In the perennial tug-of-war between Airbus and Boeing, differences of opinion are often the order of the day. What is unusual, however, is to witness a sharp exchange between executives of the companies in a public forum. Such was the case last week when Airbus Executive Vice President John Leahy and Boeing Business Strategies and Marketing Vice President Nicole Passecki squared off. The occasion--a New York-based industry panel discussion focused on fleet planning. A Wall Street analyst asked whether airframe manufacturers are marketing too many models.
What's wrong with this picture? We arrive at the airport. Our luggage is unlocked for inspection. After inspection, our luggage goes to the cargo hold. We don't see our luggage again until it appears on the carousel at our destination. The nice people of the TSA urge us to get our luggage quickly, so no thief can steal anything. But, our luggage has been unlocked ever since it was surrendered to the nice baggage checkers--the TSA minions. From the moment our unlocked luggage left our sight until it reappeared, we had no control over our bags.
Small- and medium-size defense technology companies who worry about staying ahead of their rivals--and are frustrated by their inability to attract more government R&D money--will want to chew on this: The Pentagon wants to expand its existing supplier base with technology firms with whom it currently does little or no business.
Inconclusive results from a Russian investigation into the root cause of last year's failure of a Russian Block DM-3 upper stage may have a bigger impact on Sea Launch, which uses a variant of the stage, than on International Launch Services, which organized the failed mission. Investigators said they may never know the source of the contamination blamed for the failure that stranded Astra 1K, the largest communications satellite ever built, in a useless orbit after its launch on a Proton rocket.
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Astrium has received an 82.4-million-euro ($89-million) contract to develop Venus Express, a recently approved ESA mission due to be launched in November 2005 on a Soyuz Fregat rocket. Astrium is also prime for Mars Express, on which the Venus Express design will be based. c
Britain's limited space budget will at best remain flat over the next three years, with the government's latest space strategy paper--released recently--focusing on commercial exploitation. The draft paper--coincidentally unveiled two days after the European Commission's Green Paper--spelled out the government's narrow ambitions, married to a tight funding regime. A three-month consultative period on the strategy will conclude in March.
John M. Devine, vice chairman/chief financial officer of the General Motors Corp., has been named to the board of directors of subsidiary Hughes Electronics Corp., El Segundo, Calif. Thomas E. Everhart is retiring from the board.
Kevin Dobby has been appointed senior vice president and corporate secretary of the International Air Transport Assn. He was senior vice president-member and government relations and has been succeeded by Thomas Windmuller. Robert Hutt has been named chief financial officer. He succeeds Louise Roy, who has left the organization.
With a "Song" in its heart, Delta will launch its successor to low-fare Delta Express Apr. 15 with service from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport to West Palm Beach, Fla. "Song," a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, will go head-to-head with JFK-based JetBlue Airways in marketplace and services. It initially will offer nonstop services between Northeast U.S. cites and Florida leisure destinations. By October, Song plans to be operating 144 flights using a 36-aircraft fleet of 199-seat, all-coach-class Boeing 757s (see p. 12).
William B. Scott (Colorado Springs), David Hughes (Washington)
The promise and potential of network-centric warfare (NCW) is reshaping U.S. military doctrine, operations and acquisition plans. Much of the impetus has come from innovative troops in combat and forward-thinking Pentagon "mavericks," who believe warfighting tenets must change dramatically to meet current and projected threats.
Correction: The maximum takeoff weight of the Airbus A330-200 was listed incorrectly in the Airline Outlook column (AW&ST Jan. 20, p. 13). The correct figure is 512,600 lb.
Charlie Douglas (see photo) has been promoted to president/chief operating officer from vice president-engineering and programs for SimAuthor Inc., Boulder, Colo. Stephen Lakowske, who has been president/CEO, will remain as CEO/chief technology officer.
Trade associations representing airlines and other aviation inter- ests asked the Transportation Security Administration on Jan. 17 to delay again the deadline for compliance with the so-called 12-5 rule--security requirements for operators of aircraft certified for maximum takeoff weight of 12,500 lb. In November, the TSA extended the deadline from Dec. 1, 2002, to Feb. 1, 2003, because it couldn't make guidance available to smaller operators in time (AW&ST Nov. 18, p. 21).
OBITUARY: James B. Taylor, 3rd, one of the leading corporate aircraft salesman, died on Jan. 16. He was 81. Taylor was a U.S. Navy test pilot and flew carrier-based fighters during World War II. His corporate jet sales career started as vice president of Pan American World Airways Business Jets Div. in 1963. He then held sales and marketing positions with Cessna Aircraft and the Canadair Chal- lenger program. In 1985, Taylor became president/CEO of Gates Learjet.
The videotaped catastrophic failure of two air tankers last summer dramatically highlighted an industry long in need of reform. The U.S. Forest Service's resultant permanent grounding of all C-130A and PB4Y air tankers was long overdue.
Four Marines were killed when the two AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters they were flying crashed near Zapata, Tex., on Jan. 22. The aircraft were conducting nighttime reconnaissance in support of antidrug activities by the U.S. Border Patrol. The accident is under investigation.
The Defense Dept. is laying the groundwork for net-centric communications by expanding the capacity of the information backbone that all of the joint warfighters and services rely on for data exchanges.
Boeing's Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power unit has been selected to provide the liquid propulsion system for the Lockheed Martin pad abort demonstration for the NASA Orbital Space Plane program.
US Airways is making its second attempt in five years to serve Asia, this time through its code-share with United Airlines. Requesting Transportation Dept. authority for U.S.-Japan and U.S.-Hong Kong operations, US Airways says it wants to sell tickets initially on United flights between Tokyo Narita and Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, New York-JFK and Honolulu; between Osaka and San Francisco; and between Hong Kong and Chicago and San Francisco.
The British government received a stark warning late last week over the future fate of its aerospace sector, were it--and its industry--not to adequately respond to the challenges now faced both in the commercial and defense market arenas. The interim report of the Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team--set up at the behest of the Trade and Industry Dept.--examines the long-term welfare of the sector over a 20-year period--and spells out in bleak terms the consequences of not adapting to the changing environment. Entitled "A Vision for the Future of U.K.
Newly proposed FAA regulations would mandate transport aircraft transponder changes arising from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but compliance wouldn't be required for more than two years.
