Intelsat has been freed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission of a decades-old prohibition on selling services in the domestic market in the U.S. Created as an intergovernmental organization in 1964, the Washington-based International Telecommunications Satellite Organization was banned from the domestic market so as not to stifle development of the fledgling U.S. satcom industry. But with Intelsat's privatization last month, the FCC decided to unleash this operator of 20 satellites.
Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei (DZR) was expected late last week to receive operational clearance to conduct commercial flights with its Zeppelin NT airship within the next two weeks. DZR, which was awaiting an airline-type certification by the German aviation authority Luftfahrtbundesamt (LBA), has already sold tickets for the first trips on Aug. 15. Zeppelin NT was granted an operating certificate after undergoing a four-year test and certification program.
Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines is the first among three Chinese airline leaders to begin taking over management of regional carriers under a consolidation plan approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. It recently signed management agreements with Kunming-based Yunnan Airlines and Xian-based China Northwest Airlines, and acquired outright debt-ridden Air Great Wall.
Japan's new 1.2-million-lb.-thrust H-2A booster, identical to this test article, is being readied for its first launch as early as Aug. 25 at Japan's Tanegashima space center. The initial standard version will be capable of placing 4-ton payloads into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Only a dummy payload will be carried on the first flight, but at least seven major Japanese government payloads are slated to fly on the 175-ft. H-2A through about 2003. Boeing's new agreement with Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
Positive second-quarter earnings posted by several small- to medium-size airlines have underscored the Wall Street hypothesis that theirs are growth stocks. ABN-AMRO analyst Raymond E. Neidl favors ``buy''-rated Atlantic Coast Airlines, AirTran, SkyWest and ``add''-rated Mesa Air Group. He considers them niche carriers that will grow even in the current operating environment.
Engineers and scientists working at the U.S. national weapons laboratories aren't joining the team to be stewards of aging technology. They're seeking opportunities for pure science and research. To recruit them, however, the labs must employ new tools and ideas. At Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., the goal is to hire 400 engineers and scientists this year. In addition, the lab wants approximately 80% of those new hires to come directly from the college campus, where the focus is on research rather than applied science.
Most airlines selected to help Boeing define the basic configuration of its Sonic Cruiser would like new technology applied to the design, even if it results in a little later service-entry date. Boeing has said timing of the high-speed aircraft's operational availability would depend, in part, on how much new technology initial customers wanted to have included in the introductory model.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Ronald F. Fogleman has been named a member of the board of directors of AAR, Wood Dale, Ill. Fogleman, who was Air Force chief of staff before retiring, is a director of Rolls-Royce North America and the Mesa Air Group, and is a member of the NASA Advisory Council.
A preliminary deal to build two military communications satellites for the Spanish government will provide a much-needed boost for Space Systems/Loral (AW&ST July 23, p. 36). Until the new award, Loral had landed only two orders in 2001. Now it is within sight of its objective to capture six or seven orders for the year. The company also expects to launch five satellites in 2001, which it says will allow it to improve revenues to $1.2 billion from $1 billion last year.
Kansai International Airport Corp.'s woes continue. With traffic not meeting forecasts and airlines dropping services, the government has told the KIAC that it expects to cut $1.15 billion from the airport's Phase 2 runway and terminal expansion program. That would drop the total Phase 2 estimated cost to $11.45 billion. Changes in construction practices are supposed to absorb the cuts. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is studying further cuts of up to $2.5 billion.
Wayne J. Lovett and John Enticknap have been named executive vice presidents of Mercury Air Group Inc. of Los Angles. Lovett was general counsel/corporate secretary. Enticknap also will continue as chief operating officer of Mercury Air Centers.
Air Canada management has taken a sharp ax to the merged airline in personnel and wages and launched a fleet streamlining effort that will place 20 mainline aircraft with the planned new low-fare subsidiary.
Northwest Airlines and Wayne County, operators of Detroit Metro Airport, have agreed to delay the opening of the new $1.2-billion terminal complex to Jan. 20 until after the busy holiday season. Construction is scheduled for completion in December. ``We want to ensure a seamless transition from the existing terminal to the new terminal for our customers,'' said Richard Anderson, Northwest CEO, explaining the reason for setting the January opening. The terminal will be named after Edward H. McNamara, the current Wayne County executive.
Thomas P. Christie has been sworn in as director of operational test and evaluation for the U.S. Defense Dept. He held a similar position at the Institute for Defense Analyses. Craig W. Duehring has been appointed deputy assistant Defense secretary for reserve affairs. He is a retired USAF colonel and was executive director of the Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty, Fairfax, Va.
First reports on July traffic, from Continental and American airlines, indicate more of what ailed the big U.S. airlines during the second quarter. Continental, which turned a profit in the quarter, said its capacity was up 6.4% in July, outpacing a traffic increase of 3.4% and causing the load factor to drop 2.2 percentage points to 78.2%. Worse, yields were down and the carrier estimated that revenue per available seat mile dropped 9-11%. At American, capacity grew 1.6%, traffic fell 2.2% and the load factor was 77.2%, down 3 points.
Only days before U.S. Air Force officials plan to ask the Pentagon to approve low-rate production of the stealth fighter, renewed questions have been raised about the program's cost. At the same time, the system's performance has received a positive assessment from the Defense Dept.
Regional jets can relieve congestion at big hub airports by serving small markets point-to-point. But they also can be part of the problem, by feeding network airlines' operations at the hubs, and that is the main use the big U.S. carriers have made of them so far. Fairchild Dornier Chairman Charles Pieper said here last week point-to-point RJ service is common in Europe and still might make it in the U.S. More than 50 cities in North America with populations of 500,000-2 million comprise a ``huge point-to-point potential,'' he said.
Dional M. Aviles has been sworn in as assistant U.S. Navy secretary for financial management/comptroller, William A. Navas, Jr., as assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs and John J. Young as assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition. Aviles was a professional staff member for the House Armed Services Committee. Navas, who is a retired Army major general, was an independent defense and management consultant, while Young was a professional staff member for the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.
In a cost-cutting move, Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems is shifting about 70 employees from Sunnyvale, Calif., to its Newtown, Pa., facility, where it builds commercial and military satellite communications payloads. Program management, business operations, satellite engineering and design, business development and executive functions will make the move, while final assembly and testing of A2100 spacecraft will continue at the company's Commercial Satellite Center in Sunnyvale.
On the eve of the U.S. Congress' August recess, Republicans sought to restore presidential ``fast-track'' free market trade authority, considered crucial to controlling and eliminating state subsidies for the manufacture of large commercial jets. But the latest lobbying blitz to limit legislative intervention in White House-negotiated free trade accords must face the long-standing Democratic insistence that fast track be tied to stronger protections for labor and environmental concerns.
YARDNEY TECHNICAL PRODUCTS of Pawcatuck, Conn., is developing high-performance rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to replace the NiCad ones currently in use in the B-2 bomber, as part of a Link 16 avionics upgrade program. Yardney believes this will be the first aircraft use of Li-ion batteries. Yardney's Li-ion cells offer significant reduction in battery weight. During the last year, the company has increased the continuous discharge capacity of the cells from five times the ampere-hour capacity of the cell (or 5 C) to a rate of more than 20 C.
The third U.S./Russian crew for the International Space Station is set for launch on Discovery this week for a four-month ISS flight that will stress logistics and science. During eight days of docked operations, the STS-105 Discovery astronauts, along with the new Expedition 3 crew and outgoing second crew, will unload about 6,500 lb. of cargo from the Italian/Alenia Leonardo logistics module. The orbiter crew will also transfer about 1,500 lb. of extravehicular activity (EVA) hardware from the shuttle payload bay to the ISS.
NASA picked Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW for $300,000 studies of ascent vehicles to lift rock and soil samples from the surface of Mars in a sample return mission in 2011 or later. The six-month studies are to produce concepts and road maps for small rockets that would be able to remain on the surface for a period of months and then fire to lift a sample canister into space for the first leg of its trip to Earth.
Boeing is continuing construction of the X-37 orbital testbed at a normal pace, despite uncertainty over the program's future that may not be resolved until late this year, when a decision is expected on whether to include it in NASA's Space Launch Initiative.
For Arianespace, which is struggling to ramp up the Ariane 5 (shown) in the face of questionable public support in Europe and a mounting challenge from U.S.-Russian operators, the July 12 mission failure could hardly have come at a worse time. An upper stage engine malfunction left the European Space Agency's Artemis experimental communications spacecraft and Japan's BSAT-2b telecom satellite in degraded orbits (AW&ST July 23, p. 38).
