Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (RVSM) are coming to domestic U.S. airspace and could be operational by December 2004, according to the FAA. RVSM decreases the separation from 2,000 ft. to 1,000 ft. between suitably equipped aircraft flying at 29,000-41,000 ft. (Flight Level 290 and FL410). That change has already been implemented in Europe, Canada and oceanic airspace in the Northern Atlantic and Pacific (see p. 40).
Commercial aviation suppliers, many of whom are trying to figure out how they will navigate the downturn that the industry has entered, should be so lucky as to have a stable of end-use customers as healthy as JetBlue Airways. It's profitable, with first-quarter margins of about 17.5%, versus a minus 13.6% for the broader industry. Compound system growth of 25-30% in the next five years looks like a safe bet; its fleet of 24 almost-new Airbus A320s is expected to more than double in the next two years.
Alitalia Engineering and Maintenance has received a five-year contract for the support of two DC-10-40 trijet freighters operated by Aeroflot under a lease from the Ten Forty Corp.
Northrop Grumman Corp. expects to begin reviewing TRW Inc.'s internal financial data soon, based on a confidentiality agreement signed by the two companies last week. As part of the pact, Northrop Grumman will defer until Sept. 30 any action on its $53-a-share bid for TRW until September. Until then, it will try to establish what it considers a ``full and fair'' value. If TRW doesn't find a buyer for the whole company by Sept. 30, Northrop can again tender its hostile offer.
Airbus does not expect to dip into all of the 1.8 billion euros ($1.64 billion) set aside in this year's budget for customer financial support. The company was able to carry forward about half of the 500 million euros set aside for this purpose last year but not needed, said co-CEO Rainer Hertrich. He also said 2001 net cash reserves of 1.5 billion euros would be sufficient to finance not only development of the A380 ultra-widebody transport but also other requirements and some acquisitions.
Mongolian Airlines will take delivery of its first Boeing 737-800, which has been leased from the GATX Financial Corp. The carrier is scheduled to begin operating the aircraft in revenue service in July.
Wayne Burk (see photos) has been named vice president-completions and maintenance sales and Kirk Kinkead director of avionics for the Executive Aircraft Corp., Wichita, Kan. Burk was sales manager for Garrett Aviation Services, while Kinkead was an avionics sales representative for Duncan Aviation.
Gilbert Gaudette, vice president-services centers for Pratt & Whitney Canada, has received the Outstanding Achievement in Aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Award from Aviation Week's Overhaul & Maintenance magazine. The award honors improvements to the efficiency, profitability, reliability and/or safety of MRO.
BAE Systems is developing hybrid integrated optoelectronic modules that combine the speed and parallelism of optical devices with the integration benefits of state-of-the-art electronic chips. Spatial light modulators (SLM) have recently demonstrated applications for steering coherent optical beams, as input/output devices for one- or two-dimensional optical memory systems, and for improved analog signal processing by combining analog optical and digital electronic processing.
EADS has decided to group its launcher and satellite activities--currently split between a division, EADS Launch Vehicles, and an affiliate, Astrium--into a single company. It will have three units for launchers, satellites and space services. The position of BAE Systems, which owns 25% of Astrium, in the new firm remains to be determined. BAE could maintain its stake in the satellite unit, purchase a share in the services unit--which will be responsible for building and operating the U.K.'s new Skynet 5 milsatcom system--or take equity in the space company itself.
Steady passenger growth and the addition of six new airlines since March 2001 are prompting the construction of 16 new gates at Denver International Airport (DIA). Ten jet gates and six commuter gates will be added to the west end of Concourse A, bringing DIA's total to 123 gates. In addition, another 48 ticket counters will be added in the East Terminal. The estimated cost of the project is about $270 million, with scheduled completion in 2004.
Scott Clements, president/CEO of the Edmonton (Alberta) Regional Airports Authority, has been named to the board of directors of Washington-based Airports Council International-North America.
Berlin is being warned it must either sign up for the $2-billion Meteor active radar-guided missile program, or shoulder responsibility for the European flagship program's collapse. In a stark statement, Britain's defense procurement czar, Sir Robert Walmsley, last week warned that without German participation the Meteor program would fail. Were Meteor to fizzle out, he noted, it would prove highly embarrassing and would cast a pall over Anglo-German defense relations.
In a move signaling that Bombardier is considering an acquisition of ailing Fairchild Dornier, the Canadian group last week sent an engineering team to the German manufacturer's headquarters to conduct a ``technical evaluation'' of the 728 regional jet program. At ILA 2002, Bombardier executives said the German federal government, Bavarian state authorities and Lufthansa asked the Canadian group to take a close look at the 728.
Controllers at the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center in Leesburg, Va., got a new capability last week, the User Request Evaluation Tool Core Capability Limited Deployment (URET CCLD), which is part of Free Flight Phase 1. Advice from its decision aids frees controllers for more strategic planning, which speeds direct routing to avoid adverse weather and altitude changes for optimum winds. The conflict probe function looks ahead 20 min. to predict conflicts from current paths or changes to flight plans. Mitre developed URET for the FAA.
Alfred Gessow, a prominent researcher and educator in the field of helicopter aerodynamics, died May 2 at a Birmingham, Ala., hospital, while under treatment for a heart condition. He was 79. Gessow coauthored the classic textbook in the field, ``Aerodynamics of the Helicopter,'' which is still in print and widely used 50 years after it first appeared. Gessow joined NACA in 1944, conducting helicopter research, and remained with its successor NASA to manage programs and become director of the Office of Aerodynamics.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Charles G. Boyd has become president/CEO of Washington-based Business Executives for National Security. He succeeds USMC Gen. (ret.) Richard D. Hearney. Boyd was senior vice president/Washington program director of the Council on Foreign Relations. He will remain as its Henry A. Kissinger fellow for national security and European affairs and executive director of the task force on terrorism.
The Pentagon is considering cutting F-22 production by more than 100 aircraft, further reductions in Joint Strike Fighter purchases and possibly building more U-2s as a hedge against rising Global Hawk UAV costs. The proposals are part of a flurry of activity in preparation for Fiscal 2004 budget deliberations. So far, none have led to program decisions. However, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has let service officials know he wants to cut programs, Pentagon officials indicated.
The U.S. is about halfway through a 10-year development process that will produce the first dynamic database for truly integrated, or ``network-centric,'' warfare, say top researchers. This computer-based package--heavily reliant on advanced, high-speed processing and sophisticated algorithms--would gather and integrate available intelligence, identify and prioritize targets and then select the best available weapon within range to carry out the strike.
When the U.S. airline industry found itself financially flattened following the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress rushed to its aid within days with cash grants, loan guarantees and other relief measures. Incredibly, eight months later, as this industry still struggles to regain its footing, lawmakers seem poised to deliver the airlines a good swift punch in the solar plexus. A measure in the House last week would halt the grants and guarantees and, most disturbingly, double the security surcharge on tickets to $5 per flight leg from the current $2.50.
Accidents involving a BAC 1-11 in Nigeria and Boeing 737-500 in Tunisia have emphasized the apparent need to enhance flight safety in Africa. An Executive Airline Services (EAS) twinjet on May 4 crashed in densely populated suburbs 3 min. after takeoff, approximately 1.5 mi. from the Kano International Airport, killing 154 crewmembers, passengers and local residents and injuring many. The impact destroyed an estimated 30 houses, a school and two mosques. Three passengers and a flight attendant reportedly survived.
January world airport traffic continued ``to wallow in negative territory,'' according to Airports Council International data gathered from more than 700 airports worldwide. Compared with the same period last year, passenger traffic was down 10%, cargo 3% and aircraft movements 8%. Airports in the North America region, which handled 90.8 million passengers, showed the largest decline--12%. Latin America/Caribbean airports, which carried 13.9 million passengers in January, and European region airports, which carried 60 million, each showed a decline of 9%.
