Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson remains firm in his intent to start a low-cost airline in U.S. skies--and last week set a target date of June 2004 for such an operation.
AEROFLOT'S RECORD PROFIT Russian flag carrier Aeroflot posted a record $89.3-million net profit in 2002, an almost fourfold increase compared with 2001. Revenues of the state-controlled carrier increased by $5 million, to $1.56 billion, and expenditures totaled $1.4 billion, a decrease of $113 million. Passenger traffic declined 6%, to 5,490,000. Airline officials attributed the record profit increase to improved route and fleet planning and the implementation of an intensive cost-cutting program.
NEW LIFE AT NOVOSIBIRSK Sukhoi has signed a support and spares contract with Algeria for maintenance of the latter's Su-24MK Fencer strike aircraft. The deal is reported in the Russian press to be the first support contract negotiated by Sukhoi independent of direct Russian state involvement. Sukhoi's Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Enterprise will carry out much of the work. It had been the production site for the Su-24 Fencer, and the work will be welcome.
The Royal Thai Air Force has received the final three of 16 upgraded F-16 fighters, including 15 F-16A single-seat models and one F-16B two-seat version, as part of the Peace Naresuan IV program. The jets were refurbished by the U.S. Air Force, including structural improvements and Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220E engines.
United Airlines for several months has had a low-fare carrier gleam in its eye, as it focuses on meeting the competition. According to Aviation Daily, United last week told employees the low-fare carrier is to operate in key leisure markets with a fleet of 40 jets pulled from the mainline. However, the intended startup date and type of aircraft were not specified.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan tried to inject investors with a dose of reality in the late 1990s by suggesting the red-hot stock market was "over-exuberant." He could just as easily make the same observation about airline shares today.
CLOSING THE BREACH The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration plans to strengthen security at its nuclear weapons sites through a five-step program. It will also establish a commission to recommend further security enhancements, to be headed by Adm. (ret.) Richard Mies, and a second panel--led by Adm (ret.) Hank Chiles--to advise on the best way to recruit and retain security experts. The move comes after a series of security problems at the weapons laboratories.
Under terms of their October 2000 agreement, Hughes Electronics has refunded $360 million of the original $3.75 billion that Boeing paid for Hughes' satellite manufacturing operations, now known as Boeing Satellite Systems. BSS and Hughes Network Systems had agreed to restructure the contract under which BSS is building the Spaceway broadband satellite system. The refund settles outstanding purchase price disputes.
DASSAULT FALCON JET CORP. is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first flight of the Mystere 20 in May 1963. The airplane was a forerunner of the Falcon jet family of business aircraft, of which more than 1,600 have been built. The Mystere 20 led to development of the Falcon 10, 20, 2000, and the three-engine Falcon 50- and 900-series.
Weakened by a mobile communications venture the market didn't buy, Loral Space & Communications Corp. has been forced to seek bankruptcy protection and sell more than half of its present and future satellite assets valued at $1 billion.
LANDING CALL JetBlue and Continental have joined American Airlines in allowing passengers extra time to use mobile phones during taxi from landing runway to the gate. Previously, cell phones could be used only when the cabin door was opened at the gate. Rules during departure remain the same: No cell phone use once the cabin door is closed.
Joseph T. DiGiacomo has been promoted to chief operating officer from chief financial officer of the Domestic Services Div. of the Philadelphia-based Stonepath Group.
TSA SOLE-SEARCHING . . . Intelligence gathered by federal agencies is driving the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's "increased focus" on screening shoes. TSA screeners have been instructed to encourage passengers to remove their shoes for X-ray scanning, but won't require it until people pass through the metal detectors. A TSA official said the lines will move faster if passengers voluntarily comply.
On a day American Airlines reported "progress in its march to profitability"--reduced losses in the second quarter--the carrier said it will cut operations at its St. Louis hub in half by November, shifting aircraft and capacity to Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago O'Hare.
With discounts of as much as 30%, Asian airlines are starting to see brighter days after a harrowing experience with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a battle that for them was worse than the aftermath of terrorist attacks in the U.S. two years ago. "The discounted fares are certainly attracting people to travel," a spokesperson for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) said. "Airlines have no [other] choice to get people to travel."
NEW DELTA IV DATE U.S. Air Force managers have rescheduled the next launch of Boeing's Delta IV rocket from July 23 to Aug. 3 to allow more time to check out the vehicle's first-stage engine. If the Delta IV can't launch in a window that opens at 6:57 p.m. and continues until 8:21 p.m. EDT, additional windows will be available on Aug. 4 and 5 that open a minute later. The mission will carry the final Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS B6) military communications satellite.
During a Royal Netherlands Air Force deployment of seven F-16s to NAF El Centro, Calif., Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief William B. Scott (center) flew a training mission with Maj. Arnold Stallman (left), a 315 Sqdn. flight commander, to see the enhanced Lantirn system in action during simulated precision-weapon drops (see p.44). Maj. Patrick Tuit (right), a flight commander with 322 Sqdn. from Leeuwarden AB, Netherlands, was reception team leader for the RNLAF training deployment.
TRAFFIC JAM Assn. of European Airlines members are increasingly worried by the slow pace of recovery. Overall, international traffic remains nearly 5% under mid-2002's levels while, after a brief resurgence, intra-European traffic is lagging again. In the second quarter, traffic remained 3.9% under 2002's levels. "The lack of consistency in the European market is disappointing. At a time when we urgently need to rebuild our market base, a minus figure--even a small one--is troubling," said AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency demonstrated a Micro Adaptive Flow Control system earlier this month at Bell Helicopter Textron's facilities. Full-scale demonstration of a Micro Adaptive Flow Control (MAFC) system on the XV-15 tiltrotor have confirmed that the technology can provide a 14% reduction in drag forces during hover by reattaching separated airflow around the wing surface. Calculations have shown that a 25-ton tiltrotor equipped with MAFC could carry a significantly larger payload compared with a standard version.
MARS EXPRESS GLITCH European Space Agency officials are working to reconfigure mission payloads on the agency's Mars Express probe to compensate for a solar panel power failure. Because of a switching defect, the panels are delivering only 70% of nominal power to the spacecraft, which was launched in early June (AW&ST June 9, p. 27). However, because not all the spacecraft systems need to be used at the same time, it will be possible to replan utilization to make do with the lower power feed, officials said, adding that the failure "is not a major concern."
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Pratt & Whitney and the U.S. Air Force have concluded tests of their ground demonstrator engine one (GDE1) supersonic combustion scramjet. Final trials of the flight-weight, hydrocarbon-fueled powerplant focused on ground tests assessing the scramjet's thermal, structural and mechanical design at Mach 6.5 flight speeds. The government-contractor scramjet team expects to begin ground tests of GDE-2--a more refined, increased functionality, flight-weight engine--next year.
JOHN W. OLCOTT, FORMERLY PRESIDENT of the National Business Aviation Assn., is now president of General Aero Co.--a business that addresses security, management and safety issues in the business aviation industry. Olcott spent 11 years guiding the NBAA, and also served as an adviser to the FAA and the National Air & Space Museum, and is a member of the FAR Part 125/135 Rulemaking Advisory Committee. In addition, Olcott and General Aero provide consulting, analysis and planning for businesses contemplating charter or fractional ownership of an aircraft.
Northrop Grumman has won the first of two contracts to begin preliminary design of an unmanned combat armed rotorcraft (UCAR). The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is negotiating the second award, which will go to Boeing, Lockheed Martin or Sikor- sky, although officials indicate the latter is out of the running.
FINMECCANICA ACQUISITION Italian industrial conglomerate Finmeccanica continues to restructure its business holdings in anticipation of an operational agreement with BAE Systems by year-end. In the near term, Finmeccanica, acquiring yet another element of the Marconi group, is closing a deal for Marconi Mobile Access, which specializes in broadband communications research. BAE and Finmeccanica intend to establish at least three joint venture companies.
