Donald D. Strench has been named senior vice president-finance and administration/chief financial officer and Noell Michaels senior vice president-sales of the UAL Corp.'s business aviation subsidiary. Strench was president of Transaction Partners, while Michaels was sales director of the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.
With no white knight on the horizon, Air Liberte and AOM could cease operations in the next few days while Sabena Belgian World Airlines is outlining a Chapter 11-like bankruptcy proposition in an attempt to protect itself while regrouping. The French court that temporarily froze Air Liberte's and AOM's debt will rescind that order this week. Despite emergency cost-cutting measures implemented in the last few weeks, losses are estimated at $800,000 per day.
The downturn in international traffic has started spilling over into the internal European market. Passenger traffic within Europe grew by only 0.6% in May compared to last year and load factors declined 2.8 points to 63.4%, according to the Assn. of European Airlines. Long-haul passenger traffic in May was down 2.8%, with the North Atlantic and Far East markets each showing a 5.6% decline. The international cargo market also weakened, dropping by 4.5% in May after three months of marginal growth.
Despite requesting the largest increase in defense spending in more than a decade, the Bush Administration has been unable to present a path for fundamental change at the Pentagon in its Fiscal 2002 budget. Now signs are emerging that fiscal realities may stymie radical change again next year, unless the Pentagon can free-up money internally.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. awarded two slot exemptions at Reagan Washington National Airport to Alaska Airlines, enabling the new-to-the-market carrier to launch a daily Boeing 737-900 Seattle round-trip this fall. The Transportation Dept. issued the exemptions originally to TWA for Los Angeles service under AIR-21 legislation that created 12 exemptions for operations beyond 1,250 mi. of DCA. It reclaimed the slots when the St. Louis-based carrier was acquired by American Airlines. The Transportation Dept.
John D. (Mike) Rice has been elected secretary and Susan V. Chernenko treasurer of the Silver Spring, Md.-based National Assn. of State Aviation Officials. Rice is director of aviation for New Mexico, and Chernenko is acting aeronautics director for West Virginia.
European regulators have rejected General Electric Co.'s last-minute attempt to save its $42-billion bid for Honeywell International, despite an offer that included selling a minority stake in its GE Capital Aviation Services (Gecas) division, the Associated Press reported late last week. The European Commission rejected the revised offer on its substance, not because it came too late, the report said. The action is expected to clear the way for the EC to formally block the merger at its meeting on July 2.
Le Bourget Deutsche Zeppelinreederei, the first operator for the Zeppelin NT, is expected to receive its operating certificate for the airship in July. The company plans to start revenue flights immediately thereafter, initially using the airship for sightseeing tours over Lake Constance. The first prototype of the Zeppelin NT (``new technology'') took part in the daily flight presentations at the Paris air show last month.
Six sigma is an aging aerospace buzzword that is finding its way into design programs. To incorporate these quality standards, Engineous Software has added a ``Six Sigma Robust Design Module'' to version 6.0 of its iSight design optimization software. The program can link separate analysis programs to produce an overall optimized result.
One of the more perplexing questions nervous investors and many industry observers are trying to answer is whether a severe downturn in commercial aircraft production may be looming just over the horizon. Their concern isn't exactly a trivial one, as production of new jetliners by Boeing and Airbus is the engine that drives much of the aerospace industry.
Tom Crouch, senior curator for aeronautics at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, has received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. He was honored for his career as an author, editor, lecturer and scholar of aviation history, and for his support and promotion of Dayton's aviation heritage and WSU's Wright Brothers collection.
George J. Yohrling and Joseph Napoleon have been promoted to executive vice presidents of the Curtiss-Wright Corp., Lyndhurst, N.J. Yohrling was head of the company's motion control business, while Napoleon was president of the Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corp.
The Pentagon's lead agency for radical innovation has an array of near-term flight and field tests planned for air and space technologies that are intended to meet the Bush Administration's avowed goal of superiority across the complete range of military operations, officially dubbed ``full spectrum dominance.''
Specialists on stealth say a cellular telephone-based detection system that reputedly can detect stealth aircraft within an accuracy of 30 ft. has so many flaws that it would be less effective than a 1960s-era air defense sensor like the Soviet-built Flat Face radar.
Boeing has concluded a pair of strategic agreements with Mitsubishi Electric involving satcom, air traffic management, multimedia, launch services, microgravity and a range of other fields. The accord covers Boeing's Connexion onboard broadband system and a block launch agreement for up to six Delta IV missions from 2002-08 (see pp. 46 and 72). Specific launch assignments are expected to be announced by year-end. Boeing could also supply subsystems or components for Melco's new satellite bus.
The German Bundestag agreed on June 27 to proceed with Meads (Medium-Extended Air Defense System), a three-year risk-reduction effort which allows the U.S.-Italian-German program to continue.
Saab continued its restructuring following its merger with Celsius, selling off two Asian subsidiaries. Hawker Pacific is being sold to Lynton International Holdings. The general aviation specialist and maintenance company has operations in Singapore, Dubai and Sydney. Meanwhile, Australian Aerospace Pty. Ltd., which encompasses the defense activities of Hawker Pacific, is gong to EADS. Australian Aerospace provides aircraft modifications and maintenance for the Royal Australian Air Force.
The organization representing Cathay Pacific Airways' pilots and flight engineers, the Hong Kong Airline Officers' Assn., last week said it would begin a limited labor action against the airline July 1. The dispute revolves around such issues as flightcrew fatigue and a two-tier pay system, according to the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Assns.
Ryanair continues to grow by 25% per year despite high fuel costs and an economic downturn which have started to hit other carriers. The Irish low-cost airline posted a record pretax profit of 123.4 million euros ($105.4 million) for the fiscal year ending Mar. 31, compared with 90 million euros a year earlier. Passenger traffic was up 35% to 7.4 million during the year. Marketing and distribution costs declined 60% due to increasing Internet sales, which meant less in sales commissions paid to travel agents. Ryanair's Web site now accounts for 72% of all bookings.
Sergio Aguirre (see photo) has been named director of corporate aviation sales for Securaplane Technologies, Tucson, Ariz. He was Western U.S. sales manager for Airshow Inc.
Companies are looking to position themselves for the launch of a long-range European Technology Acquisition Program (ETAP) this autumn to investigate future technologies for current and next-generation manned and unmanned aircraft.
Gary Swanson has been named managing director for sales and marketing of Delta Air Logistics. He was managing director of North American sales for Delta Air Lines.
Jeff Morgan and Carolyn Coarsey, both of Atlanta, have cofounded the Family Assistance Foundation there as president and vice president, respectively. Russell Goutierez, former manager of the CARE team at American Airlines, is executive director. Morgan was founder of aviation emergency management consulting firm Aviem International. Coarsey owns the emergency response training and education company Higher Resources.
