US Airways, in Chapter 11 again little more than 17 months after its 2002-03 stint, will find the going different this time--more difficult for the most part, but not entirely. Compared with its position in August 2002, when it began its first reorganization as a debtor under bankruptcy protection, the sixth-largest U.S. network carrier faces this scenario: *Its cash position is worse and its time is short. *It thinks it has a much better idea of what its problems are, and how to deal with them.
As the high-definition television wars heat up, PanAmSat, GlobeCast and Scientific Atlanta are joining forces to provide a turnkey HDTV distribution platform. Competitor DirecTV's purchase of three spacecraft from Boeing Satellite Systems has been a highlight so far in a year that hasn't met sales expectations (AW&ST Sept. 13, p. 28). But on the content front, GlobeCast, a satellite services provider, will manage end-to-end HDTV transmissions from its teleport in Los Angeles using Scientific Atlanta's PowerVu HD encoding and digital content distribution system.
Meanwhile, Japan's transport ministry has approved raising the retirement age for airline pilots by two years to 65, albeit with stricter physicals. The extension will be welcomed by Japan's carriers, which are forecasting a significant pilot shortage. In the early 1970s, the airlines went on a hiring spree to keep up with fast-growing demand. Those pilots are now retiring at a rate of 70-80 a year. Japanese carriers expect that number will reach 200 a year by 2007.
Bruce Langsen and Jim Sdoia, president and vice president-sales, respectively, of the Memphis, Tenn.-based Inventory Locator Service, have received the Aviation Suppliers Assn. (ASA) Edward J. Gleuckler Award. It is named for ASA's first president and is presented annually to honor commitment, dedication and contribution to ASA and the aviation industry. Langsen and Sdoia were recognized for "forward thinking that has expanded business opportunities for distributors and the industry."
Steven R. Perkins (see photo) has become vice president-business development and strategy for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Information Technology Sector, Herndon, Va. He was senior vice president of the North American government, education and health care unit of the Oracle Corp.
Experts gathered in Washington last week to plot future USAF strategy say there are now three primary tasks laid out for an air defense suppression role in the joint unmanned combat air system (Jucas) program, in which Boeing's X-45 and Northrop Grumman's X-47 are the concept demonstrators.
Cost pressures are driving service providers and European airlines to push for the increasing use of third-party manufactured components in maintenance cycles, despite resistance from manufacturers, and regulatory fragmentation. With European airlines struggling to eke out profits, the potential for savings offered by so-called part manufacturing approval (PMA) components, is increasingly attractive. PMA manufacturers and third-party maintenance companies claim component cost savings of 30-50%.
Air Canada on Apr. 4 will reintroduce daily nonstop service to Rome from Toronto, the only nonstop between Canada and the Italian capital. Air Canada, which achieved reduced operating costs in its restructuring, is returning to the route it dropped in 2003. The service will use 198-seat Boeing 767-200 ERs. The carrier serves Italy with Star Alliance partner Lufthansa via Frankfurt and Munich.
In a related matter, SkyTeam members Continental and Air France applied to the U.S. Transportation Dept. to resume code-sharing, this time under an agreement reflecting Air France's status as a founding partner of SkyTeam and Delta Air Lines. Under the agreement, signed Sept. 12, Air France would put Continental's code on flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and 76 points in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Continental would carry Air France passengers between two U.S.
Qualification tests for a revised strap-on solid rocket booster motor for Japan's H-IIA medium-lift launcher are about to get underway, the Japanese space agency JAXA reports. Three tests are scheduled by mid-November. The tests are of a new composite nozzle design. A nozzle burn-through is the suspected cause of a launch failure last November that shut down H-IIA operations. JAXA hopes to resume H-IIA launches early next year.
Kaman and BAE Systems avionics group are exploring the potential for upgrades of the former's SH-2G Super Seasprite anti-submarine warfare helicopter. Development areas may include NATO compatible communications and navigation, along with sensor and targeting system modifications.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editors: Stanley W. Kandebo--Technology [email protected] Michael Stearns--Production [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068
The Air Force-convened fleet viability board that reviewed the C-5 transport has now been asked to take a look at KC-135E refuelers, which USAF wants to retire and replace with KC-767s. The independent group will inspect 30 KC-135Es, looking at each individually. The Air Force thinks those aircraft are at the end of their useful lives. The Center for Naval Analysis recently found no major problems across the KC-135 fleet, but Air Force Secretary James Roche points out the study also notes that the E-model tankers now require 11% more maintenance than the newer R models.
At first glance John Wall, the national secretary of labor organization Amicus, appears an archetypal trade unionist: a pugnacious Scot, committed to the workers he represents. Amicus, however, counts more than half of the U.K.'s aerospace and defense employees, some 70,000, among its members, in both blue- and white-collar positions. Wall's views mirror this sophistication. Now 57, Wall is a veteran of the sector, with experience gained over the last three decades.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded a network-centric solutions contract with a potential value of $9 billion over five years to seven teams. The teams are led by Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Centech Group Inc., NCI Information Systems Inc. and Multimax, an information technology services company. They will compete for task orders for global networking of voice, video and data communications and information technology systems. Nearly 80,000 commercial information technology products will be available.
Japan plans to double its KC-767 tanker fleet, making the refueling aircraft the second big winner next to missile defense in Tokyo's new spending plan, which offsets the new initiatives with cuts to fighters, surveillance aircraft, ground and naval equipment. Japan's Defense Agency has asked the finance ministry for $45.3 billion for fiscal 2005, a 1.2% increase over current spending. The Japanese fiscal year begins Apr. 1.
ITT Industries' Space Systems Div. will develop, build and test an Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) for next-generation National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather satellites under a $359-million NASA contract. The imager is slated to fly in 2008 on the GOES-R geostationary spacecraft to gather critical data for National Weather Service forecasts.
Hostile jamming is a major concern for military users of GPS, leading to anti-jamming requirements for satellites and receivers. But there is no program underway to solve the problem the other way--by locating and eliminating the jammer. Direction-finding on jammers is a well-practiced art, but GPS adds a new twist--effective jamming signals can be so weak, near to background noise, that standard direction-finding (DF) equipment can't home on them. The usual jammer works by brute force and is easy to find, but GPS is a different beast.
To improve its capabilities against countermeasures and upgrade information warfare against new and evolving threats, the U.S. Air Force has awarded a $19-million contract to Georgia Technical Applied Research Corp. for collaborative electronic warfare/sensor technology, modeling simulation and analysis research. The work is to be completed by August 2009.
Worldwide air freight growth was up nearly 11% for the first five months this year and should average 6.2% over the next two decades, triple current levels and a full percentage point higher than passenger traffic is likely to reach.
John Rogacki has been appointed director of the University of Florida Graduate Engineering and Research Center at Shalimar. He was director of the space transportation technology division of the NASA Office of Aerospace Technology.
In reply to the several recent letters on the shuttle, no one who saw John Young walk bespectacled around the shuttle after its first flight in 1981--thrusting his fists excitedly into the air--can say the shuttle was a failure. It may have outlived its purpose and should be replaced, but it was the right vehicle at the right time.
Hamilton Sundstrand has added another power and control system win to its 7E7 portfolio and extended its role as a leading systems integrator among the prime suppliers for the mid-sized jet. Boeing has tapped it to make the airplane's electric motor pump system. Now undergoing its final configuration, the 7E7 is to make its first flight in 2007 and enter the market in 2008.
Caleb Tiller has been appointed senior manager of public relations for the Alexandria, Va.-based National Business Travel Assn. He was communications associate at the Airlines Reporting Corp.
Raymond Culbreth has been promoted to federal security director from assistant director for screening for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration at Juneau (Alaska) International Airport.
