Whatever the future holds for Canada's struggling commercial air transport industry, it won't include the country's second largest airline, Canada 3000. It's no longer in business. The carrier abruptly ceased operations on Nov. 9 after frantic attempts to secure government funding before it ran out of money. With no advance notice, thousands of ticketed passengers were left in the lurch in yet another case of airline customers being forced to fend for themselves.
The investment banking firm of UBS Warburg last week increased its estimate of the U.S. airline industry's net loss, to $6.4 billion from $5.4 billion, for 2001. Revenues estimates for the fourth quarter also were revised downward, to 32% below the same period a year ago, versus an earlier forecast of 27%. The more pessimistic predictions are based on slower revenue recovery and modest impact of the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 last week.
This proportional gas mixer brochure features standard two-gas 180 SCFH models, high-capacity two-gas 700 SCFH models, and standard three-gas 180 SCFH models. The mixers provide welding/purging with a variety of gases in industry as well as in lab environments. The hardware is used for tungsten arc and metal arc welding, providing gas mixtures for plasma cutting machines and controlling the atmosphere in heat treat ovens. The mixers are dome-loaded to eliminate the need for an external power source. Smith Equipment, 2601 Lockheed Ave., Watertown, S.D. 57201.
Even with a steep drop in its financial performance, Lufthansa German Airlines still hopes to avoid posting operating losses on the condition it can quickly implement cost-cutting measures. The carrier does not anticipate reversing the current negative trend--as far as passenger numbers and traffic are concerned--any time soon and sees its problems continuing well into next year.
The Bush Administration puts a positive spin on the Bush-Putin summit, which produced an agreement to cut strategic nuclear stockpiles but nada on missile defenses. They argue that U.S.-Russian relations have fundamentally changed and, so, they are not particularly concerned about not wrapping everything up in one pretty package. The two presidents issued a sheaf of statements, signaling agreements on an array of economic and security issues. Bush promised to draw down to 2,200-1,700 operational warheads, and Putin promised similar cuts. Speculation had been that U.S.
Edward A. Bruciati, Jr., (see photos) has been promoted to director of sales for North America from Atlantic regional director for the Lee Co., Westbrook, Conn. Bruciati succeeds Arthur Nadel, who has been named California-based director of sales for South America and Asia.
European research ministers approved nearly $7 billion for new launcher, telecom, navigation and other space programs for 2002-06, but deferred disbursement of funds for International Space Station utilization until next year. Although the sums approved for individual programs were below the 10 billion euros ($9 billion) proposed, German Research Minister Edelgard Bulmahn, who chaired the summit, nonetheless termed it ``a full success'' (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 30).
The FAA had an ``embarrassing'' number of only 38 sky marshals at the time of the Sept. 11 hijackings, according to a federal law enforcement officer commenting anonymously on the agency's new aircraft operator rules. The rulemaking addresses terrorism but was issued before Sept. 11. In an FAA docket filing, the officer said the FAA ``has a lot of nerve,'' tightening restrictions on federal officers flying armed even as it borrows officers from more than 30 federal agencies to pack heat until it can recruit and train its own personnel.
Major U.S. airlines that operate international service have worked out an agreement among themselves intended to pave the way for temporary suspension of Transportation Dept. dormancy rules, accommodating post-Sept. 11 service cutbacks. Under dormancy, an airline that has won authority for international routes or frequencies loses that authority if it fails to use it throughout a 90-day period. The authority reverts to the Transportation Dept., which reallocates it.
The company has upgraded and expanded its M81714 Series II high-density avionic terminal junction module family through the addition of lightweight composite mounting tracks. The track, fabricated of glass-filled polyetherimide, combines strength, light weight, chemical resistance and dimensional stability, says PCD. It is available in sizes 2-12 standard mounting positions, and is form, fit and function interchangeable with existing aluminum track.
While most carriers are considering delivery delays or cancellations of aircraft orders following the terrorist attacks, the Civil Aviation Administration of China is expected to announce two orders totaling 65 new aircraft. Officials familiar with the negotiations anticipate that 45 aircraft will be bought from Airbus and 20 from Embraer. On Oct. 2, Boeing won an order for 30 737-700/800s that were spread among China Southern, China Eastern, Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.
The new age of terror, combined with an economic recession, has forced the world airline industry to restructure for survival. Air carriers are developing strategies for the long haul even though the outlook is clouded with uncertainty. The recession will end and terrorism could be defeated but the financial and policy implications of this new age will rattle industry for years and no doubt will reshape the airline business.
The United Kingdom has put elements of its Joint Rapid Reaction Force and associated aircraft on short notice for deployment to Afghanistan, in support of U.N. and humanitarian operations in the next phase of the war.
L-3 Communications formed a new business unit combining three of its San Diego-based telemetry divisions--Conic, Telemetry&Instrumentation and Southern California Microwave--into a single company: Telemetry-West. It will serve commercial, military and civilian telemetry, test and data acquisition customers worldwide. Combining the operations is expected to dramatically improve operating efficiencies. Burt Smith, formerly chief operating officer of L-3's Ocean Systems Div., will head the unit.
Eldec claims development of the first flap skew detection system for a regional jet using non-contacting proximity sensing technology. The system is used to monitor the flap actuation system and provides an indication and control output before the occurrence of a flap skew condition. Proximity-sensing technology offers some reliability advantages over solutions such as RVDTs and resolvers, the company said. Non-contacting sensing simplifies the installation and permits simple retrofit of the system onto existing aircraft.
Bradley W. Spahr (see photo) has become president of Ducommun Aerostructures, Gardena, Calif. He was president of Composite Structures, which was purchased by Ducommun and merged into Ducommun Aerostructures.
A major hindrance to virtual design collaboration is the incompatibility between the four major computer aided design (CAD) systems: Catia from Dassault Systemes, Pro/Engineer from PTC, I-DEAS from SDRC/EDS, and Unigraphics from UGS/EDS. A digital model created in Pro/E, for example, can only be translated into a Catia system as a neutral, unmodifiable, ``dumb'' solid. That means design engineers have to physically massage the files to fill in the data gaps that occur when using neutral file translators.
Dean Flatt (see photo), who has been president/CEO of Honeywell's Specialty Materials Group, has become president/CEO of Phoenix-based Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems. He succeeds Mike Smith, who will retire Dec. 31.
Hubert du Mesnil has been named managing director of Aeroports de Paris. He succeeds Emmanuel Duret. Du Mesnil was head of the French transport ministry's surface transportation unit.
Rainer Hertrich has been elected president of BDLI German aerospace industries assn. He succeeds Gustav Humbert, chief operating officer of Airbus. Hertrich is co-CEO of EADS.
The U.S. Commerce Dept. has fined McDonnell Douglas $2.1 million in connection with the 1994 export of surplus machine tools and other equipment to China. The U.S. Justice Dept. has dropped all criminal charges against McDonnell Douglas, which merged with a Boeing subsidiary in 1997, as part of the settlement.
This LED lighted push-button switch for military and commercial avionics offers dimming without pulse-width modulation, operates off existing cockpit power sources, and can directly replace existing incandescent switches. It is available in nine sunlight-readable colors that are dead-faced in direct sunlight when not energized. It meets MIL-PRF-22885F for sunlight readability and environmental requirements. It also meets MIL-L-85762A requirements for night vision imaging systems.
THE FAA IS PREPARING TO CONDUCT an evaluation of Raytheon's Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) with an installation at Kansas City Airport and Houston Bush Intercontinental--with displays at that city's William P. Hobby airport--now that the company has completed contractor acceptance of the first article system. ITWS provides real-time terminal weather and highly accurate predictions of expected conditions 20 min. into the future. The system fuses data from FAA and National Weather Service sensors and NWS weather models.
The flight simulator business could experience revenue growth to $3.67 billion by 2007 from $2.35 billion last year as manufacturers upgrade capabilities of simulators to replicate automated cockpits, according to a study by Frost&Sullivan. The use of new technologies such as virtual reality and analytical tools, including playback functions, will improve the training experience by allowing students and instructors to review complex tasks.
