German and Russian defense officials are slated to meet in the coming weeks to discuss using Russian launchers to place European military satellites in orbit, says German Defense Minister Peter Struck while hosting his Russian counterpart, Sergey Ivanov.
The Citation XLS is Cessna Aircraft Co.'s expression of what an entry-level, mid-size cabin business jet should be, complete with the power, performance, comfort and value required to keep it ahead of a growing list of competitors. The XLS had its genesis in the Citation Excel. Cessna delivered 370 units during the airplane's production run, which ended in 2004 when the next-generation XLS was introduced. This year's production of the XLS is sold out, and there are no production slots available until the fourth quarter of 2006, according to Cessna.
Comair pilots have jump-started a 35-aircraft expansion by voting for a pay freeze that will save the already-profitable regional carrier an estimated $20 million over two years. The Air Line Pilots Assn. unit rescinded a 4.5% raise scheduled for June in approving a letter of agreement with the Delta Air Lines subsidiary by a 60-40% margin. Ballots were cast by 1,650 eligible pilots, extending the current labor contract a year to June 2007.
Phillip Spector has become executive vice president/general counsel of Bermuda-based Intelsat. He was managing partner of the Washington office and chairman of the Communications & Technology Group at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
The U.S. Navy's Space and Warfare Systems Command released its five-year strategic plan, including guiding principles for delivery of FORCEnet, the Navy's plan for networking its forces. The plan, signed by five flag and executive officers, outlines business strategy for the massive undertaking.
Steve Rhoads (see photos) has become director of operations and Hershey Feldstein manager for swaged/non-swaged product lines for Watlow Electric Manufacturing of St. Louis.
Rolls-Royce and All Nippon Airways have signed a contract covering the purchase of the Trent 1000 engine for ANA's fleet of 50 Boeing 787s. Delivery of aircraft to ANA begins in 2008.
David Geoffrey Manning headed to Capitol Hill last week with an urgent problem: How to head off a deep rift in transatlantic relations over the European Union's plan to end its embargo on arms sales to China.
UPS is building an $82.5-million, 700,000-sq.-ft. heavy freight facility at its Worldport Hub at Louisville International Airport in Kentucky. Its heavy freight facility at Dayton International Airport in Ohio will close next year with the loss of 1,400 jobs. UPS acquired the Dayton facility from CNF Inc. last December for $150 million and assumption of $110 million of debt. The transfer of heavy-weight cargo to Louisville is expected to bring 120 full-time positions and 600 part-time jobs.
The British Defense Ministry has selected the EDS-led Atlas consortium as the preferred bidder for a 4-billion- pound ($7.6-billion) program intended to overhaul the ministry's computer infrastructure. The Defense Information Infrastructure program will cover 70,000 desktop terminals.
One factor that will determine if routes are served by Airbus A380s or Boeing 787s will be slot-controlled airports: New York, London, Chicago, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, for example. Wherever the number of movements is limited, the A380 could be favored. This same situation might also favor the 787 by establishing new service that bypasses hubs: Hartford to Birmingham, Milwaukee to Nagoya, Long Beach to Macau.
Northrop Grumman has delivered the first APG-81 electronically scanned array radar for the JSF's fire-control system. It will be used to conduct radome integration testing at Lockheed Martin's Palmdale, Calif., facility. The radar is to be able to pick out small and stealthy targets, jam enemy radar and allow precision all-weather targeting and automatic cueing.
One of the U.S. Air Force's largest, most widely dispersed wings is quietly becoming the nation's front-line space combat unit, charged with defending satellites, ground stations and Earth-to-space signal links. If necessary, it also can take offensive action to deny an adversary's use of space resources. However, chronic personnel shortages and flat budgets threaten to stunt its ability to fulfill ever-expanding mission responsibilities, even as combatant commanders demand more support.
Kingfisher Airlines has contracted to buy three Airbus A319s. International Aero Engines V2500s will power the aircraft that have been ordered in a 144-seat, single-class configuration. Deliveries are to start in December, and the A319s will operate on domestic routes. Kingfisher also holds a firm order for 10 A320s and options for 20.
The recent $5 and $10 distance-related U.S. airline fare increases that were implemented to help cover the explosive rise in fuel costs finally appear to be holding. All attempts to hike ticket prices last year failed. Typically, Northwest Airlines played the independent and didn't apply increases in ways that competitors wanted. But in a turnabout, Northwest put some heft into the new prices, which were first offered by American Airlines, by including them for last-minute business fliers.
The operational evaluation testing program for the Bell-Boeing V-22 tiltrotor aircraft has been approved, which means it's ready for operational test and evaluation by Marine Sqdn. VMX-22 at MCAS New River, N.C. Trials should begin within two weeks. Three new Ospreys have been delivered this year. So far, 48 of an estimated 458 have gone to government users. The last delivery, the third CV-22 for the Air Force, went to Edwards AFB, Calif.
Renewed traveler confidence, strong demand and low air fares contributed to a record 2004 for the New York region's airports--JFK, LaGuardia and Newark-Liberty. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the three airports collectively handled 93.8 million travelers, an increase of more than 12% compared to 2003. JFK handled 37.5 million passengers, LaGuardia, 24.4 million, and Newark, 31.9 million. The authority claims the increase is nearly two times the average rate of other airports in the U.S.
In a major test of the ISS as a development facility for exploration technologies, exercises are now underway to command operations with the station's large Canadian-built manipulator arm (see photo) from the ground rather than by the crew on board. The tests are intended to validate new software transmitted to the station to allow such autonomous operations. The ISS crew is monitoring the trials for safety as ground controllers gain practice in commanding large mechanical robotic systems in space.
Iraqi pilots are flying three newly overhauled C-130s that were given to the country's air force to form its 23rd (Transport) Sqdn., which is stationed at Talil AB in southern Iraq. The unit received its aircraft in January and made its first flight Feb. 10. Four crews are undergoing a four-month, lead-in training course in Jordan while another is in Little Rock, Ark., for simulator training. Four other crews have been trained. The Iraqi squadron has 65 members, many of them experienced transport crewmen.
The authority has authorized $48 million to soundproof classrooms of 30 schools located in the vicinity of the New York region's three major airports. Soundproofing cuts aircraft noise levels in half, providing schoolchildren a better learning environment, according to the PA. Since the soundproofing program's start in 1983, the authority has invested $319 million to insulate from noise 77 schools in the region.
The combined investigatory and analytical resources of the Transportation Dept.'s inspector general, general counsel, and aviation and international affairs offices confirm what everyone knew: the week of Dec. 22-28, 2004, was a bad time to travel on US Airways or Comair. At Philadelphia, US Airways' baggage-handling workforce turned out to be shy of scheduled numbers by amounts varying from 15-30% as the rate of sick calls more than doubled that of Thanksgiving.
China is expanding business opportunities for private companies and Beijing's Okay Airways is an early beneficiary of the policy, which China's cabinet, the State Council, announced in late February. It said private companies can invest in any sector that they are not specifically prohibited from entering by Chinese law. Airlines are on the approved list. Okay is backed by three individual investors and three private enterprise groups. The airline received approval as the State Council acted and has ordered two 737-900s to begin business.
Michael Powell has been named operations supervisor for the Titusville-Cocoa (Fla.) Airport Authority. He was operations supervisor/security coordinator at Daytona Beach (Fla.) International Airport.
The proposed introduction of cell phone antenna hardware on board commercial aircraft, allowing continuous use by every passenger in flight, presents special problems. There are few settings where strangers sit closely together for long periods: in a theater, bus, church or aircraft. Except when in flight, the easy ability of a customer to flee cell phone blather is unrestricted.
