To state the obvious, the U.S. airline industry needs a major overhaul to restore its financial viability, and analysts have some ideas about what needs to be done to accomplish that goal. At the top of their list isn't bolstering security, boosting fares or reducing the "hassle factor" that has made commercial flying so aggravating and time-consuming. "Unfortunately, the painful prescription for recovery consists mostly of cost-cutting," according to Standard & Poor's analyst Philip Baggaley.
Aviation Week & Space Technology's special report on the U.S. airline industry crisis, starting on p. 52, pulls no punches. The six largest hub-and-spoke carriers are in an unprecedented struggle for survival, and the outcomes for two of them--US Airways and United Airlines--will depend on how well management and labor can work together to improve the carriers' ability to compete.
BAE Systems will supply digital flight control computer equipment for the integrated flight control system on India's Light Combat Aircraft, under a $20-million contract. BAE Systems Controls will supply six sets of actuators and sensors, each consisting of 28 line-replaceable units. The company also has been contracted to complete qualification testing on actuator hardware being flown on two LCA development aircraft.
Correction: The caption on a newly declassified satellite image of Russia's Ramenskoye Airfield, now known as Zhukovsky, incorrectly stated its location (AW&ST Nov. 4, p. 69). The airfield is about 30 mi. southeast of Moscow.
Finmeccanica's revenues for the first nine months of this year increased to 5.31 billion euros, up from 4.49 billion euros in 2001 while before-tax earnings remained stable at 254 million euros. Such enviable financial results were achieved despite a hostile economic environment, the space businesses' difficulties and MBDA missile producer's restructuring, company officials pointed out. However, markets remain volatile, they added.
Testing of the V-22 is about to enter a critical phase with pilots performing high rates of descent operations. The goal is to characterize when the aircraft experiences vortex ring state, the rotorcraft phenomenon that was encountered in a crash in 2000. Marine Corps officials also are trying to decide how to treat seven MV-22s at MCAS New River, N.C., whether to eventually upgrade them at the location or somewhere else. In the interim, the aircraft are being placed in long-term storage.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is committed to the purchase of four-engine aircraft for transatlantic services, according to CEO Branson. The decision is based on results of a recent Virgin-commissioned survey conducted by U.K. company Taylor Nelson. The survey asked 443 adult passengers who had traveled on long-haul routes in the past year about the importance of the number of engines on an aircraft. About 34% expressed general concern about the number of engines on transoceanic flights, and 51% of those concerned showed a specific preference for four-engine aircraft.
The company has developed what it says is new technology that reduces the size of two-way and three-way butterfly valves without compromising capabilities. The technology uses rotary solenoids and DC brushless motors to provide isolation and throttling actuation, respectively. The valves exhibit tight sealing and minimal pressure drop. The company says custom valves have been tested and proven in aerospace and fuel-cell applications. Contrasted with butterfly valves using motor-driven or pneumatic actuators, this technology requires a simpler control device.
Larry Berg, president/CEO of the Vancouver International Airport Authority, has been elected president of the Pacific Region of Airports Council International. He succeeds Toru Nakamura, senior executive adviser to the Narita Airport Authority, who will remain on the executive committee. Other new officers are: vice president, David Pang, CEO of Airport Authority Hong Kong; and secretary-treasurer, Ung-Sup Yoon, chairman/president of the Korea Airports Corp.
Don Francis has become vice president/chief information officer for InVision Technologies, Newark, Calif. He held those positions for E-M Solutions Inc.
Among the commission's recommendations are: * Government commitment to "increased and sustained investment," and to facilitating private investment, in the aerospace sector. * Rapid development and deployment of a highly automated air traffic management system beyond the scope of the FAA's Operational Evolution Plan. * FAA certification of aerospace systems by process rather than by product, with incentives for early implementation. * Streamlined development of new airports and runways.
High landing and navigation charges, indecision on a policy for leasing four major airports and a freeze on privatized ground handling bids have left Indian airports facing a sea of lawsuits and in a state of suspension for attracting investors.
While David M. North's editorial "Here's How to Motivate Students Toward Aerospace" (AW&ST Oct. 14, p. 70) offered a number of suggestions for motivating students in Grades K-12 to develop technical skills, it neglected one important point.
Craig Saddler has been appointed president of the Boeing Travel Management Co. He succeeds Bob Jouret, who is now vice president-financial services/chief financial officer for the Boeing Shared Services Group.
Arianespace has won a contract to launch Indonesia's Telekom-2 communications satellite. The launch, set for the second half of 2004, was the company's third Asian deal (after Thailand's Ipstar-1 and India's Agrani-2) and 11th overall for the year. Meanwhile, Arianespace set Nov. 28 as the final launch date for the Ariane 5 EC-A, a higher-power version of the heavy-lift launcher with a cryogenic upper stage. The launch has slipped several times due to delays in delivery of the French experimental telecom satellite, Stentor, and Eutelsat's Hotbird 7.
NASA's revised Fiscal 2003 budget plan could lead to a larger International Space Station (ISS) crew than the seven planned before funding shortfalls cut it back to three, but it doesn't resolve how even those three will be accommodated after 2006. And while NASA wanted to move quickly on the new plan, Capitol Hill gave no indication last week it would go along.
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For the last few years, it has been a given that the first company to successfully combine data from many intelligence-gathering sensors--while compensating accurately for all the different physics and time latencies involved--and use the product to present a single, unified picture of the battlefield will spring to the top of the defense industry.
Intense radiation near Jupiter sent the Galileo probe into a preprogrammed safe mode Nov. 5, but not before it recorded some data as it flew within 99 mi. of the small moon Amalthea on the way to its closest encounter with the planet itself. Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will try to reactivate the spacecraft and recover the data before Galileo's scheduled impact with Jupiter in September 2003, but no more data-gathering flybys were planned.
An investigation team formed late last week will seek to determine causes for the crash, on Nov. 6, of a Luxair Fokker 50 near Luxembourg airport, the carrier's home base. The 50-seat twin turboprop operated the Berlin-Tempelhof/Luxembourg-Findel route under a code-share agreement with Lufthansa CityLine. During its final approach, after an uneventful flight, the F50 hit the ground in heavy fog about 6 mi. from the runway's threshold. Two of 22 passengers and flight crews on board survived. The F50, registration LX-LGB, had been delivered to Luxair in 1991.
Saudi Arabian officials now say there is no blanket rejection of U.S. aerial operations from their bases if there is conflict with Iraq. However, Pentagon officials have had three options in mind all along. "Plan A was to fly both support and combat out of Saudi Arabia," a senior Air Force official said. "Plan B was to fly support aircraft only, and Plan C was to fly no aircraft from their bases. A lot of the combat aircraft are already in Kuwait, and that's closer anyway.
Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities recently awarded the CAE Tropos commercial flight simulator Level-D certification. The technology has been integrated for use with a Boeing 737 full-flight simulator at CAE's Amsterdam aviation training center. Using calligraphic light points, it is able to provide more visually realistic runway lighting for training in low visibility, more accurate height and speed cues for pilots practicing takeoffs and landings, and ultra-sharp textures for more lifelike details around airports and runways, according to the company.
American Eagle Airlines officials are proceeding with the sale of subsidiary Executive Airlines to remain in compliance with scope clause mandates contained in its contract with the Allied Pilots Assn., which represents pilots at American Airlines. Peter M. Bowler, president of American Eagle, said last week the decision to sell the airline was driven chiefly by the need to comply with the scope clause, which limits the number of available seat miles American Eagle can fly while American Airlines pilots remain on furlough.
Three U.S. airlines, two small and one among the largest, won a little breathing room last week in their struggles to stay afloat financially. The rest kept plugging. Frontier Airlines and Aloha Airlines won conditional approval from the Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) of loan guarantees to cover 90% of borrowings critical to their survival. Subject to sweetened terms and negotiation of legal documents, the ATSB will guarantee $63 million of $70 million in Frontier loans and $40.5 million of a $45-million Aloha financing.
The regional arm of flag carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA), long in the shadow of its parent, is coming of age. Tourist-oriented SilkAir's long-term plans include a fleet expansion to 16 aircraft from nine by 2007 and a doubling of its investment in market development to S$16 million ($9.4 million).
