While their bankrupt or near-bankrupt Big-Six competitors struggle to survive, American, Northwest and Continental airlines are mired in mediocre financial results in a third quarter spoiled by low yields and high fuel costs. Northwest and Continental logged small operating profits and American a small operating loss, but all three netted in the red. All these measures were worse than those of a year earlier (see table).
The battle between the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA about infant seats is heating up for the umpteenth time. The NTSB believes all infants should be strapped into infant seats that are strapped into airplane seats. The FAA responds that the cost of purchasing separate seats for infants will drive people into automobiles, actually reducing the safety of the families the NTSB wants to protect. As usual, there is some merit to both sides.
NASA and its international partners are learning some valuable lessons for long-duration spaceflight as they struggle to operate the ISS without the commodious logistics support afforded by the grounded space shuttle fleet. William H. Gerstenmaier, NASA's ISS program manager, says the diminished supply chain provided by Russia's Progress and Soyuz vehicles has forced station operators to adopt the same sort of economies and self-sufficiency that would be mandatory on a trip to Mars.
A Las Vegas startup airline with a premium discount business model has agreed to buy $3.8 billion in Boeing 737-800 and 7E7-8 aircraft for delivery starting in 2007.
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Lockheed Martin has won an $87-million contract to upgrade 17 F-16A/Bs for the Royal Jordanian air force. The package is roughly the same midlife upgrade as performed on 400 F-16s operated by European air forces.
Russia may add up to $10 to the cost of each airline ticket to fund improvements in airport security in the wake of the suicide bombing of two aircraft and the loss of 90 lives (AW&ST Sept. 6, p. 43). The money would be used to fund improvements to airport security, such as providing more modern explosives screening equipment and to implement passenger profiling. The Russian Transport Ministry has instituted new security procedures for passengers and aircrews since the suicide bombing attacks, including closer control prior to boarding an aircraft.
With the long air travel slump coming to an end, congestion has returned to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The airport, a linchpin of the U.S. air transport system, now has the worst congestion, and the most travel delays, of any airport in the country.
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Boeing began building a forward fuselage for the first U.S. Navy EA-18G electronic attack test aircraft late last week. The aircraft is to combine the improved performance of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet with the Improved Capability III electronic warfare system designed as an EA-6B upgrade.
Boeing's first leasing customer will join the 747-400 Special Freighter program, under which a cargo door, strengthened main cabin floor and cargo handling system are installed in retired passenger aircraft.
Sean M. Bond (see photo) has been appointed vice president/general manager of aerospace controls for BAE Systems Platform Solutions, Johnson City, N.Y. He was V-22 Osprey program director in Fort Worth for Bell Helicopter Textron and the program's deputy site manager with joint developer Boeing in Philadelphia.
Average yields for Europe's regional airlines are expected to continue to rebound based on a rising demand in air travel in the first half of the year. The downside to this rosy scenario is that rising fuel prices are expected to curtail expansion plans.
A multi-agency draft plan to transform the U.S. air transportation system by 2025 is percolating in the nation's capital. While many industry officials endorse the high-level effort, they worry that traffic growth will outpace the envisioned makeover. The Joint Planning and Development Office is coordinating the wide-ranging government-industry endeavor to solve the thorny problem of modernizing the ATC system. JPDO is now fine-tuning a draft of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) plan, which will be delivered to Congress by year-end.
Sharon Eggleston of Brunswick, Maine, who is technical liaison on the Aegis destroyer program for the Lockheed Martin Corp., has received the Aerospace Awareness Award from Washington-based Women in Aerospace. The award recognizes Eggleston's "excellence in outreach and building awareness of aerospace programs and developments." She was credited with spending her off-hours planning educational space activities for children such as Space Day events for 18 schools in Maine and the International Space Station EarthKAM program.
Canada hopes to gain a little more time to use the Hubble Space Telescope if NASA employs Canadian robotic technology developed for the International Space Station to service the orbiting observatory. Savinder Sachdev of the Canadian Space Agency says negotiations with NASA over use of Canada's robotic infrastructure for development and operation of a servicing mission could lead to special consideration for Canadian astronomers in dividing up precious observing time. The U.S.
An item in World News Roundup (AW&ST Sept. 20, p. 20) stated incorrectly the role that a Thales-Smiths Aerospace team is playing in development of a flight management system. Smiths is collaborating with Thales to supply FMS units for Airbus A320-family and A330-340 aircraft, but not for the A400M.
The asymmetric advantage that "space" affords the U.S. is at risk unless a full spectrum of national security space systems is modernized. However, projected needs exceed anticipated budget allocations, and Congress is increasingly skeptical about the cost and technical feasibility of advanced space systems, according to military space officials.
Japan is expected to decide by December whether to allocate $180 million in the fiscal 2005 budget that starts next April to begin construction of a second runway at Kansai International Airport. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport wants to get underway, but the Finance Ministry wants local government participation, and all of them say they don't have the money. Although designed as a second major hub for Japan, Kansai's traffic levels haven't lived up to expectations.
Thomas V. Gilboy has been named vice president/chief financial officer of Herley Industries Inc., Lancaster, Pa. He has been CFO of the Del Global Technologies Corp., Valhalla, N.Y.
European consolidation in the defense electronics business is back in the pot following BAE Systems and Finmeccanica abandoning efforts to cook up a joint company in the sector. Two years of increasingly tortuous talks to craft a deal bundling their respective avionics and radar, command and control, and communications business have proved nearly fruitless.
The Pentagon's next generation of manned and unmanned aircraft will need stealth more than ever--but tailored for new environments--in particular, daytime low-altitude and long-endurance operations. That means reducing radar cross section and cutting infrared signature won't be enough. As a result, "visual stealth" is reemerging as a major concern for military and aerospace planners.
With local governments squabbling about a solution, the Indian air force is mired in a quandary posed by an open landfill that is preventing it from shifting to its Hindon AB, 20 km. (12 mi.) from New Delhi. "We have 25 men working in shifts round-the-clock to keep the sky clear of birds because they are a hazard to all kinds of aircraft," says an air force official. The problem is hindering endurance training by pilots and could pose a threat to security.
British-based defense aerospace and engineering group Smiths is buying U.S. landing gear specialist Integrated Aerospace for $110 million. The purchase will be Smiths' seventh in 2004.
An NTSB team is probing what caused the Oct. 19 crash of a BAe-3201 Jetstream 323EP on approach to Kirksville (Mo.) Regional Airport. The aircraft, Reg. N875JX, departed Lambert-St. Louis International Airport doing business as American Connection scheduled passenger Flight 5966 to Kirksville. The aircraft was operated by Smyrna, Tenn.-based Corporate Airlines, which has a fleet of Jetstream 32s.
