Singapore Airlines Cargo will launch a twice-weekly Singapore-India-Germany-U.S. connection in September using a Boeing 747-400 freighter. The route from Singapore includes Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Munich and New York. The all-freighter service builds on passenger/freighter operations already underway to Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi. It also operates a passengers-only service to Calcutta. Singapore Airlines (SIA) has enjoyed earlier success in the Indian market. Its weekly service to Bangalore with a 737 freighter is now three times a week with a 747-400F.
Marc Cavaliere has been named vice president-sales and marketing and Patrick J. Strasburger vice president-ground operations of Spirit Airlines. Cavaliere was a vice president of Aviation Management Services of Miami, while Strasburger was director and general manager of SilverHawk Airlines and previously managing director for international airport and cargo operations for Continental Airlines.
Chris Bertram, a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee senior staffer who helped draft last year's AIR-21 aviation reform legislation, was named July 5 to take the FAA's financial reins as assistant administrator for financial services and chief financial officer. Bertram also has worked in the Transportation Dept. and Office of Management and Budget. At the FAA, he will be Administrator Jane Garvey's principal adviser on the budget, performance management and finance.
Philip M. Condit, chairman/CEO of Boeing, has been selected to receive the New York-based United States Council for International Business' International Leadership Award. He is a trustee of the council and member of its Business Roundtable. The award will honor Boeing's and Condit's status in the world of international trade and commerce.
Lloyd Cromwell Griffiths has been appointed director of flight operations for British Airways. He had been deputy director and succeeds Capt. Mike Jeffrey, who has retired.
The large print says airline delays are down, but the small print spins a different story. FAA data for the first five months of 2001 show a 0.55% reduction in delays to 156,333 flights. But total operations have dropped 1.59% so far--an increase had been forecast--and weather delays are down 1.45%. Thus, one spin: the airlines should be doing better, but delays neither decreased at the same rate as operations nor improved at the same rate as the weather.
Clayton Mowry, the lobbyist who led the charge against stiff export controls for satellite technology, is stepping down as executive director of the Satellite Industries Assn. to take the helm of Arianespace Inc., the U.S. arm of the European launch services provider. Moving into the top slot at SIA will be Richard DalBello, who held the space portfolio at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Clinton White House before shifting to ICO Global Communications to run its North America operation.
Edward D. Moore (see photos) has become director of the Electromechanical Systems Dept. and Jose E. Navarro director of the Engineering Applications and Systems Development Dept. at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
India's Disinvestment Dept. is expected to approach bidders for Air India and Indian Airlines, the two state-owned carriers that India hopes to privatize, about rules for a takeover. The candidates are Hindujas, Videocon and a partnership between one of India's large conglomerates, Tatas, and Singapore Airlines. A central issue is how to achieve an optimum code-share pattern. The fear is that if the code-share rules are too restrictive, the bidders might withdraw.
Robert Dibblee has been appointed director of government and public affairs for the Western U.S. region and Tom Lazour general manager for government and public affairs for Delta Air Lines. Dibblee was senior vice president-government relations for the National Assn. of Independent Insurers. Lazour has been head of the airline's civic and promotional affairs in Salt Lake City.
U.S. Air Force testing is underway on the ground station for the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS). The SBIRS Mission Control Station, the first of three elements Lockheed Martin is developing for the SBIRS program, will be evaluated at Buckley AFB, in Aurora, Colo., for three months. The ground station, intended to replace three Defense Support Program (DSP) control centers, is expected to assume DSP daily operations in the fall, while DSP stations would be phased out early next year.
FlightSafety Simulation has delivered an advanced Boeing 757-200 full flight simulator to the Miami Training Center of FlightSafety Boeing Training Interna- tional.
BOEING BUSINESS JETS HAS DELIVERED THE FIRST 737-700 BBJ to a customer in Latin America. Grupo Omnilife will incorporate the airplane into its existing fleet and operate it on long-distance international flights to South America, Europe and Asia. Based in Guadalajara, Mexico, the company specializes in development and distribution of food and nutritional products. Associated Air Center in Dallas is performing completion work on the airplane. It is scheduled to enter service with Grupo Omnilife in the first quarter of 2002, according to Boeing.
As many as 95% of the French approve of ongoing efforts to restart Concorde operations, according to a poll sponsored last month by French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot. Nearly 70% of French citizens retain a strong interest in the supersonic transport, and 90% back the Franco-British team formed to review the accident investigators' findings and devise modifications. The poll also showed that two-thirds of the French ratified Gayssot's initiative to suspend Concorde's airworthiness certificate hours after last year's mishap.
Cracked stators between the 10th and 11th rotating stages of the Pratt&Whitney PW2000's compressor have created a parts shortage over the past six months that has caused some operators of the engine to temporarily ground aircraft. Pratt and PW2000 operators discovered late last year that the stators were cracking and subsequently determined that the problem was caused by higher than expected vibrations. The engine maker has redesigned the stator to dampen the vibrations and relieve excess stresses, and is now testing the redesigned component.
Eutelsat has become a private company, Eutelsat S.A., based in France under French law. The main stakeholders in the former international government organization will be British Telecom, with 17.5% of shares, French Telecom (23.1%), Telecom Italia (20.5%) and Deutsche Telekom (10.9%). The new setup is expected to enhance efficiency and responsiveness, increase Eutelsat's attractiveness as a business partner and facilitate access to public financing needed for future expansion.
Clay McConnell has been named vice president-communications for Airbus Industrie of North America Inc., Herndon, Va. He was director of corporate communications for Delta Air Lines.
As part of a strategic accord that's expected to include new orders for Airbus airliners, Airbus parent company EADS said it would open its doors to Russian suppliers and support Russia's request for a Soyuz launch pad at Europe's French Guiana spaceport.
A work slowdown by Cathay Pacific pilots that began last week has prompted the Hong Kong carrier to begin wetleasing aircraft. The pilots are using work-to-rule tactics--showing up to work later than normal and strictly following pre-takeoff procedures--that are disrupting the carrier's normal operations. By late last week, the carrier experienced delays--some up to 5 hr.--on more than a third of its flights. The situation was exacerbated by approaching Typhoon Utor that made delays or cancellations likely amidst diversions of incoming flights.
Newly published Air Transport Assn. data confirm that the decline in major U.S. airlines' domestic fares and yields accelerated in May. Combining reports from all the majors except Southwest, reflecting prices paid for more than 85% of all travel within the U.S., ATA reported that revenue from a 1,000-mi. one-way trip was 5.8% lower in May 2001 than in May 2000 in first class, 7.1% lower in coach and 6.9% lower on average. Yields fell 5.8% in first class, 7.1% in coach and 7% overall. In all cases, the percentage declines are more than double those of March and April.
While International Space Station assembly remains the primary engineering focus on the outpost, the time being devoted to science projects is increasing. During June, 20-25 hr. per week were devoted to science, said John Uri, the lead Expedition 2 science manager. ``Research is not building up as fast as we said on paper, but it is building every day,'' said Tommy Holloway, ISS program manager. Out of 18 science investigations planned for the current Expedition 2 crew, 15 are in progress, one has been completed, and one had to be set aside because of equipment failure.
The FAA says it will expedite its review of a complaint by an American Airlines pilot who has asked for protection under a new whistleblower statute created by the AIR-21 aviation act. Rich Rubin, who chairs the flight and duty time committee of the Allied Pilots Assn., American's pilot union, claims the carrier is violating federal regulations on its three daily round-trip flights from Dallas-Fort Worth to Hawaii. Rubin says the airline is cutting out a reserve pilot required on flights lasting more than 8 hr.
Boeing's X-32B Joint Strike Fighter test team, pushing to complete short takeoff and vertical landing tests, worked through July 4. But it wasn't as if one pilot had expected a holiday, anyway. Royal Navy Lt. Cdr. Paul Stone, a veteran British AV-8C pilot, was scheduled to make the first flight of the day. U.S. team members stuck a copy of the Declaration of Independence in his test cards for the flight. Stone kidded that he had to delay the flight while he dutifully read through the document. He probably needs the practice.
