Air freight may be king in Asia, but Germany's Lufthansa remains at the top of the International Air Transport Assn.'s list of the world's biggest cargo carriers among scheduled airlines. IATA says Lufthansa carried 7.2-billion freight tonne kilometers in 2003. From there, the next three slots are filled by Asian carriers: Korean Air, 6.8 billion FTKs; Singapore Airlines, 6.7 billion FTKs; Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, 5.2 billion FTKs. Air France was fifth with 4.9 billion FTKs.
The Netherlands has begun contracting for its Patriot PAC-3 missile defense interceptors, making it the first export customer for the terminal engagement missile defense system. PAC-3 prime Lockheed Martin has received a $33.9-million foreign military sales contract for PAC-3 support equipment to upgrade the Dutch launchers to the PAC-3 configuration. A deal for the interceptors is expected to follow later this year.
Live-fly missions and simulations that focus on responses to air piracy, airborne terrorism and cruise missile/unmanned aerial vehicle defense are part of Amalgam Virgo 04 (AV04), an exercise launched earlier this month by the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command. AV04 activities took place in eastern and western Canada, Oregon, Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico/Florida panhandle area.
Prosecutors in Nagoya have appealed a not-guilty finding against Japan Airlines Capt. Koichi Takamoto on a charge of involuntary manslaughter that stemmed from a severe pitchup/pitchdown incident on a 1997 flight from Hong Kong to Nagoya. In so doing, they contend that a judge in the case misunderstood what happened on board the MD-11 on June 8, 1997, when Takamoto tried to correct for a wind shift while on approach to Nagoya over the Shima peninsula.
Will the Airbus 380, which weighs 50% more than a Boeing 747, require increased separation? Will we end up with a "Super Heavy" category? If extra wake turbulence separation is required, then the promise of increased airport capacity is a myth.
Choose your metaphor. Russell Chew is trying to turn an aircraft carrier 180 degrees. He's trying to raise the Titanic. He's trying to tame a feral, cunning bureaucracy that would like nothing better than to chew him up--no pun intended--and spit him out. His assignment is to make the FAA's Air Traffic Organization (ATO) "performance-based," accountable for productivity and responsive to air traffic control users. However you look at it, he has a hard job and it will take years to evaluate how well he does.
In an effort to help startups battle Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, Japan's Transport Ministry has reallocated slots at Tokyo Haneda Airport, the country's busiest domestic hub. Of the current 387 round-trip slots, JAL and ANA control 182 and 158, respectively, leaving just 39 for three discount carriers--17 for Skymark Airlines, 12 for Skynet Asia Airlines and 10 for Hokkaido International Airlines. Another eight are reserved for future startups, but are currently being used by ANA and JAL.
Is it time for US Airways to launch Go fares between Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Myrtle Beach, S.C.? The U.S. Transportation Dept. awarded two DCA slot exemptions to Spirit Airlines for a daily MD-80 nonstop in the market, now served on weekends by US Airways partners operating regional jets with one-third the seats or fewer. The department picked Spirit over Comair and Northwest, which proposed RJ nonstops to Jackson, Miss., and Des Moines, Iowa, respectively.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Group is forming a discount carrier, Air Next, to provide intra-island services from a home base in Fukuoka on Kyushu Island to Okinawa. Services are to begin next June using two Boeing 737-500s that will be transferred to Air Next from ANA's Air Nippon subsidiary. Air Nippon is introducing the 140-seat 737-700 next year. Within ANA's corporate structure, Air Next will operate as a subsidiary of Air Nippon. The goal is to lower costs below those of Air Nippon. One example is to have the cabin crew tidy up after flights and fill some ground jobs.
Japan Airlines will introduce an identity card for domestic passengers that means ticketless check-ins at the start of this winter's schedule. Based on Internet reservations, the cards also will allow passengers to convert mileage awards into electronic money for shopping at airport shops or JAL Group hotels. The identity card check-in service will allow cardholders to board flights without a ticket or boarding pass. Cardholders will identify themselves with the card at the boarding gate in a "touch and go" system.
The Safire Aircraft Co. claims it is not permanently closing its doors and is still seeking a new round of financing to proceed with its light jet program. In April, the Miami-based company began restructuring efforts, and on June 10, temporarily suspended operations to secure additional investments. Safire Aircraft was founded in 1998 to develop a six-place, twin-turbofan-powered light jet with a $1.3-million price tag, for use by individuals, corporations, or fractional and charter businesses.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge often tells people his department is above politics, and he said it again in New York when a reporter asked him whether there was a Bush administration political motive behind the terror alerts there, as some skeptical New Yorkers believe. "We don't do politics in the Dept. of Homeland Security," Ridge replied. Maybe people got confused because of something he said Aug. 1, when he announced the alerts.
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
The French Defense Ministry is working on the development of active stealth technology based on plasma-field generation, applicable to combat aircraft and high-altitude cruise missiles. It believes the practicality of such an approach will be determined in the next 2-3 years.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] Aug. 23-27--Aerospace Lighting Institute Short Course on Aircraft Crew Station & Exterior Lighting. Airport Marriott Hotel, Los Angeles. Call +1 (727) 791-0790, fax +1 (727) 791-4208 or see www.aligodfrey.com
"What I really need is a pair of spectacles to see through the fog. . . ."--Charles A. Lindbergh. Almost eight decades and a host of hard-won technological advances later, NASA's Langley Research Center and its government, industry and university partners are delivering the equivalent of Lindbergh's fog-penetrating spectacles.
Boeing has operated two unmanned combat air vehicles in loose formation for the first time, setting the stage for the X-45 prototypes to start simulating coordinated attacks.
Putting visual systems in cockpits to only monitor crews is the most stupid idea I have run across in a long while. Since the beginning of transportation, operators have requested more or better visibility; there is a constant need to be able to look around as well as provide collision avoidance. Cockpit crew monitors would only be used occasionally at best, and the rest of the time they would be more useless weight to drag around the skies.
Dave Pflieger has become San Francisco-based vice president of the Operations Control Center for Virgin America. He was vice president-operations for Delta Air Lines' Song.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Ryan Leeds at +1 (212) 904-3892/+1 (800) 240-7645 (U.S. and Canada Only) Sept. 14-16--MRO Europe. Bella Center, Copenhagen. Oct. 12-14--MRO/Asia. Shanghai Convention Center. Nov. 16-17--A&D Programs. Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix. PARTNERSHIPS Oct. 12-14--Shephard Heli-Asia 2004, Bangkok. Oct. 20--Shephard ARA 2004, Bangkok Nov. 1-7--Air Show China, Zhuhai. www.airshow.com.cn
CFM International executives, while anticipating a significant upturn in civil transport deliveries over the next few years, are nevertheless erring on the side of caution as they plan a slow increase in production.
The U.S. Navy has reached 10 kw. of power with its free-electron laser. All U.S. military services are dabbling in laser technology, with several different approaches under consideration. The Office of Naval Research has opted for a free-electron design that allows the laser to be tuned to a precise wavelength. This fall, the Navy plans to begin a series of trials to assess operational applicability of the laser. The demonstrations are to include atmospheric propagation, to determine how such a laser might be used in ship defense. The 10-kw.
Airbus has begun power-on testing of the first A380's electrical systems, a "milestone" set to verify the mega-transport's technical integrity in preparation for the maiden flight scheduled for early next year, company officials say.
There's new word out of Iraq that many of the problems that existed at the outset of the campaign persist today. "We have failed in information operations," says Randy Gangle, a retired Marine Corps colonel and currently executive director of the Marines' Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities. Gangle, just back from a stint in Iraq, adds that "we are losing the IO war." But that's not all. Forces still are going into the region with a lack of understanding of its culture, ignoring a lesson the U.S. should have learned during Vietnam, he maintains.
