The government of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is to decide by Sept. 1 whether DHL will be authorized to significantly expand nighttime operations at Brussels-Zaventem airport or move to another, more night-operations friendly, location. Verhofstadt is adamant that DHL's European hub stay in Belgium. Alternative sites include Jehonville, a former NATO air base, which, in the 1970s, was eyed as an all-cargo airport.
The Titan Corp. has received a five-year contract from the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Systems with a potential value of $19,184,739, to provide military and commercial satellite systems engineering and test and evaluation support.
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WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 18 Boeing, three Japanese firms in contracts for 7E7 work 18 LockMart, Boeing teams win TSAT development pacts 19 Thales moves could signal more defense consolidation 19 SES Global to expand new transoceanic satcom unit WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 22 NASA, industry shift gears to develop shuttle replacement 24 Even without servicing mis- sion, Hubble must go 25 Milspace, other goals could blunt ESA's Mars ambitions
Italy's ailing Gandalf Airlines, which is struggling for survival in the absence of bailout funding, will curtail operations on Bergamo-Paris and Milan-Paris routes and close all others.
Dennis M. Cary has become president of AAdvantage Marketing Programs. He succeeds Ed French, who has joined the Host Marriott Corp. Cary was London-based managing director-sales and marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa for American Airlines.
When Northwest Airlines CEO Richard H. Anderson said on Sept. 23, 2003, that his company would not share passenger data with a private company, he was unaware his company had sent 10 million passenger records to NASA the year before. But privacy advocates say they are not impressed with that explanation because when the data episode was reportedly discovered three days later, the company didn't "fess up."
The Spanish air force recently signed a four-year, 186-million-euro contract with EADS CASA Military Aircraft for midlife upgrades of its F/A-18 Hornet fleet. The work, which began earlier this month, will be carried out at CASA facilities in Getafe at an anticipated schedule of one aircraft per month. The air force's Armament and Experimental Logistics Center and EADS have collaborated on design and development of software and integration as well as testing of the new avionics equipment.
The FAA's new rule allowing the use of enhanced flight vision systems will likely stir continued debate over their true operational and safety benefits.
European reaction to U.S. President Bush's space exploration plan was positive but not enthusiastic--perhaps an acknowledgment that finding funds for such an ambitious endeavor will be a hard sell. European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin greeted the proposal warmly, as did France's research minister Claudie Haignere. European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain called it "good news for Europe," and offered to earmark the agency's nascent Aurora solar exploration program as Europe's contribution.
Royal Air Force Merlin Mk. 3 version of the EH-101 flies near the New York skyline during recent operations. Two of the AgustaWestland EH-101s have been flying in the U.S. for nearly three months. They are currently at the U.S. Navy's Patuxent River, Md., facility undergoing evaluation. The U.S. team of AgustaWestland, Lockheed Martin and Bell has entered the US101 version of the EH-101 in competition against the Sikorsky S-92 to be the next presidential helicopter, with proposals due Feb. 2. Sheldon Cohen photo.
Lockheed Martin has received an $88.9-million contract for the second, low-rate initial production purchase of the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Also, Lockheed has won a $7.2-million contract from the U.S. Navy to design, develop and integrate test program sets that can be used by avionics maintenance technicians for repairing common cockpit weapons replaceable assemblies.
Brian F. Davis has been appointed associate partner, with responsibility for advising aviation and aerospace clients on aircraft acquisitions and related activities, for the New York-based Seabury Group. He has been vice president-fleet management for Continental Airlines.
Mark King has been appointed president/CEO of International Aero Engines, East Hartford, Conn. He succeeds Steve Heath, who has returned to Pratt & Whitney as vice president-commercial engine programs and technical support. King was executive vice president-airlines for Rolls-Royce plc.
It could have been the headline on our news coverage of President Bush's speech redirecting NASA's human spaceflight endeavor: "President Signs Space Policy Backing Lunar, Mars Course." There followed stories on the efforts to get the space shuttle flying again after an accident, new funding for technology for Moon and Mars exploration and--tellingly--the cancellation of a program to develop an unmanned planetary science spacecraft. But the President was Ronald Reagan and the year was 1988.
Careers in Aviation Inc. and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) have mounted a barnstorming tour with a 19-year-old pilot as spokesperson. Jamail Larkins, an aviation business school student at ERAU, initiated a 20-city tour last week, piloting a new Cirrus SR20. He will visit middle schools and high schools to discuss aviation with students each week, in a number of cities including New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Denver and Cincinnati. Scholarship possibilities as well as flights in the Cirrus will be part of the allure.
Patricia McMahon (see photo) has been named vice president/integrated product team leader for electronic warfare programs within the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Systems, Bethpage, N.Y. She was vice president/general manager for electronic/mission computer/displays/antenna programs at BAE Systems' facility in Greenlawn, N.Y.
Japan Airlines says it will use Chubu International Airport at Nagoya, which is due to open next year, as an international hub by offering flights to Paris and Hong Kong. JAL relies on Tokyo's Narita airport as its main gateway but also uses Kansai International Airport in Osaka.
The European aerospace and defense industry's ability to speak with one voice will grow dramatically in the coming weeks through the combining of three previously independent industry associations into a single entity. Under the planned move, the European Defense Industries Group and the Aecma aerospace industries association will be merged into a new organization, as yet unnamed. They will be joined by Eurospace, although the space association will retain its separate identity.
American Airlines, on the brink of a bankruptcy filing a year ago, and Continental Airlines, on the brink of breaking even this year, are pressing forward with their respective restructuring plans under still-risky market conditions. Each carrier intends to expand capacity in 2004, American reaching pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels by the end of the year.
Paul J. Martins has been appointed chief operating officer of Los Angeles-based Mercury Air Cargo. He succeeds Mark J. Coleman. Martins was director of UPS Air Cargo.
The U.S. military strategy is set to be revamped, with its focus changing from assigning forces and planning combat regionally to a more global approach that would include areas currently neglected.
France is upgrading self-protection suites on the bulk of its older helicopter models and studying the development of new, higher performance systems to meet the kinds of threats that have become apparent since the recent Iraq war. Officials at defense procurement agency DGA said the retrofit program, the final phase of which is to get underway later this year, does not result directly from events in Iraq, which has seen a series of lethal attacks on unprotected U.S. helicopters (AW&ST Jan. 12, p. 31).
Following 10 days of no attempt to contact the stray Beagle-2 Mars lander, British scientists looked to fly-overs by the Mars Express orbiter on Jan. 24 and 25 for any sign that the lander has survived. The radio silence should have forced Beagle into a final reversionary communication mode, were it intact, and remotely functional.
