New Piper Aircraft Inc. will soon conclude a recapitalization plan that could result in a change of ownership, with one of the company's current investors emerging as the dominant stakeholder. American Capital Strategies Ltd., a $1.8-billion buyout and mezzanine fund, has purchased Piper's secured bank debt. The recapitalization will include a working line of credit. American Capital first invested in New Piper in 1998, when it acquired 1-2% of the general aviation manufacturer.
FIRST GALILEO CONTRACTS The European Space Agency has awarded contracts for the first satellites in the Galileo satellite navigation system, which entered development in May. Surrey Space Technology of the U.K. won the first award, worth 27.9 million euros ($31.5 million), for a 400-kg. (880-lb.) testbed spacecraft that would use the Galileo frequency band and test critical technologies, including a rubidium atomic clock and a signal generator (AW&ST June 2, p. 26).
While Singapore Airlines ponders losses and a shrunken network, a former managing director of the carrier says the time is ripe to launch a regional budget airline. Lim Chin Beng, who headed Singapore Airlines (SIA) from 1972-80, has registered the company as ValuAir and plans to offer flights from Singapore to popular tourist destinations, such as Xian, Chengdu and Kunming in China. ValuAir's aircraft type and network are still in flux, however.
TEAM EFFORT Nexplo, a joint venture of Finland's Patria and Saab, and France's SNPE recently agreed to combine their propellant and explosives businesses and jointly form Eurenco. With annual sales of around 100 million euros ($112 million), Eurenco will be the largest provider of munitions in Europe. SNPE will own a 60.2% stake in the new Paris-based company while Patria and Saab will own 19.9% each.
Midwest Express Holdings, parent company of Midwest Airlines, has averted filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after achieving restructuring initiatives aimed at restoring financial health. They include: *Ratification of contracts with unions for pilots and flight attendants that will bring labor cost savings and productivity improvements. *Renegotiation of aircraft finance agreements, which Midwest said will reduce the current value of the agreements by $60-$70 million but not require the return of aircraft.
CONCORDE SEIZED French judges seeking to determine responsibility for Air France's Concorde crash near Paris on July 25, 2000, remain unconvinced by the BEA accident investigation bureau's findings. In an unprecedented initiative set to facilitate additional research, they put under police seal the Concorde donated to a Toulouse museum on June 27. BEA's final report, completed in early 2002, said the accident aircraft ran over a strip of metal during the takeoff roll, which caused a left tire to burst and the resulting shrapnel to rupture a wing fuel tank (AW&ST Jan.
Maj. Gen. Dan Leaf has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be vice commander of Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colo., effective Aug. 1. He has been director of operational capability requirements under the deputy Air Force chief of staff for air and space operations at USAF Headquarters in Washington. Leaf has been selected for promotion to lieutenant general. He will succeed Lt. Gen. Robert Hinson, who will be retiring.
Manila's Ninoy Aquino Internation- al Airport was put on a full security alert last week after informants said its International Cargo Terminal was the target for a local terrorist attack. An airport spokesman said the warning has prompted the Philippines Aviation Security Group to step up its normal 24-hr. security operations in and around the airport. The ICT, which also houses the airport's fuel farm, was cited as the most vulnerable facility in the airport complex.
CHINA SEES ARJ21 ACTION Liebherr Aerospace has been selected to supply the air management system for China's ARJ21--the first award for a non-U.S. company for the regional jet program. The potentially $350-million contract, which includes bleed air and and wing deicing, was one of the first systems awards announced for the ARJ21.
IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE Developers of commercial reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) are complaining that the FAA is dragging its feet on regulations for private suborbital space flights. Companies such as XCOR Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace are working to claim the $10-million X-Prize for carrying people into space in an RLV. Eventually, they hope to make a business of flying tourists on short flights into space.
While Loral and some other satellite operators are hauling in the sails to survive the current down-market, SES Global continues on the expansion trail. After setting up a two-way satellite broadband venture in Europe and moving to penetrate the U.S. direct-to-home broadcasting market, SES now plans to create a unit specialized in transoceanic coverage that would link together its various satellite systems around the world so it can meet the demands of global customers.
JetBlue Airways Chairman/CEO David Neeleman and Dave Barger, president/chief operating officer, have been named master entrepreneurs in the Metropolitan New York 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards sponsored by Ernst & Young. Sergio Magistri, president and CEO of InVision Technologies, Newark, Calif., received a Northern California Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Defense/Security category.
NEITHER RAIN, NOR . . . ??? The U.S. Postal Service has selected Lockheed Martin to build and test prototype containment systems for curbside, walk-up and lobby letter mailboxes. The goal is to develop a standard containment system for mail collection that will minimize a postal carrier's exposure to potentially hazardous or contaminated items when retrieving mail. The contract allocates funds for a development phase and prototype testing. The value of the award is not being disclosed at this time.
U.S. Navy submariners-in-training have long studied the 1986 Challenger launch disaster for the safety lessons it holds, but NASA is only beginning to consider such training for shuttle operators as it plans safety activities after the loss of Challenger's sister ship Columbia.
Philippe Camus has been elected president of the Gifas French aerospace industries assn. for a second two-year term. He is co-CEO of EADS. Yves Leclere was elected president of Gifas' Equipment Div. He is chairman/CEO of Messier-Bugatti.
JAPAN COMMITS After years of debate, Japan's Defense Agency appears to be ready to formally adopt a 200-billion-yen ($1.7-billion) budget for fiscal years 2004 and '05 that will begin a spending cycle to buy missile defense systems for the navy and air force. The effort includes two main elements: upgrades of all four of Japan's Aegis cruisers to accept the Standard Missile SM-3, the ballistic missile interceptor version of the weapon, and preparations for deliveries of the Patriot PAC-3 to all six of the air force's Patriot surface-to-air missile units.
Mark A. Thorpe has become director of air service marketing for Los Angeles World Airports. He was a management consultant and attorney for airports, airlines and national governments at Leigh Fisher Associates and PA Consulting.
John Benek and Glenn Norfleet have been named Arnold Engineering Development Center Fellows. Benek was honored for contributions to the development of advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools with an emphasis on the application to the test and evaluation of aerospace systems. Benek's work with NASA and industry leaders to develop leading edge technologies in CFD has been credited with influencing the role of computer simulations and wind tunnels in the development of flight vehicles.
Continued weakness in aircraft orders that has been linked to the SARS crisis will prompt Boeing Commercial Airplanes to double the number of layoffs it plans for 2003. The announcement means that BCA's workforce will drop from 93,000 employees a week before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to 55,000-56,000 by the end of 2003. The entire Boeing Co. has 159,800 employees.
The Columbia accident has given the U.S. an opportunity to correct a flaw that has hobbled its space exploration enterprise from the beginning. Cobbled together from a disparate array of Cold War research labs, NASA has never really overcome the parochial pull of its field centers as it pushed national objectives. Too often, management decisions have been driven as much by chamber-of-commerce interests as by those of science, engineering and--sadly--safety.
U..S. military officials and nuclear weapons experts are voicing support for the development of new warheads they view as critical to maintaining the relevance of the nation's nuclear arsenal. The sentiment is resonating in Congress, with lawmakers clearing the way to renewed research into such weapons.
. . . AND JOB SEARCHING The TSA has launched a recruitment program for more than 1,300 part-time security screeners at 30 U.S. airports, including New York, Los Angeles and Washington. The move is part of TSA's "right-sizing" plan, which allows the agency flexibility in assigning screeners to airports at peak times, when they are most needed. The screeners are to ensure checkpoint lanes remain open and help to minimize waiting times. Job announcements are posted at www.tsa.com, or call recruitment services at 1-800-887-1895.
HYPERSONIC MILESTONE A government-university test team has demonstrated that an electron beam can add approximately 1 megawatt of energy to a supersonic airflow, a key milestone in developing a new type of extended-run, ground-based hypersonic test facility. The Mariah II/Radiatively Driven Hypersonic Wind Tunnel team used Sandia National Laboratories' "Hawk" accelerator facility to produce the electron beam, which added energy to a 2,600-psi., 700K, 3-kg./sec. supersonic flow of air.
I found it ironic to see in the July 7 issue two so divergent articles on air traffic management (ATM): the Washington Outlook item "Deja Vu" (p. 19) reporting on a Transportation Dept. inspector general's audit that showed continuing severe problems in major FAA acquisition programs; and World News Roundup (p.17), reporting on the Boeing team's plan "to bid on a fully integrated air traffic flow system designed to maximize use of capacity in the national airspace system."
