Boeing decided to continue producing the 717 transport, after saying in October it was being considered for termination. However, the production rate will be reduced owing to the current slow sales, and layoffs at Long Beach, Calif., will increase beyond the previously announced 1,200 employees. The company will take a one-time $700-million after-tax charge in the fourth quarter for costs related to post-Sept. 11 production cutbacks.
America West Airlines has revised its Nov. 13 application for a $400-million federal loan guarantee, offering the government equity in the company and increasing its at-risk borrowing. The company also reported a $63-million increase, to $648 million from $585 million, in aircraft financing and concessions agreed to by manufacturers, lessors, creditors, vendors, state and local governments, shareholders and employees.
USAF IS CONSIDERING AN UPGRADE for the F-15's ALR-56C radar warning receiver and the F-16's ALR-56M. The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded BAE Systems a $4.8-million contract for a ``critical experiment'' to demonstrate an advanced threat alert and response (ATAR) upgrade by next April, which could lead to a 30-month advanced technology demonstration.
Eutelsat has opened a Turin-based subsidiary, Skylogic Italia, to support emerging satcom markets in northern Italy. The company will handle marketing/sales and provide technical infrastructure for a broad range of open-access broadband communications services in partnership with Euphon, an Italian media firm. Euphon will operate and support the system under an agreement concluded earlier this year (AW&ST Aug. 6, p. 21).
Machinists union members at Pratt&Whitney began returning to work on Dec. 13 after agreeing to a new three-year contract that provides some enhanced job and retirement security. Both sides made concessions. About three-fourths of District 91 members who voted on the company's proposed offer voted to end the week-long strike.
By Robert P. White Smithsonian Institution Press 186 pp., Hardcover, $24.95 Mason Patrick began his aviation career at the top, as Gen. John J. Pershing's hand-picked nominee to head the Air Service, AEF. Patrick was to whip it into fighting shape, giving it the structure, motivation and infrastructure needed to become a first-class battle force.
Turkish Airlines (THY), staggering from repeated economic blows, is stepping up survival efforts with additional job cuts and reductions in its 69-aircraft fleet. The carrier was in the midst of the country's deepest recession since 1945 when it was hit by the effects of Sept. 11. The carrier now expects the International Monetary Fund to implement economic measures related to a $15.7-billion loan issued in February.
U.S./Russian arms control, enshrined in Cold War liturgy for decades, is said to be entering a treaty-less twilight. Policymakers and analysts differ sharply about whether this development is a birth or a death.
Four B-1 crewmen had to eject last week just north of Diego Garcia shortly after a nighttime takeoff on a mission to bomb Afghanistan. An engine fire continued to burn even after fuel flow was shut off. The flames caused ``multiple malfunctions,'' said the bomber's pilot and mission commander, Air Force Capt. William Steele. ``The aircraft was out of control, and we all had to eject'' at about 15,000 ft. The crew was picked up about 2 hr. later suffering only from bruises and cuts related to the violent ejection.
NOVATEL OF CALGARY, ALBERTA, will develop a GPS receiver for the local area augmentation system (LAAS) ground facility that Raytheon is developing for the FAA. LAAS is a GPS-based system designed to provide precision-landing guidance. In addition to LAAS, Raytheon is developing ground stations for the FAA's wide-area augmentation system; MTSAT satellite-based augmentation system (MSAS) in Japan, and for the U.S. Defense Dept.'s joint precision approach and landing system.
With Congress' mid-January mandate to probe all checked bags for explosives quickly approaching and far too few electronic detection systems in place to do the work, airlines are rapidly investigating substitute strategies offered in the aviation security legislation signed into law by President Bush on Nov. 19.
Bringing together a variety of map formats is often valuable, but can be difficult. For example, laying a street pattern, water system and power lines on top of a satellite image can give a good picture of a town--but these data may be stored in pixel and vector formats with different coordinate systems, labeling conventions and other standards, as well as being spread among different databases.
U.S. Army aviation officials argue that a proposal to restructure the RAH-66 Comanche's development program will do a lot to reduce risk and that a concomitant plan to accelerate production would more than offset any near-term cost increases.
Long-time Airbus customer Vietnam Airlines has chosen the Boeing 777-200ER for European and U.S. routes, marking the first business transaction under a U.S.-Vietnam trade pact that came into effect earlier this month. The four aircraft, valued at $680 million, are to begin arriving in 2003.
Chris Ullman has become vice president-corporate communications for the Carlyle Group of Washington. He was associate director of communications for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications' plan to unload holdings in Inmarsat and other satellite operators is not the only equity realignment underway in the industry. Last week, Telecom Italia announced it would sell its 20.5% stake in Eutelsat, along with minor shares in Intelsat (2.8%), Inmarsat (2.1%) and New Skies (3.9%), to a group of investors led by Lehman Brothers. The shares, valued at 550 million euros ($495 million), will ultimately be transferred to a new company, with Lehman Brothers holding 70% and Telecom Italia, 30%.
The board of directors of the FedEx Pilots Assn. has entered into a merger agreement with the Air Line Pilots Assn. International after a five-year period as an independent union. FPA President David Webb said reconnecting with ALPA was the ``clear choice'' after studying alternatives, including forming a union with pilots at UPS and other cargo carriers or remaining an independent. Polls of members showed a strong preference for ALPA, Webb said.
Sean O'Keefe will take over as the 10th NASA administrator next month, pending his likely confirmation by the U.S. Senate, but any honeymoon with Capitol Hill is likely to be short-lived as he unveils details of his financial cleanup strategy in the Fiscal 2003 budget request. In sometimes-contentious give-and-take with senators who represent states that are home to NASA field centers, O'Keefe made clear at his Dec. 7 confirmation hearing that he will take an accountant's sharp pencil to agency spending without much regard for congressional sensibilities.
Boeing has initiated flight testing its contender to replace the EA-6B jammer and is developing a roadmap to boost the electronic warfare prowess of its F/A-18F derivative to defeat increasingly sophisticated air defenses.
Donald Lopez, deputy director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, has been inducted into the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame. He was cited for his more than 25 years' service to the museum, which includes participating in the planning for the current building, which opened in 1976, and developing its exhibits.
Gen. (ret.) Robert Aubiniere, the first director general of the CNES French space agency, which was created in the early 1960s, died in Paris on Dec. 7. He was 89. During World War II, he was an influential member of France's Free Forces. Later, his air force assignments included management of a missile test range installed in northern Africa. Aubiniere headed CNES from 1962-71, and from 1968-70 chaired the European Launcher Development Organization, a predecessor of the European Space Agency.
As part of an ongoing effort to broaden the acceptance of CIS civil aircraft, Volga-Dnepr Airlines and Antonov Airlines plan to seek certification of their An-124-100 to European JAA standards and to further modernize the huge freighter.
Art LaFlamme has become Ottawa-based air safety and legislative coordinator for Canadian operations for the Air Line Pilots Assn. He was director general of civil aviation for Transport Canada.
