US Airways' Chapter 11 reorganization plan--premised on reduced costs, a growing fleet of regional jets and code sharing with United Airlines and eventually the Star Alliance--envisions an operating profit in 2003 and net profits from 2004 through the rest of the decade. The plan and a related disclosure statement also provide insights into US Airways' tactics in securing loan and investment commitments from Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA), to finance it through and out of bankruptcy protection, and in wringing cost concessions from its labor unions.
Lockheed Martin has essentially completed a three-year process of integrating its Space Systems Co.'s missiles and satellite operations with the formation of the Space & Strategic Missiles division as of Jan. 3. G. Thomas Marsh, currently president of Space Systems' Astronautics division, will be president and general manager, reporting to Space Systems Executive Vice President Albert E. Smith. Marsh's two principal deputies will be Michael C. Gass as vice president of Space Launch in Denver and Leonard F.
Hamilton Sundstrand Sensor Systems received a U.S. Army production contract to deliver their chemical and biological weapon detector--the Chemical Biological Mass Spectrometer Block II. The CBMS II units will be fielded on the Joint Services Light Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance System managed by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Army's Stryker Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle program.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Robert Wall (Washington)
Some Pentagon war planners are now looking at the first half of February as the most likely time for an attack on Iraq, immediately after U.S. representatives present "direct evidence" to the U.N. Security Council that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
Did anyone actually think United Airlines would receive a government loan guarantee when the White House's Texas cronies from Continental and American airlines were so vocal and visible in their opposition to it? Sure, United had financial problems before Sept. 11, 2001, but so did most of the other full-service carriers. The vultures are circling the wounded United, just waiting to pick at the remains.
About 20 large military communications and secret National Reconnaissance Office relay spacecraft worth $3-4 billion are under development for launch over the next 10 years, giving a much needed stimulus to satcom developers and enhanced data and network-centric capability to the U.S. in a dangerous world. While this initiative is underway, the Defense Dept. and NASA are increasing their coordination of advanced satcom technology development, especially laser communications, which promise to provide major new battlefield capabilities.
Garuda Indonesia's business was hit so hard by the Oct. 12 terrorism bombing on Bali that it has put a planned fleet expansion on hold. An airline official said plans to buy four 747-400s are under review because international operations have been cut back. The airline is unsure whether it will defer delivery of the 18 Boeing New Generation 737s and six 777s it has on order or whether it will exercise three options on Airbus A330s.
In a market dominated by "economic decline and terrorist overhead," Boeing still wants to pursue a new design for a long-range aircraft that can carry 200-250 passengers. But not with the futuristic Sonic Cruiser.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: David M. North [email protected] Managing Editor: David Hughes [email protected] Assistant Managing Editors: Stanley W. Kandebo--Technology [email protected] Michael Stearns--Production [email protected] Senior Editor: Craig Covault [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068
Coaxing airlines to participate in the Air Force's Civil Reserve Air Fleet has been difficult almost since the CRAF program was created nearly 53 years ago, and a new General Accounting Office (GAO) report finds more of the same. Under current incentives, only CRAF participants can bid for peacetime cargo and passenger business, which more than doubled to $1.28 billion in Fiscal 2002 due to Afghanistan operations. But some airlines find less value to this than meets the eye.
Maintenance, repair and overhaul suppliers who survive the severe recession ravaging the commercial aviation industry probably can look forward to a booming business climate in the second half of the decade. Until then, only the most tenacious players will succeed in expanding their share of what currently is a flat to declining market.
I see another Defense Dept. and contractor aircraft program management team has bit the dust for "cost problems." I don't know what Air Force acquisition chief Marvin R. Sambur has been doing for the past year, but as you stated: "Air Force and industry sources insist the costs were known at least a year ago." The discerning public was also well aware; so much for the very expensive Defense Dept.-imposed cost-reporting system.
Investigators from Ukraine and Iran will seek to determine why an Antonov An-140 twin-turboprop transport crashed on Dec. 23, in central Iran, killing all 45 people on board.
The first of two reproduction Me262A jet fighters flew for 35 min. on Dec. 20 from Paine Field near Seattle. Test pilot Wolfgang Czaia said the airplane was airborne after a takeoff run of 14 sec., lifting off at 110 kt. Czaia left the gear down during the flight as a safety precaution. "The airplane's handling qualities were excellent in all three axes, and I could trim the aircraft to fly straight and level hands-off," he said.
Beginning Mar. 1, Delta passengers traveling on most restricted fares will no longer have the option to travel on standby. Instead, passengers will be able to receive confirmation of flight changes for a $25 fee (waived for frequent-flier club members). The new policy applies to connecting flights as well as changes within 3 hr. of departure, on the same day of originally ticketed travel. It is effective for ticketing bought on or about Sept. 5, 2002, for travel beginning Mar. 1 in the U.S. and Canada on mainline, Delta Express and Delta Connection services.
Robert Wall (Washington), David A. Fulghum (Washington)
Although Washington is pursuing a diplomatic rather than military strategy in trying to defuse the nuclear crisis with North Korea, Pentagon officials undertaking contingency planning know they face a more lethal adversary in Pyongyang than Baghdad. Iraq has attempted to grow its so-called asymmetric capability, military tools such as ballistic missiles that exploit U.S. weaknesses. But Iraq's efforts can't rival what North Korea has amassed, much of which lies within striking range of South Korea's capital, Seoul.
A Proton M rocket fitted with the Breeze M upper stage orbited Canada's Nimiq 2 telecommunications satellite Dec. 30 in the first commercial mission for the upgraded combination, giving International Launch Services (ILS) and its Russian partner Khrunichev an alternative to the Proton version that failed in a commercial mission last November.
Mar. 10-11--European Transport Leaders Conference. Landmark Hotel, London. Mar. 12-13--Toulouse Symposium. Toulouse (France) Congress Center. Mar. 27-28--Defense Budget Conference. Holiday Inn, Rosslyn, Va. Apr. 15-17--MRO 2003 & MRO Latin America. Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 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.
On another front, BAE Systems has also reportedly suspended negotiations with EADS for the sale of BAE's 27.5% share holding in satellite and launcher manufacturer Astrium. This stall is apparently due to changes dictated by the deteoriating space telecom market.
CAPITALIZING ON THE NEW POTOMAC CONSOLIDATED TERMINAL Radar Approach Control (Tracon), the FAA plans to start implementing a redesign of airspace in the Washington-Baltimore areas by the end of the year. The facility began operation on Dec. 14, with Dulles Tracon controllers as the first occupants. In the next four months, controllers from Reagan Washington National, Andrews AFB, Richmond (Va.) International and Baltimore-Washington International airports will move in.
What to fix and when to fix it? In airline maintenance the answer isn't as simple as, "Whatever is broken." If it's a safety of flight issue, fixing what is broken is a given. If a repair falls below that threshold, then economics and fleet scheduling issues come into play. But knowing when something is going to fail is not an exact science.
Space industry and government leaders are moving to reinforce Europe's capabilities in EHF and SHF technology to meet rapidly growing demand for highly secure military satellite telecommunications.
By 2004, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Nagoya plant is set to coproduce the center wing assembly of the Boeing 747-400. The agreement marks the second center wing section production deal in Japan; Fuji Heavy Industries produces the 777's center wing section. MHI expects the 747 production rate to be two units a month. Unit price is put at about $8.3 million each.
Controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have written off the Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour) spacecraft, after a final attempt to contact it failed on Dec. 20. The silence that followed 16 hr. of commands in two Deep Space Network sessions last month was expected, given the apparent explosion of the spacecraft on Aug. 15 during a critical solid-rocket burn designed to take it to close encounters with several comets (AW&ST Dec. 23, 2002, p. 20).
