNTHETIC VISION SYSTEMS are destined to merge on future flight decks, Rockwell Collins anticipates. Many avionics specialists are concerned about the visibility limitations of forward-looking infrared sensors. "You can't see through large-droplet fog or rain, so you look for other enhancements," says Tim Etherington, a principal systems engineer at Rockwell Collins' Advanced Technology Center.
When Gulf Air releases its 2004 financial results later this month, company officials say they will show the airline broke even and posted a slight profit. The carrier, owned by the sultanates of Oman, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, is completing a major three-year restructuring program under a mandate from the owners to transform it into a commercial success.
Troubled Italian airline Volare is trying to emerge from last year's bankruptcy filing through the efforts of a special administrator appointed to salvage the carrier. The state commissar has found new financing worth 14 million euros. A restructuring deadline has passed, but Volare officials expect to resume operations soon. Meanwhile, Italian investigators are continuing to review the carrier's financial problems.
Sally Bath Prill (Galveston, Tex., (Former Director, Office of Aerospace, U.S. Commerce Dept.))
Ronald Tiersky overlooks the fact that the U.S. government contracts with Boeing are for goods or services to defend the U.S. The monies transferred from the government to a company are based on competitive and negotiated contracts for those goods and services. The government is like any other customer except that it has the "right" to renegotiate those contracts at any time so the company does not make too much money from them.
Michael D. Griffin launched his tenure as NASA's 11th administrator on a fast track, using his "emergency" confirmation by the U.S. Senate to plug himself into space shuttle return-to-flight decision-making and urging faster development of the shuttle replacement.
LMI Technologies has introduced a series of single-point laser sensors that are well suited for thickness measurement, profiling positioning and other applications in most industries that require a sensor with a long stand-off and measurement range, according to the company. Using laser triangulation principles, the CCD-based DLS-2000 series incorporates automatic laser power control that compensates for changes in color and surface characteristics.
NATO has inked a memorandum of understanding with Poland to provide the legal foundation for the alliance to establish its Joint Forces Trainer Center in Bydgoszcz. The facility, which will operate under the auspices of NATO's Norfolk, Va.-based Allied Command Transformation, is to reach full operational capability by June 30, 2006. The focus of the organization is multinational, multiservice tactical training.
The ongoing Boeing-Airbus financial dispute is being waged along the political differences between Europe and the U.S. European governments consolidated their innovative aerospace industry for commerce, prestige and employment. Not bad ideals, but they require (and receive) substantial government investment.
The Kennedy Space Center's successful completion of a major space shuttle propellant tanking test on Apr. 14 puts the program "on an excellent course to launch Discovery in the next few weeks," says Wayne Hale, deputy shuttle project manager. Discovery's initial launch window extends from May 15-June 3. A few days' delay beyond May 15 is possible, but the window may now be extended a few days further into June, says Hale. The complex 11-hr. tanking test, which involved hundreds of NASA and contractor personnel in two KSC firing rooms, required flowing 143,000 gal.
The European Commission could rule by May 10-12 on the controversial Italian government support for the restructuring of flag carrier Alitalia, says Italian Transportation Minister Pietro Lunardi. That would put the verdict ahead of an Alitalia shareholders meeting at the end of May. The carrier is operating on a tight schedule for reorganization and partial privatization. Lunardi added that Rome has provided Brussels with extensive information to defend the aid, which Alitalia rivals have attacked.
The accidental deletion of the word "not" from the text of an interview with International Space Station commander Leroy Chiao made it appear that the prebreathe requirements for U.S. spacesuits are insignificant compared with those for Russian Orlan suits (AW&ST Apr. 11, p. 26). In fact, those requirements are much more significant than for the Russian suits.
Boeing and KLM Engineering and Maintenance have formed a cooperative to manage a pool of parts in Amsterdam for 737 NG operators. Called the Next-Generation 737 Component Services Program (CSP), the venture promises airlines savings equal to 30% of component repair and inventory costs by eliminating the need for them to maintain such inventories themselves. Components will be available for shipment worldwide within 24 hr.
Nine months after completing its purchase of Spectrum Astro, General Dynamics says it wants to maintain the maverick mentality at the Arizona-based satellite builder that has brought it success to date. "Our intention is to preserve the culture that Spectrum Astro had," says Ron Taylor, Strategic and National Systems Div. vice president and general manager. The new Spectrum Astro Space Systems falls under Taylor's business area in General Dynamics C4 Systems group.
The International Space Station Expedition 11 crew of cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, U.S. astronaut John Phillips and European Space Agency/Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori are scheduled to be in the midst of ISS handover operations this week, following the launch of their Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:46 a.m. local time Apr. 15.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries halted plans for its 10-seat MH-2000 helo. A type certificate was issued in 1997, but the first prototype was lost in an accident during a flight test in 2000. Design improvements were made and six more vehicles were built, but sales never took off.
Jeff Bosque, who has been vice president-sales and marketing of Garrett Piedmont Hawthorne/Associated Air Center, Tempe, Ariz., will be interim president after the resignation of Rick Penshorn.
Judy F. Marks has been appointed executive vice president of the Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Rockville, Md.-based Transportation and Security Solutions unit, effective May 1. She is scheduled to become the unit president in October as successor to Don Antonucci, who will be retiring. Marks has been president of Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies, Owego, N.Y.
