Iberia Regional Air Nostrum has acquired Spanish regional carrier Binter Mediterraneo from the Iberia Group. Binter Mediterraneo operates 180 flights per week to six Spanish destinations with a fleet of five CN-235s. Air Nostrum, which has a fleet of 41 turboprops and regional jet aircraft, said it plans to renovate Binter Mediterraneo's fleet as a first step toward turning the carrier into a profitable company.
John G. Asimou has been named executive vice president-operating technology and quality assurance of Republic Technologies International, Fairlawn, Ohio. He succeeds Cliff Miller, who is scheduled to retire. Asimou was executive vice president/general manager for cold-finished bar operations.
Compass Call, USAF's small fleet of communications jamming and information warfare aircraft, are finally being upgraded through a pair of contracts with BAE Systems worth $80 million. One contract will produce the next-generation mission crew simulator with delivery scheduled for November 2003. The second contract upgrades to tactical radio acquisition countermeasures system receiver, improves jamming capability and makes signal processing improvements. Enough upgrade kits are being bought to bring 14 EC-130Hs to Block 35 standards in two lots.
In a milestone for its plans to modernize the nation's ATC system, Boeing Air Traffic Management has won FCC approval to use spectrum in the 2-GHz. band and to operate a 16-satellite system.
Anthony J. Segreto has been named vice president-business development and W. Thomas Bucher vice president/general manager of the defense business unit of the Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Segreto was a consultant to the defense industry, while Bucher was senior vice president of Information Analysis Inc.
Aero Vodochody's L-159 proven aircraft design combined with a Honeywell turbofan engine and current technology avionics and aircraft systems appears to have produced a winner--a relatively inexpensive light-attack/advanced trainer with good performance for the military market.
Passengers who say they developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT)--as a result of long-haul flights--filed damage claims last week against Qantas Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, British Airways and Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority. The amount of the claims, filed in Victoria State Supreme court by the Melborne-based Slater&Gordon law firm, is unspecified. When the death of an airline passenger last October was attributed to DVT, long-haul passengers worldwide began reporting incidents and with more frequency.
Although the Pentagon plans to spend millions of dollars on new or reinvigorated missile defense technologies, many of those projects still haven't been defined in great detail for even the military services that may be involved in them.
Interstate Electronics Corp. (IEC) has shipped its first selective availability anti-spoofing module (SAASM)-based GPS receivers to Raytheon Missile Systems for the U.S. Army's Excalibur program. The Excalibur receivers provide navigational guidance to the flight control system of the 155-mm. Army artillery projectiles. The shipment represents the world's first SAASM-based guidance system able to withstand the 15,000g acceleration firing from a gun, according to the company. Raytheon has ordered 331 SAASM-based GPS receivers from IEC for initial testing.
The digital signal processor Boeing Satellite Services and IBM created for Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. of the United Arab Emirates is five times more capable than any space-based wireless communications system that Boeing has ever been involved with. But the company hasn't talked much about the system because Thuraya didn't want to repeat the mistake of other satellite-based mobile communications systems of letting their talk outrun their ability to deliver.
Eclipse Aviation Corp., yielding to financial pressures created by increasingly risk-averse capital markets, expects to certify and deliver the first Eclipse 500 aircraft later than planned. Despite stretching out the development program, the company appears to have made substantial progress in the last six months in its quest to build an entry-level business jet priced at $837,500. Among the most notable strides: -- Contracts for most subsystems and parts have been let.
Boeing has flown the first AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter, which incorporates avionics and systems upgrades that will be included in the second U.S. Army multiyear procurement program.
Iridium Satellite LLC, which picked up the assets of the original low-Earth-orbit venture for a song in bankruptcy court, has launched a new satellite Internet service as it continues to seek niche markets that would have been too small for its predecessor--Iridium LLC--to pursue.
Turkey has threatened to scrap the proposed acquisition of Bell AH-1Z King Cobra attack helicopters from the U.S. unless it can equip the aircraft with Turkish-developed mission computers.
Elaine T. Rudisill has been promoted to president/CEO of American Aircarriers Support Inc., Fort Mill, S.C., from senior vice president/chief financial officer. She succeeds Karl F. Brown, who has resigned.
Steep second-quarter earnings losses posted last week by the larger U.S. airlines have prompted a round of belt-tightening, hiring freezes, aircraft retirements and a few deferred aircraft deliveries. The depth of losses in the usually strong quarter stirred gloomy predictions of a terrible year for the airlines and a slow recovery for the ailing economy.
A test article of the new fuel tank for Lockheed Martin's Atlas V space launch failed in a test at the company's Colorado facility late last month, but the company insists it will have no impact on the first flight of the new rocket.
Craven Crowell, Morris Garfinkle and Ping Wang have formed GCW Consulting in Washington. Crowell was chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, while Garfinkle and Wang were founders of aviation consulting firm GKMG.
James H. Johnson has become vice president-worldwide sales and business development for Raindrop Geomagic, Research Triangle Park, N.C. He was vice president-regional sales for the Vivant Corp.
The Swissair Group eliminated a large part of its financial uncertainty after reaching a deal with the Belgian government on the future of Sabena, but the fate of its French affiliate AOM-Air Liberte was still unresolved late last week.
British European has confirmed a preliminary order worth $600 million made in March for 12 Avro RJX-100s from BAE Systems. The carrier also holds eight options. Deliveries of the new four-engine, 100-seat aircraft to the regional carrier will begin in April 2002. An Avro RJX-85 development aircraft made its first flight with a Block 2 Honeywell AS977 production standard engine on July 6.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines admitted violating European Union competition rules in its cooperation with Maersk Air, but is considering appealing a 39.4-million-euro ($33.82-million) fine imposed by the European Commission. Danish carrier Maersk Air, which was fined 13.1 million euros, was still studying the ruling late last week. The EC said the carriers had engaged in a ``secret'' market-sharing pact which went beyond a 1998 agreement to code-share and coordinate frequent-flier programs.
Europe has further beefed up its rapidly expanding military telecom and recce satellite network with a pair of agreements involving Spain and Belgium. Spanish satcom operator Hispasat said last week that it would build and deploy two spacecraft for the Spanish ministry of defense and other government users in Spain, the U.S. and elsewhere, in association with Space Systems/Loral and various partners. Both satellites would be privately owned and operated, with data supplied on a leased basis, similar to the U.K.'s planned Skynet 5 network.
The dominos in the Air Force's leadership are starting to fall. Air Combat Command chief Gen. John Jumper has been named to replace Gen. Michael E. Ryan as the service's chief. The odds-on favorite to replace Jumper is Gen. Hal M. Hornburg, commander of Air Education and Training Command. Service officials also are anxiously waiting to hear who their undersecretary is going to be, after Lockheed Martin's Al Smith withdrew his name. The undersecretary is to be the Pentagon's space czar and head the National Reconnaissance Office.
