Air Canada has named a new 11-member board of directors of its parent ACE Holdings Inc. The airline expects to emerge from creditor protection on Sept. 30. The new directors include Bernard Attali, former chairman and CEO of Air France; and Robert E. Brown, CEO of CAE Inc. Air Canada's own new three-member board comprises current CEO Robert Milton, financial consultant David Richardson and Marvin Yontef, who was lead corporate counsel for the restructuring. All three also will serve on the ACE board.
Jeffery Smisek, executive vice president of Continental Airlines, will succeed Larry Kellner as president and chief operating officer when Kellner becomes chairman and CEO at the end of the year. Kellner will succeed Gordon Bethune, who is retiring. Smisek, now responsible for human resources, labor relations, technology, security, corporate communications and government affairs, will oversee sales, marketing and global real estate as well.
The world freighter fleet will nearly double over the next 20 years, growing to 3,456 aircraft from 1,766, according to Boeing. The forecast reflects previous projections. The big change will be growth in wide-body freighters; they'll move to 60% in 2023 from 44% of the current fleet. This growth in widebodies will mean freighters as a portion of the total world airplane fleet will decrease to 10% from 11%. Of the new freighters, 724 will be off assembly lines, while the rest will be converted passenger aircraft.
THIS MALAYSIA AIRLINES Boeing 777-200ER struck its tail on the runway at Zurich Airport in Switzerland on July 28. Airport authorities reported the incident to the Swiss Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which declined to comment as it was not investigated. The aircraft jettisoned fuel and made an emergency landing with fire equipment standing by. A Boeing official said there have been two other tail strikes that involved 777s.
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
Karl-Ulrich Garnadt has been appointed head of hub management at Munich for Lufthansa German Airlines, effective Oct. 1. He has been head of network management. His counterpart in Frankfurt will be Karl-Rudolf Rupprecht, who has been managing director of Lufthansa Technik.
Composite Engineering scooped up an $8-million contract to provide Lot 1, low-rate production of 10 Air Force Subscale Aerial Targets for the Air Armament Center at Eglin AFB, Fla. The contract also provides for the foreign military sale of one subscale target to the German air force.
EADS Defense and Communications Systems will supply Romania with border surveillance and security systems valued at more than 1 billion euros ($1.22 billion). The multiyear program's Phase 1 is scheduled to be completed in late 2006, before Romania's planned entry into the European Union on Jan. 1, 2007.
The Asian discounter is starting to roar as increasingly nervous legacy carriers--burdened with high overheads, escalating fuel bills and shrinking margins--start to reengineer business models to adapt to the new cutthroat price arena. Looking to curtail costs, legacy carriers are mulling alliances in order to combine training and maintenance. Recently, Qantas and Singapore Airlines (SIA) held talks about sharing facilities, including hangar costs, simulators and training for the A380.
The Joint Helmet Mounted Cuing System has entered full-rate production following its combat-proven performance in Iraq, as U.S. military and contractors work on additional uses and upgrades. A two-seat fighter installation and new wide-view night-vision capability are being scrutinized.
USAF Brig. Gen. Ronald R. Ladnier has been appointed director of logistics readiness/deputy chief of staff for installations and logistics at USAF Headquarters. He has been commandant of the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala. He will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. (select) Randal D. Fullhart, who has been commander of the College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education, also at Maxwell AFB.
America West has firmed up its May commitment to order 10 Airbus A320s and seven A319s. The Phoenix-based carrier will also lease four and either buy or lease a fifth aircraft from the A320 family. All America West A320s are to be powered by IAE V2500 engines, according to Airbus. Deliver-ies are to begin in late 2005 and continue through 2006.
Congress has approved $21 million for research and development of Polartec garments made of electronic textiles for providing remote physiological monitoring of soldiers in combat. Funding also will pay for programs such as Army's extended cold-weather clothing, Marine Corps mountain cold-weather clothing and Navy multi-climate protection gear. The R&D funding will be used to design clothes that monitor and transmit soldiers' pulse, blood pressure, body temperature and location to medics.
Raytheon Aircraft's T-6A will be part of the protective air mission at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games going on now through Aug. 29 in Greece. The T-6A, which serves the Hellenic Air Force as a primary trainer and also introduces students to weapons delivery, will patrol over Olympic venues. The T-6A is part of a worldwide flotilla of aircraft dedicated to security detail.
Boeing Rocketdyne technicians are preparing to ship the first space shuttle main engine (SSME) fully assembled at the Kennedy Space Center to the Stennis Space Center, Miss., for testing. Until now, all SSMEs were assembled at Rocketdyne facilities in Canoga Park, Calif. But now, to save costs, individual Rocketdyne and Pratt & Whitney SSME components are being shipped to Kennedy for assembly there before forwarding to Stennis for preflight static firings.
In an unprecedented move, Italian aviation officials are asking foreign carriers to stop undercutting Alitalia's intercontinental fares. Ente Nazionale Aviazione Civile (ENAC) has requested nearly 40 airlines to abandon "predatory" fares and align with Alitalia's prices. ENAC's primary goal is to ban so-called sixth-freedom low fares, such as British Airways' attractive prices on Rome-New York via London. Italian officials say the competition's low fares are further aggravating Alitalia's dire financial straits.
The A380's four electrical power generators and auxiliary power unit are being tested at Airbus' Toulouse facilities. The first power-on tests will be followed in the next few months by hydraulic and engine power-ups.The mega-transport is scheduled to fly in early 2005, and its first public appearance is planned for the June 13-19 Paris air show.
Applications engineer Jay Eastman observes the action of a laser weld-bond, a materials joining technology developed at the Edison Welding Institute (EWI) of Columbus, Ohio. The technology combines laser spot welding with adhesive bonding and has shown promise for use in aircraft manufacturing. The concept originated with Piper Malibu designer James Griswold. EWI research has been funded by NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation Systems (SATS) Program, specifically the Michigan MI SATS program.
Japanese researchers have tested two different thin films in a sounding rocket test of solar sail technology. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) launched the experiment Aug. 9 on an S-310 sounding rocket from the Uchinoura Space Center, deploying two 7.5-micrometer thin-film configurations once the vehicle reached space. The first, roughly shaped like a cloverleaf, deployed after 100 sec. of flight at 122 km. altitude. It was jettisoned after opening, and a fan-shaped film was deployed at 169 km., after 230 sec.
Senior Space Technology Editor Frank Morring, Jr., (right) levitates on NASA's KC-135A reduced gravity aircraft during a flight dedicated to experiments designed by college undergraduates. With him is John Yaniec, lead KC-135 test director at Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA will retire the KC-135A this fall and begin using a modified U.S. Navy C-9 to test hardware designed for microgravity, train astronauts and offer students a chance to sample one of the more exciting aspects of a career at NASA (see p. 31).
An unseasonably mild Washington summer will give way to a hot September and beyond for NASA on Capitol Hill, where the agency faces tough questions on several fronts. Hearings are tentatively scheduled on whether the International Space Station is safe enough for human occupancy, and on exactly how the agency plans to get the surviving space shuttles back in orbit.
The Pentagon is making a major push to advance the technology for very small unmanned vehicles that would support platoon-size ground elements. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is initiating a multi-year development of an Organic Air Vehicle (OAV), a 112-lb., ducted-fan unmanned aircraft that could operate even in cluttered airspace. The effort is a follow-on to a three-year demonstration program of a smaller system.
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There are "no showstoppers" in using the Soyuz launch pad planned for the European Space Center at Kourou, French Guiana, to send astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station.
