SEEKING MORE EUROS Piaggio Aero Industries is planning to raise its capital by 35 million euros ($40.6 million), almost doubling the current capital of 48 million euros. The majority shareholders, Jose di Mase and Piero Ferrari, who own 85% of the company through the Lochmore Luxembourg holding company, would provide 15 million euros. The bulk of the money, however, would come from an as-yet-unnamed partner, possibly a financial investor.
Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore collaboration in the missile defense field. Both are already members of Team Janus, which is addressing potential future NATO needs in this area.
CAE Chief Executive Derek H. Burney (left) responds to a question from Northeast U.S. Bureau Chief and Senior Business Editor Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., during an executive symposium exploring the future of transatlantic partnerships, at the Paris air show earlier in June. Chairing the panel discussion was Paris-based European Bureau Chief Pierre Sparaco (center).
AMPHIB FIREFIGHTER A recent feasibility study completed by Russia's Irkut Corp., EADS and Rolls-Royce Deutschland determined that the Russian-built Be-200 amphibious aircraft has a market potential of 320 units during the next 20 years. That market will depend largely on installing Rolls' BR715 engines on the Be-200 and obtaining certification by Western nations. Liberty Group International Inc., a company set up to promote the amphibian for the U.S.
Aviation Week group writers won five awards during the 2003 World Leadership Forum's Aerospace Journalist of the Year ceremony in Paris earlier this month. Presentation of the awards coincided with the Paris air show at Le Bourget. Winner of the Boeing Decade of Excellence Award was John Fricker, who writes regularly for magazines and newsletters within the Aviation Week group.
Australia has opened the competition for its air-to-air refueling modernization project, with bids due in October. The defense ministry next year hopes to sign a contract for up to five tankers that would enter service in 2007. The bidders are expected to use civil aviation infrastructure to support the aircraft. The refueler would have to service F/A-18s, F-111s, F-35 and the airborne early warning Boeing 737-based Wedgetail. Competitors are expected to bid options based on the Boeing 767 and Airbus A330.
MORE ENGINES During the first half of 2003, CFM International secured orders for more than 500 CFM56-series turbofan engines, and airlines placed options for an additional 396 engines, according to Snecma Chairman/CEO Jean-Paul Bechat. "I hope we have now reached the downturn's lowest point," he said.
Fairchild Dornier's 728 regional program is tentatively scheduled to be restarted by the end of the year by D'Long International Strategic Investment. The Chinese group last week reached an agreement to buy the twinjet from the bankrupt manufacturer, negotiated with administrator Eberhard Braun.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has reaffirmed the French government's desire for the merger of its two satellite manufacturers into a single entity. France's Alcatel Space has responded coolly to the government prodding, and both Alcatel and EADS are looking at the possibility of an alliance with Italy's Finmeccanica instead (AW&ST June 23, p. 32).
Major U.S. and Russian simulator companies and the Russian government's largest aeronautical research and development organization are teaming to build a new and varied line of simulators for civil and military aircraft and helicopters. The project is one of the larger U.S.-Russian aerospace ventures to emerge from the former Soviet Union, industry managers at the Paris air show said.
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
The British Defense Ministry has finally set in motion a multibillion-dollar next-generation air-defense program, which may also provide the impetus for eventual further consolidation in the European missile sector.
Midwest Airlines employees have been told the company is prepared to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by midsummer if the airline is unable to obtain required concessions in its restructuring negotiations, according to Midwest spokesperson Carol Skornicka. The alert was included in parent company Midwest Holdings Inc.'s report to employees on the status of the talks, which include aircraft leasing as well as wage concessions and productivity improvements from the company's three labor unions.
Ukraine is continuing to pursue cooperative commercial launch operations with Brazil while also proposing a potentially cutting-edge space science project with Japanese and other Asian researchers, Ukrainian managers at the Paris air show said.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 18 FedEx posts higher sales and earnings for fiscal '03 19 U.S. House panel passes $369.2-billion defense bill WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 24 Defense Dept. study: No free lunch for JSF partners 26 Two teams vie for ground surveillance aircraft deal 30 Simulation venture targets older Russian aircraft 31 Putin aims for better frame- work for aerospace projects 31 Sukhoi agrees to explore co- operation with Dassault
Contrary to U.S. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch's assertion in his Viewpoint, it is far from clear that the F/A-22 is vital to maintaining the "American edge" (AW&ST May 26, p. 82). Despite an ever-increasing budget and ever-lengthening development time, the F/A-22's software remains critically unreliable and the designation as an "attack" aircraft unconvincing. Its internal payload is unimpressive at best.
Marcelo Sant'Anna has become general manager of Rio de Janeiro-based Loral Skynet do Brasil. He was general manager for Latin America for Terayon Communications Systems Inc.
THREE AT HEATHROW, PLEASE Virgin Atlantic Airways is pushing for a third runway at Heathrow airport as a key development priority in its submission to the British government's ongoing consultation on air transport development. Virgin submitted its views June 24, identifying the "speedy development of a third, short runway at Heathrow," as a preference. It also supports the development of a second runway at Gatwick, along with a move to full mixed-mode use of the existing runways at Heathrow.
Healthy traffic growth for regional airlines on both sides of the Atlantic is expected to resume--a trend that should help regional twinjet manufacturers strengthen their backlogs. In the short term, however, archrivals Embraer and Bombardier are trying to resolve a number of difficulties.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] July 7-10--Society of Automotive Engineers' 33rd International Conference on Environmental Systems. Westin Bayshore Resort & Marina, Vancouver. Call +1 (877) 606-7323 or see www.sae.org/ices July 12-13--Terre Haute (Ind.) Air Fair. Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field. Call +1 (812) 877-7600 or see www.terrehauteairfair.com
FedEx Corp. has reported improved sales and earnings for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2003, which ended May 31. The results included a strong quarter from FedEx Express, which conducts the company's aviation services, but the unit will shed U.S. employees as planned during the coming year through retirement and severance incentives.
Boeing completed the upgrade of U.S. Army AH-64A Apaches to the Longbow configuration for U.S. forces in South Korea this month with the shipment of 17 rotorcraft from its Mesa, Ariz., facility. Their arrival completes the Army's drive to field a Longbow battalion in the region. The new unit joins one that arrived in late 2001 as the first international deployment of Longbows. A third foreign-based Longbow unit is in Germany. Personnel serving in Korea spent eight months at Ft.
The European Space Agency said its Soho solar observatory was expected to cease transmitting scientific data last week owing to a malfunction on the pointing mechanism of the satellite's high-gain antenna (HGA). The loss of capability will last about two and a half weeks. However, the low-gain antenna, responsible for spacecraft/payload data, was unaffected. Engineers are evaluating options to recover the HGA, or to minimize data loss. If the problem cannot be corrected, similar blackouts will reoccur periodically every three months.
Boeing's contract for new refueling tankers based on the dated-technology 767 has been lauded by its employees and local officials as a good deal. Halfway into those tankers' service lives, the basic 767 design will be more than 50 years old. Meanwhile Boeing has proposed to Britain's Royal Air Force to convert used 767s into tankers at a considerable savings. There are 2,000 airliners, some brand-new, parked on U.S. airfields awaiting service. If the U.S. Air Force requires additional tankers, why not convert parked airliners for the short term?
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice last week approved Air Canada's request for a 90-day extension of its bankruptcy-court protection to Sept. 30. The Montreal-based airline has developed the framework of its financial restructuring plan--including converting the existing unsecured debt into equity of the restructured Air Canada.
