Airbus' 555-seat A380 loves composite materials and the Japanese are happy about it. The new aircraft has created such high demand that Japan's Toray Industries, regarded as the world's largest manufacturer of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, is to increase its annual CFPR production rates for the A380 to 2,600 metric tons (5,720,000 lb.) from 800 metric tons, as of August 2004. Coupled with domestic demand, A380 production is expected to reach 9,100 metric tons a year, nearly half the world's production.
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Marshall O. Larsen (see photo), who has been president/chief operating officer of the Goodrich Corp., Charlotte, N.C., is scheduled to become CEO on Apr. 15. David L. Burner, who has been chairman/CEO, will remain chairman until the October board of directors meeting, when the board is expected to name Larsen chairman/CEO. Burner is expected to retire on Apr. 30, 2004.
Delta Air Lines, which lost $363 million in the fourth quarter of 2002 and $1.3 billion in the full year, reported cash-positive operations during the past three months and projects more in the next three. But the carrier expects revenues to remain depressed and thinks travelers already are jittery about the possibility of war with Iraq.
Lockheed Martin has teamed with Raytheon, SAIC, L-3 and others, to design a battle management and communications package for the U.S. Air Force's next-generation surveillance and intelligence aircraft.
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NASA used a Boeing Delta II rocket to launch two scientific satellites early last week, one to keep track of the condition of Earth's icecaps and the other to study the hot plasma that surrounds the solar system.
Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson wants to start an airline in the U.S. (AW&ST Nov. 18, 2002, p. 21)? Only an idiot would think we need more empty seats flying around the U.S. He wants us to open our skies to foreign airlines, but it's OK for the rest of the world to restrict U.S. airlines in their domestic markets.
Sherwin L. Burman has been appointed chief financial officer of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Airport Authority. He had been acting CFO and was a partner in Deloitte and Touche.
Cessna Aircraft Co. is aiming its Model 680 Citation Sovereign at a gap that exists in the traditional midsize cabin business-jet segment, and has scheduled FAA certification for late this year, followed by initial customer deliveries. The twin-engine Sovereign will compete chiefly against the Raytheon Aircraft Hawker 800XP and the Gulfstream 100 as well as larger midsize cabin jets at the upper end of the market, such as the Falcon 2000 and Gulfstream 200. The Sovereign's cabin will accommodate 8-11 people, depending on seating configuration.
USAF has canceled its next Red Flag exercise, which was set for this month, because the lead unit, the 4th Fighter Wing from Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., received deployment orders.
Kuala Lumpur-based AirAsia has taken delivery of its sixth Boeing 737-300, secured under a long-term lease from Ansett Worldwide. AirAsia, the region's first low-cost airline, launched service last year.
At opposite ends of this city, two aircraft manufacturers are building corporate jets with near-identical cabin size, performance and price with each hoping its product, once in operation, will fare better in a difficult market. While both the Bombardier Challenger 300 and the Raytheon Aircraft Hawker Horizon programs were started at different times, they are likely to reach FAA certification within a year of each other. They also are entering a marketplace where contending aircraft from Gulfstream Aerospace and Dassault Aviation are already established.
Former FAA Administrator Jane Garvey has been appointed executive vice president and chairman of the transportation practice of Washington-based APCO Worldwide.
Feb. 3-4--American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics' Defense Excellence 2003 Conference. Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington. Call +1 (703) 264-7500. Feb. 3-5--Aerospace Lighting Institute's Night Vision Goggle & Glass Cockpit Seminar. Airport Marriott Hotel, Los Angeles. Call +1 (727) 791-0790 or see www.aligodfrey.com. Feb. 4-6--Society of Automotive Engineers' North American Aviation Safety Conference. Westin Peachtree Hotel, Atlanta. Call +1 (724) 772-8530 or see www.sae.org/calendar/meetings.htm.
Air Canada, which reported profitability in the second and third quarters of 2002--and the only international carrier in North America to report black ink in the second quarter--advises it will report a fourth-quarter loss and full-year operating loss. The carrier anticipates the loss will be less than for the fourth quarters of the previous two years (AW&ST Oct. 7, 2002, p.52). Air Canada's alert came along with its traffic report for December.
Raytheon Co. will be the intended sole-source provider for development of the Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM). It will replace the Raytheon Area Theater Ballistic Missile Defense program, which the Pentagon canceled last year because of cost overruns. ERAM is being designed to protect ships from cruise- and Scud-type missiles. The replacement system will use the same basic components as the Area Theater ballistic missile defense, Aegis system and the Standard missile. One program objective is to achieve initial operational capability no later than 2010.
A decision to indefinitely postpone Europe's Rosetta comet rendezvous mission, a week after presentation of an inquiry report on the failed launch of the upgraded Ariane 5 EC-A last month, has revealed that concerns with the booster extend well beyond the EC-A version to the Ariane 5 launch system as a whole.
Proposed fare hikes have raised hackles among British and Irish airlines. Ryanair lodged a complaint with the U.K. Office of Fair Trading over the Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) decision to allow the National Air Traffic Service to raise fares. British Airways has complained to the CAA about revised pricing proposals concerning charges at Heathrow.
The prototype Cessna Citation Sovereign business jet flies over the California countryside. The Sovereign has completed development testing and is poised to enter a final certification phase that is scheduled to continue until late this year. Cessna is developing the airplane to fill a gap in the midsize cabin market segment (see p. 42). Photo by Tom Zwemke.
Iraq's purported access to GPS jammers is getting a lot of attention, but that doesn't necessarily mean they could seriously impair U.S. combat operations. "I'm not worried about that," said USAF Gen. Lance Lord, head of Air Force Space Command, which is in charge of the GPS satellite constellation. However, one issue that will require close attention is bandwidth management. Lord expects bandwidth demands to be met, but that it could require some adjudication. In the long run, the space community will have to increase bandwidth availability.
A Thai-government-led effort to exploit regional tourism has attracted interest of the tourism-minded Singapore government, according to Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's prime minister (AW&ST Jan.13, p. 391). He said the as-yet-unnamed carrier will operate from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to tourist destinations in Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China, and along the Mekong River countries of Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia.
Monte Belger, who retired from the FAA last September as acting deputy administrator, has been named vice president of the Transportation Systems Solutions unit of Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management, Rockville, Md.
