Hewa Bora Airways is poised to rapidly acquire a significant market share of the lucrative Congo-Belgium route. In a highly competitive context, Hewa Bora and SN Brussels Airlines recently began a price war that could evolve into a legal battle. Congolese officials claim that the Belgian carrier seeks to retain a dominant position on the route. Last year, after the collapse of Sabena Belgian World Airlines, Air France inaugurated Paris-Kinshasa service and offered passengers originating in Belgium service on TGV trains between Brussels and Charles De Gaulle Airport.
Cathay Pacific Chairman James Hughes-Hallett said last week that he does not expect the recovery of Asian travel markets this year to be as strong as the bounce-back in 1999 after Asia's currency recession. Nonetheless, the Hong Kong airline has announced plans to buy six new aircraft--three each from Airbus and Boeing--worth $1.1 billion and to hire 1,300 additional staff over the next two years.
The satellite industry is bracing for a further surge in insurance costs as it continues to struggle with rock-bottom demand that's expected to persist for at least another year. According to figures released here last week at the annual Euroconsult space transportation conference by Assicurazioni Generali, the space insurance industry had to pay out claims of $830 million last year, against just $490 million in premiums. Moreover, several large losses remain to be settled.
China has opened its first export processing zone near Beijing Capital Airport, according to China Aero Information. Known as the Beijing Tianzhu Export Processing Zone, the facility is intended to attract high (and low) technology companies to China by offering express links for air cargo shipments. It is among 17 similar sites approved by the State Council to broaden the country's export capacity.
Under a $45-million contract, ITT Avionics Div. will provide an undisclosed number of its new ALQ-211 suite of integrated RF countermeasures (SIRFC) to the Army Special Operations Command for use on its aircraft. The ALQ-211 provides radar warning, accurate bearing from electronic support measures to threat radars, and jamming capabilities in a 100-lb. package (AW&ST Oct. 26, 1998, p. 62). The ALQ-211 also was recently selected by Norway for its new NH-90s.
Economists expect a 2.5% climb in world trade this year and a 9% jump in 2003, which would reinforce the U.S. defense upswing and augur well for airline balance sheets. The Bush Administration is seeking almost $400 billion for defense for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, up half a percentage point of gross domestic product (GDP). At about $38 billion, homeland security spending would go up 0.2% of GDP. Air transport should get a boost from a faster return of consumer confidence from Sept. 11 than was expected originally.
Dynamics Research Corp. has been awarded a four-year $4-million contract to provide modeling, simulation and supportability analysis services to the U.S. Defense Dept. Joint Strike Fighter Program Office.
The British Trade and Industry Dept. on May 16 launched an initiative aimed at bolstering the U.K.'s future in the aerospace sector. The ``Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team'' will be led by BAE Systems Chairman Sir Richard Evans.
John T. Montford, senior vice president-legislative and political affairs for SBC Communications Inc., has been appointed to the Southwest Airlines board of directors. Sam Barshop and Gene Bishop have retired from the board.
Saab Ericsson Space has become exclusive computer hardware supplier for two European Space Agency satellites, Herschel and Planck, in an order valued up to $14.5 million. Both spacecraft are scheduled to be launched on an Ariane 5 in February 2007.
Steve L. Stretchberry has been appointed director of aviation of the San Francisco Public Works group of Kennedy/Jenks Consultants. He was director of aviation for CH2M Hill. Celeste Low has become a senior associate engineer in the airport practice of the firm's Seattle office.
If you want to know what's wrong with the U.S. aerospace industry, ask Sandra Goins. In 1996, Goins, who lives in Seattle with her husband and two children, had been working in a document copying center at Boeing for eight years when she decided to apply for a technical apprenticeship in a program jointly run by the company and the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).
MiG Aircraft Corp. and Rolls-Royce will conduct a six-month assessment of the market for an BR715-powered variant of the Tu-334 100-seat transport, dubbed the Tu-334-120. Rolls engines already equip the larger Tu-204-120, which is completed and marketed by Sirocco. The basic Progress D436-T1-powered model has been repeatedly delayed and is now due to be certified early next year, according to MiG officials.
The British Defense Ministry will soon begin to evaluate whether its ambition to field quickly a key unmanned aerial vehicle system is achievable--and affordable. Bids were submitted on Mar. 14 for the 600-million-pound ($874-million) Watchkeeper program. It is intended to provide the army with a cornerstone of what the Defense Ministry calls its Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (Istar) capability.
DPI Labs has developed a briefcase-size diagnostic tool for troubleshooting its Smart-Link II or III cabin management systems, which are installed in corporate jets, Air Force One and VIP aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force and other government agencies. The Fly-Away Kit, used with a laptop computer, can check the health of the cabin system including telephone, all entertainment systems, programmable lighting, air gaspers and the galley, and identify any failures or wiring problems.
Michael K. Powers of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office is among the recipients of the 2002 Arthur S. Flemming Awards, which honor federal employees for their contributions. He was cited for introducing a ``rigorous and systematic approach to a series of Air Force demonstrations'' whose results have affected NASA's Origins program and the national intelligence program for space reconnaissance. Another winner was Peter Mark Wegner of the Air Force's Technology Center of Excellence.
The Senate Armed Services Committee, backing its House counterpart, wants to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the President's Fiscal 2003 budget request for military aviation programs, and carry on with combat aircraft procurement that is increasingly threatened by the Pentagon's own budget axe. Senators departed sharply from the House position on missile defense, however, chopping a hefty $812 million from that account and shifting nearly $700 million of it into shipbuilding, including faster production of Virginia-class attack submarines.
EasyJet has signed a conditional agreement to acquire all of Go's outstanding shares for 374 million pounds ($535 million). EasyJet shareholders are expected to approve the acquisition during an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for June 17. ``Combining EasyJet and Go will provide additional critical mass and enable us to move forward faster as both airlines are built on common business models,'' EasyJet Chief Executive Ray Webster said.
Lockheed Martin Navigation Systems has received a contract extension valued at up to $2.8 million from the U.S. Air Force GPS Joint Program Office to continue development within the system architecture and requirements definition study for the GPS-3 satellite program.
NASA General Counsel Paul Pastorek is pulling together an educator-in-space competition aimed at creating a cadre of teachers within the astronaut corps. Administrator Sean O'Keefe says the competition should feed a new class of astronaut candidates expected to be picked late next year or early in 2004. Pastorek, an O'Keefe pal who has served as president of the Louisiana state school board, is working with the Education Dept. to make sure NASA's renewed emphasis on education meshes with Bush Administration education policy.
TRW Chairman Philip A. Odeen last week said management was evaluating several ``good, solid bids'' from U.S. and non-U.S. companies interested in purchasing TRW's aeronautics business. He expects a winning bidder to be selected ``within weeks, not months.'' He said management is on track to split the company into two independent enterprises--automotive, and defense and electronics. Simultaneously, TRW is engaged in daily intensive negotiations with Northrop Grumman, which wants to purchase the whole corporation.
NASA engineers are hopeful they can develop nuclear-powered long-distance Mars rovers for launch in 2009. But the agency's new space nuclear power initiative probably won't produce a nuclear-electric propulsion system in time to enable an earlier arrival at Pluto than the gravity-assisted trip already planned. A near term program is just getting underway to develop a new generation of radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that convert the heat from decaying plutonium fuel into electricity.
A China Southern Airlines official denied Chinese media reports last week that China's merger of 10 airlines into three groups has been put off for at least two years. ``Right now, I don't see what impact China Northern's air crash will have on our restructuring,'' the official said. China Southern is to take over China Northern.
The U.S. Army wants to greatly increase the size of its aviation special operations organization, with more helicopters, people, and overseas locations. The growth strategy, if approved, would add more than 60 additional special operations aircraft to the force, both MH-47 Chinooks and MH-60 Black Hawks. It would represent a significant expansion of the traditionally relatively small Army component.
Having weathered five bad years, Korean Air Chairman and CEO Yang Ho Cho sees hope in 2002. Korean Air consistently ranks as No. 2 in scheduled airline cargo services. After flight safety issues tarred its standing in the 1990s, it is looking for improvement in its passenger ranking, as well. In that regard, Cho has reason for optimism. The reopening of code sharing with Air France in April for services to Paris and with Delta Air Lines this month for services to the U.S. greatly expands Korean Air's European and U.S. networks.
