Average passenger load factors last year hit the record highs of 2000. But the break-even point moved roughly 10 points higher than airlines can achieve. The forecast for a 2003 fed by fear of terrorism and worldwide health anxiety is for an 8% decline. The bearer of this gloom at Aviation Week's MRO 2003 conference was the Air Transport Assn.'s chief economist, David Swierenga. "There's not a lot you can do to stimulate revenue," he said. "What happens now is that carriers start to cut costs."
May 6-8--Aerospace Defense & Finance Conference. Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York. May 14-16--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va. June 16--Top 100 Stars of Aerospace, Paris (during the Paris air show). Sept. 16-18--MRO Europe, Cardiff, Wales. Oct. 14--Value Creation Conference The McGraw-Hill Companies Headquarters, New York. Oct. 28-30--A&D Programs & Productivity Conference & Exhibition. Arlington (Tex.) Convention Center.
CAE has won a supply order to provide a Boeing 737-800 full-flight simulator including CAE Tropos visual system for the FAA. Also, Lufthansa Flight Training has selected CAE to provide an Airbus A330-300 full-flight simulator. The contracts have a combined value of up to $24.2 million.
Capt. James Woolway (see photo) has become commanding officer of Naval Air Systems Command Depot North Island in San Diego. He succeeds Capt. Peter Laszcz. Woolway was the depot's executive officer.
A growing need for pilots in the U.S. Air Force and Navy has sparked renewed interest in training facilities and methods, with the 3D Flying Training Sqdn. here once again answering that call.
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD Advocates of heavy bombers are pushing for an objective way to measure the combat effectiveness of B-1s and B-52s as compared to fighters in an Air Expeditionary Force (AEF). Their idea is to prompt a debate on the combat power brought to the battlefield by aircraft. The underpinning of the bomber fans' argument is a comparison of the cost, divided by the number of targets hit each day by the two types of aircraft. "It ought to be something tangible," said one aerospace industry analyst.
The Pentagon is continuing its rapid redeployment of aircraft from the Middle East. The lone Global Hawk unmanned aircraft operating from the United Arab Emirates has received orders to return to the U.S. Still to be determined is whether the aircraft will go to Edwards AFB, Calif., as a test asset or Beale AFB, Calif., its permanent operational home.
IS PARIS CHURNING? Opinions abound on the Pentagon's decision to nix flying demonstrations of aircraft and limit the numbers of top uniformed types attending the Paris Air Show. Senior Air Force officials--most of whom will go to work for the aerospace industry when they retire--caution that it would be stupid to handicap U.S. industry by throttling back participation. The motive for scaling back may not be retaliation for French intransigence on Washington's action in Iraq, however. It may simply be concerns about appearances.
Profits and revenues surged at Lockheed Martin and L-3 Communications during the quarter ended Mar. 31, as they did for many smaller defense contractors. Moreover, strong bookings and growing backlogs suggest the current halcyon period could turn into an extended one for companies whose primary business is selling products and services to the military and government.
An Ontario judge has approved Air Canada's request, supported by some of its labor unions, to take no further action involving collective bargaining agreements until May 9 or, alternatively, until two days after negotiations get underway between Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and their respective unions. The carrier has set a target date of June 30 for completion of labor restructuring plans.
SURVEILLING THE MARKET With defense spending in decline in many parts of the world, the market for airborne surveillance and reconnaissance systems is expected to drop slightly between 2002-08, slipping below the $4.5 billion a year level of last year and then returning to about $4.4 billion by 2008. The U.S. accounts for 47% of this market but despite the importance of these systems in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Pentagon's push toward network-centric warfare, the major U.S. platforms won't be replaced until after 2008.
Belgian officials have reaffirmed that a mini-defense summit scheduled by Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg in Brussels on Apr. 29 is not an attempt to set up a separate military structure within the European Union. "The object is to evaluate where we stand and what we need to do to meet our objectives," said one top official, adding that the four nations have pledged to increase spending on hardware and R&D to 0.45% of GDP by 2012.
The U.S. Air Force's Milstar advanced military communications satellite system has been instrumental in providing Global Hawk command-and-control operations over Iraq, including use of the large UAV during the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, Air Force sources said. Milstar was also used for the rapid targeting of Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles involved in Iraqi strikes and clandestine communications with Special Operations Forces.
Dominique Hedon (see photo) has been named vice president-industrial strategy of Snecma and a member of the French group's management committee. He was vice president/general manager for commercial propulsion engines of Honeywell.
Moritz Suter, founder/former chairman of Crossair, has been named chairman of Jet Aviation parent Hirschmann Holding Ltd., Zug, Switzerland. Other new board members are: Rita Hirsch- mann, Wolf-Rudiger Bub, Karl Dersch, Peter Gauweiler and Hans Loliger.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada report on the 1998 crash of Swissair Flight 111 (AW&ST Apr. 14, p. 62) reminded me of an experience I had as a passenger on a Hunting (now Air Contractors) Boeing 727F in February 1997 with an original route of Dublin to Brussels via East Midlands in England.
Elbit Systems Ltd. and Rockwell Collins joint- subsidiary Vision Systems International has been awarded a contract from Boeing to deliver up to 300 joint helmet-mounted cuing systems within the next 18 months, under a $60.1-million supply order.
Philip J. Vincenzes has been named chief technology officer, USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) Norman Edwards senior associate and Jordan Richie associate of DFI Government Services of Washington. Vincenzes was founder of eXtensible Business Solutions Inc. Edwards was chief of joint modeling simulation for Joint Staff J-8 at the Pentagon, while Richie was a chief researcher for the Wisconsin Project.
Martin Melnick has been named vice president/chief information officer for internal information systems for North- rop Grumman Space Technology. He was the vice president of the sector's e-Enterprise.
ARIZONA NIGHT VISION Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electro-Optical Systems business plans to consolidate its night-vision components manufacturing operations by moving most of them to Tempe, Ariz., from Garland, Tex., in June. As a result of the shift, there will be a net reduction of more than 100 jobs, according to company officials. The Garland facility will remain the business unit's headquarters.
Southwest Airlines reported a net income of $24 million in the first quarter, but officials warn that projected earnings in the current period may fail to match last year's performance because of weak travel demand.
I read with great interest and admiration David A. Fulghum and Robert Wall's article on the A-10 flown by K.C. (AW&ST Apr. 21, p. 27). It is a remarkable story. If the government trains women to fly combat aircraft, why were they prohibited from flying combat missions? K.C. did what she was supposed to do and did it well. Recent events show her training was a worthwhile investment.
The Columbia accident investigation board is beginning to embrace assertions that the same management loopholes and flaws that resulted in the Challenger accident 17 years ago also played key roles in the Columbia tragedy. Such findings would mean that in effect similar NASA program deficiencies are directly culpable in the death of 14 astronauts and the loss of two shuttle orbiters worth $4 billion.
Peter J. Gundermann has been nam- ed president/CEO and David C. Burney vice president/chief financial officer of the Astronics Corp., Buffalo, N.Y. Gundermann was president of Astronics subsidiary Luminescent Systems Inc., while Burney was controller of Astronics' aerospace division.
