Passenger airlines aren't the only members of the aviation community that are being roiled by labor unrest. So are air cargo carriers. Currently in the hot seat is Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc., parent company of Atlas Air Inc. The world's largest air cargo outsourcer--which specializes in long-haul, heavy-lift operations--and its 718 pilots and flight engineers have tried unsuccessfully for two years to negotiate a new contract.
American Airlines' application for six weekly third-country code-share frequencies to Vietnam (AW&ST May 20, p. 15) has competition. Delta also wants six frequencies, for service with Korean Air via Seoul. Since only seven frequencies are available--they are dormant, formerly held by Northwest-KLM--Delta says the Transportation Dept. must conduct a full-blown selection proceeding. United, which has seven frequencies and seeks one more, says it will apply for all seven if there is a proceeding.
Joe Lombardo has been appointed chief operating officer of the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga. Larry Flynn was named president-product support. He will continue as president of General Dynamics Aviation Services.
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport recently approved Skynet Asia (SNA) as the nation's fourth startup carrier, following Skymark, Fairlink and Air Do (Hokkaido International). SNA, based at Miyazaki on the southern Kyushu Island, is expected to inaugurate five daily round-trip services between Miyazaki and Tokyo with two Boeing 737-400s beginning Aug. 1. Fares, while not yet finalized, are estimated to run 35% cheaper than those of Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Air System. SNA expects profitability in its fifth year of operation.
Air New Zealand is recasting itself with a new strategy designed to provide lower fares and a greater choice of flights. In October, the carrier will inaugurate Air New Zealand Express-class service on main trunk domestic routes with Boeing 737-300s outfitted with 136 seats instead of the current 122 by removing the business-class section. There will be no in-flight meals or alcoholic beverage service, and the fare structure will be announced in July. The aircraft will then be fitted with new seats with more legroom in 2003.
Steven P. Daniels has been named president/CEO of the Enstrom Helicopter Corp., Menominee, Mich. He was director of K-MAX helicopter sales and marketing for the Kaman Aerospace Corp., Bloomfield, Conn. Daniels succeeds Robert M. Tuttle, who will remain as chairman.
DigitalGlobe plans to add four next-generation Earth-imaging satellites by the third quarter of 2007, bringing 5-meter imagery to market as well as the sub-meter images delivered by its QuickBird satellite and the Spot images it sells under license (AW&ST Jan. 28, p. 33). The Colorado-based company developed plans for its ``M5'' constellation with Ball Aerospace and ITT Industries.
Israel's launch of its new Ofec-5 military imaging reconnaissance satellite on a Shavit booster last week should bolster the country's ability to monitor independently and, if necessary, target ballistic missile threats in Syria, Iran and Iraq. Just after the May 28 flight, Israeli Army Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Ben-Yisrael, former head of the service's research and development division, said spacecraft like Ofec-5 are of ``utmost importance'' to Israel for obtaining ballistic missile intelligence.
Battlefield communications networks are being simulated with a QualNet, a new design tool by Los Angeles-based Scalable Network Technologies. QualNet models a variety of network types and can handle complex layouts and more than 10,000 nodes. The battlefield network was being designed at Raytheon's Visualization and Simulation Lab in Plano, Tex. ``Our project's ultimate objective was interactive real-time modeling of thousands of entities,'' said John Powers, the principal software engineer.
Despite lower than expected funding levels, the European Space Agency has managed to devise a new long-term science program containing most of the missions scientists wanted. But the agency served notice that further budget cuts would force Europe to roll back its space ambitions. Agency officials said an initial review of science projects following the ESA ministers' refusal last November to fund science at the requested level showed three previously approved missions and four planned ones to be under threat.
German airship manufacturer CargoLifter late last week seemed on the verge of collapse, as the company declared it could no longer meet its financial commitments and was approaching bankruptcy. CargoLifter told employees it could not pay May salaries on time, but insisted it had not yet filed for protection from creditors as it continued to negotiate with banks, other investors and the Brandenburg regional government.
NetJets plans to add four Falcon 50s to the core fleet of its European fractional ownership network this summer, to meet demand for access to smaller airports. Another six Citation Bravos, two Excels and a pair of Falcon 2000s are also to be added this year. NetJets Europe COO Mark Baier forecast that European fleet usage will grow by 60% this year and even more in 2003.
German airship manufacturer Cargolifter--at risk for insolvency--plans to shelve its core development program until it secures more funding. The company will stop work on the giant CL 160 airship, which has been designed to carry loads of up to 160 tons. Cargolifter needs more than 400 million euros ($368 million) before it says it will be able to start production. Instead, the company now is trying to secure 70 million euros, enough, it believes, to bring the CL 75 cargo balloon to production.
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics E.C. Aldridge, Jr., and his Danish counterpart, National Armaments Director Jorgen Hansen-Nord, have signed memorandums of understanding committing Denmark to participate in the Joint Strike Fighter system development and demonstration phase. This commitment will span the next 10 years. Hansen-Nord cited it as an important agreement for Danish industry, further strengthening the U.S.-Danish defense relationship. U.S.
Brad Cvetovich, vice president/general manager of customer support for Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, has received the annual Nuts and Bolts Award of the Air Transport Assn. It honors leaders in the field of aviation maintenance and support. Cvetovich is scheduled to retire on July 1 after 39 years' service.
JetBlue Airways is tackling the problem of travel stress. Passengers may safely direct their hostilities, at least mentally, at eight yellow punching bags the carrier playfully installed at its Terminal 6 at New York JFK International Airport. Taglines on the ornamental bags--``Forget where you parked?'' ``Left the iron on?''--are an effort to neutralize travel anxieties.
Saab Bofors has defeated a Lockheed Martin/MBDA team to win the British Defense Ministry's 400-million-pound ($580-million) next-generation light antiarmor weapon program. The Saab Bofors Main Battle Tank Light Anti-Armor Weapon will enter service in 2006.
Singapore Airlines Engineering Co. predicts contributions from the 16 joint ventures it operates in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Ireland in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul to grow 25-30% in the next 3-4 years. SIA Engineering recently opened a third hangar in Singapore and has plans for two more.
Barnes Machine Inc., a subsidiary of Compass Aerospace Corp., has won a five-year, $3-million contract covering assemblies and machine parts for Boeing 737 aircraft.
Yet another momentous task awaits the overworked Transportation Security Administration (TSA). While trying to fill a $4.4-billion budget shortfall, set up a 50,000-plus airport security workforce and put 1,100 explosives detection systems in hundreds of airports, it's also trying to roll out a credentialing program for 15-25 million transportation workers and possibly another 10 million frequent fliers.
Online fuel trader Jet-A.com has reached separate agreements with aviation e-marketplaces Cordium and Aeroxchange to offer Jet-A.com's jet fuel procurement and management services through their marketplaces. . . . Sikorsky will be writing its manufacturing work instructions with iBASEt's Solumina CAPP software. It can work with existing data as well as the latest digital models. . . . In its move to e-business, the U.S. Air Force plans to rewrite its 14,000 online business forms, which now exist as static documents, in the XML language to make them more interactive.
Flight tests of the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor resumed late last week at NAS Patuxent River, Md., ending an 18-month halt in the program to resolve problems stemming from two fatal accidents. Marine Col. Dan Schultz, program manager for the MV-22, said technical problems, including faulty titanium hydraulic lines and errant software codes, ``have been fixed'' and that the U.S. Navy ``has left no stone unturned'' in its quest to provide a ``safe and operational aircraft'' to the Marine Corps.
US Airways, as part of its planned expansion of regional jet operations, is reactivating the former Potomac Air and renaming it MidAtlantic Airways. US Airways expects startup of MidAtlantic in the fall and is soon to select regional aircraft types for the fleet. MidAtlantic will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of US Airways Group Inc. and a US Airways Express carrier, along with Allegheny, Piedmont and PSA Airlines. Potomac Air, created as the basis for DC Air as part of US Airways merger with United Airlines, ceased operations in October 2001.
The Pentagon is experiencing a sharp rise in aircraft accidents this year. And though safety officials aren't certain of the cause, they are pretty sure they can't blame the trend on combat operations in Afghanistan and other places. The U.S. Air Force through May 24 experienced 20 aircraft Class A accidents, those with more than $1 million in damage, for a rate of 1.32 incidents per 100,000 flight hours. By the same time last year, the service's accident rate was 0.85.
