Swiss International Air Lines' survival as an independent carrier is in question yet again following management's decision to end negotiations to join British Airways' Oneworld. Earlier this month, the integration of frequent-flier programs proved to be a stumbling point. Swiss Chairman Pieter Bouw said the airline would not disclose proprietary, competition-sensitive passenger data, even to a would-be alliance partner. The role that Zurich, Swiss' main hub, would play within the Oneworld alliance was another point of contention.
A Proton M mission organized by International Launch Services orbited the Intelsat 10-02 satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome June 17 in the sixth ILS mission of the year. Built by EADS Astrium on its Eurostar E-3000 bus, the spacecraft will provide video, Internet, voice and other services to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South America and parts of Asia and North America from 1 deg. W. Long.
Eurofly has acquired an Airbus A319LR and plans to buy another to be used for scheduled, premium-class service between Rome and Milan to New York. The cabins will be configured to carry 48 passengers. The service will begin in the spring of 2005, and is the latest in a bevy of all-business-class routes being created to lure passengers away from scheduled carriers (AW&ST June 14, p. 13).
Per Erlandsson has been named CEO of Saab's operation in South Africa. He has been head of corporate legal affairs and secretary of the board of directors.
At a conference of senior space professionals here last week, John Hamre, the former deputy Defense secretary who now heads the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was waxing enthusiastic about SpaceShipOne's flight to 100 km. (62 mi.) altitude (see p. 28), noting it was done for "peanuts"--reportedly $20-30 million. "If the U.S. government did that, you'd have to add six zeros to the right," Hamre said. Then it occurred to him that the space types might consider tens of millions of dollars to be real money, nonetheless.
European Union leaders hope that meeting requirements to submit a new constitutional treaty to a referendum in nine EU countries--and maybe more--will not leave it a dead issue.
The six top executives of Japanese space agency JAXA have voluntarily reduced their pay in atonement for the failure of the sixth H-IIA, Planet-B Mars surveyer and Adeos Earth observation satellite. Four of the six will take a 10% cut for six months; the remaining two for three months.
There is a limit to just how joint the military services need to be, suggests the chief of Air Combat Command. Gen. Hal Hornburg, who claims as much joint service time as any Air Force four-star general, warns against the services becoming "so joint, so fast that we dilute the core competencies of the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Air Force." Joint warfare works best with strong service components, yet "I see more and more people advocating, 'Why do we need service [specific] things?
As it looks for a fleet to reach Europe and a checkbook to lower its $1-billion debt, Jet Airways, India's largest private domestic carrier, has opened discussions with three candidate investors about taking a 30-40% stake in the company.
U.S. Homeland Security Dept. officials don't know if lengthy delays will develop at security checkpoints this summer, but there are no plans to expand the screener workforce or accelerate financing of airport reconfiguration.
JAXA will conduct a full-scale burn test of its H-IIA solid rocket booster motor at the Tanegashima space center as it studies why an SRB burn-through caused the loss of the sixth H-IIA mission last November.
Bell Helicopter Textron's Engineering Manufacturing and Development phase of the U.S. Marine Corps H-1 program is nearing completion and is on target to begin operational evaluation in mid-February 2005 followed by Initial Operating Capability in March 2008.
Delta Air Lines will spend at least $900,000 during the next 24 months on civil rights training for its pilots, flight attendants and passenger service agents under a U.S. Transportation Dept. consent order served June 21. Delta denied charges that it violated federal laws and regulations by removing from aircraft or denying boarding to Arab, Muslim or Middle Eastern passengers, claiming instead that it acted for safety and security reasons. The carrier said it accepted the consent order to avoid fines or litigation.
The first two of the Royal Air Force Sea King Mk3A search-and-rescue helicopters have been fitted with a turreted forward-looking infrared/daylight TV camera. The fleet is being fitted with the Flir Systems Sea King Multi-Sensor System. The turreted sensor system will provide aircrews with an improved search-and-location capability.
Tom Burbage (see photo), who is Lockheed Martin Corp. executive vice president/general manager of the Fort Worth-based F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, has received the Donald C. Burnham Manufacturing Management Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Burbage was cited for his management success in integrating innovative design and manufacturing technologies into a unique airframe to meet the requirements of a multiservice, supersonic stealth fighter.
Foreign space launch vehicles will be on the table as NASA begins looking for a way to push space exploration to the Moon and beyond. New rockets that take advantage of the human spaceflight ratings already garnered by space shuttle and even Saturn V components also will be considered. And in keeping with the recommendations of the presidential panel set up to advise President Bush on the best ways to implement his new exploration plan, commercial launchers to Earth orbit--both existing and proposed--also will get a close look.
Hans Smit, director of Arthur D. Little for the Netherlands, is one of five new members of the board of directors of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines who were named to reflect the exchange of shares with Air France. The others are: Jean-Didier Blanchet, chairman of France's Cercle des Transports; Henri Guillaume, former vice president of the Erap oil group; Remmert Laan; and Henri Martre, former chairman/CEO of Aerospatiale.
United Airlines' two-year bid for a federal loan guarantee, intended at first to keep it out of bankruptcy protection and now aimed at financing its exit from Chapter 11, has descended into administrative silliness and election-year politics. The application is not being considered on its merits, and it should be.
Australia's Defense Ministry has rolled out four initiatives aimed at boosting the domestic industry's ability to win military contracts. One calls for the establishment of an organization to facilitate defense exports through a marketing push that will include uniformed representatives. Government officials hope overseas business will strengthen their domestic supply chain. Moreover, a defense technology investment program is being set up.
Using the Moon as a launch site for missions to Mars, as proposed in the President's "New Spirit of Discovery," is too complex and "doing it the hard way," says former Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), one of the original seven Mercury astronauts and the oldest man to go into space. It would make more sense to assemble a Mars vehicle in Earth's orbit and then fly direct. That would avoid the need to overcome gravity twice and also would dodge some challenging premises, such as a factory on the lunar surface to manufacture fuel for the journey.
Czech Republic officials signed a letter of agreement with the U.S. government to provide the Javelin medium-range, fire-and-forget anti-armor missile to its army. A contract for an undisclosed number and amount was awarded to the Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture.
The U.S. Forest Service is trying a new tack for getting privately operated large airtankers back in the air during the current wildland fire season. To that end, it has retained DynCorp Technical Services to oversee airworthiness evaluations of the fleet.
Virgin Atlantic and South African airways have signed a code-share agreement, which will take effect on Oct. 31. The agreement also covers both airlines' frequent-flier programs.
SES Astra has launched an initiative, together with more than 60 broadcasters, manufacturers and other partners, to ensure common open standards for high-definition television to make rollout of HDTV services in Europe as uniform and trouble-free as possible. The proposed standards specify a minimum of 720 lines vertical resolution, scan formats of 720P50 and 1080i25 and standard peripheral interfaces. HDTV gear meeting the standards would carry quality labels to that effect.
