Italy's Finmeccanica/Alenia Aerospazio still plans to become a risk-sharing partner in the Airbus A380 and is contemplating a 10% share in the $10.7-billion program. According to Airbus Chief Executive Noel Forgeard, Finmeccanica has not abandoned a plan to acquire a stake in the newly-established Airbus stock company.
The price of crude oil and jet fuel is projected to decrease through 2001, but the average price for the year will be higher than it was in 2000, according to David Swierenga, chief economist for the Air Transport Assn. He said fuel hedging is not the smart move that it was late in 1999, when prices had not begun to rise and the cost of hedging was less than the benefits achieved. Now, hedging costs reflect more than a year's worth of fuel price increases. ``The guys who sell you the hedge like to make money, too,'' he said.
Not surprisingly, Infotech is making its way into HAL's design and development complexes. India is a software leader, but the computer-aided design and manufacturing software HAL is employing comes from Europe and the U.S., including Catia and Unigraphics for 3D modeling, Nastran, Nisa and Pro-Mechanica for structure and analysis, and NFS Maestro Solo for interoperability translation issues between Unix platforms and Windows NT. User group workstations at HAL's Aircraft Research&Design Center here are linked.
European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. Chief Financial Officer Axel J. Arendt last week told Aviation Week&Space Technology that EADS is laying the groundwork for major merger-and-acquisition activity in the U.S. ``To pave the way and ready ourselves, we need to do more confidence building through joint ventures to show that we can be a reliable partner,'' he said.
Teal Group predicts the U.S. market for forward-looking infrared (Flir) targeting will soar. David Rockwell, the company's senior electronic analyst, says the U.S. airborne Flir market will go from $500 million per year to about $900 million in this decade. The company's Flir Systems Forecast contains about 300 reports on U.S. electronics programs, including nearly 40 on Flir.
The Star Alliance has hired Air Corporate System to represent its 15 member airlines in seven major French provincial cities including Lyons, Nice and Marseilles. The move is intended to increased feeder traffic to hubs in Frankfurt, London, Copenhagen and Paris, which handled more than 80% of the 3 million French passengers carried by the alliance.
Now that the big airlines have adopted a series of customer service commitments, incorporating some of them into contracts of carriage, the real issue is whether the reforms will have ``staying power,'' or whether the carriers will rest on their oars unless Congress keeps up pressure on them. So says Transportation Dept. Inspector General Kenneth Mead.
After years of feeling its way, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has completed a state-ordered consolidation of the country's airlines, bringing with it the promise of less interference from Beijing for the carriers it has split into three powerful groups.
General Electric and Honeywell expect to go their separate ways as better companies after the long and apparently fruitless ordeal for European approval of a proposed merger. Top executives acknowledged that a last-ditch proposal to divest $2.2 billion worth of engine and avionics businesses and to ring-fence GE's aircraft financing and leasing arm, GE Capital Aviation Services, fell far short of the demands of the European Commission, which was reviewing the merger in parallel with the U.S. Justice Dept.
Air New Zealand officials have decided to expand the capital base of the ANZ-Ansett Australia Group through an increase in equity ownership by Singapore Airlines (SIA). ANZ officials are working with the New Zealand government on policy and regulatory issues that must be addressed in order to increase a stake held by a foreign airline in the country's national flag carrier. New Zealand's existing law does not allow a foreign airline to hold more than a 25% stake, or two foreign airlines to have more than a combined share of 35% in ANZ.
A veteran of big air shows looking at the displays at Le Bourget last week might have concluded this was something less than a landmark event. But just because there was relatively little new hardware does not mean it was dull. Coming as the Paris air show did soon after the two big civil airplane builders set out on radically different paths for the 21st century, there were some startling contrasts and significant debates.
Astrium concluded an agreement with Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos to jointly market inflatable reentry and descent technology (IRDT). The partners successfully demonstrated IRDT in a Soyuz mission in early 2000. They plan further demonstrations under the new accord, including a pair of submarine launches from the Barents Sea in July and September. Astrium intends to set up a joint venture with Babakin Space Center, a Russian reentry specialist, to market the IRDT for International Space Station applications.
Current proposals for Germany's new multiyear federal spending plan are raising questions regarding the country's ability to meet requirements for reshaping its armed forces and turning them into a tool that can be used for European military and crisis management actions.
The Max65s die mold, vertical machining center helps reduce cycle times on complex cavities and cores by as much as 40% when compared with most other control technologies, according to the company. The machine has a 12,000-rpm. CAT40 high-performance spindle, and can maintain positioning accuracies to within 0.003 mm. and repeatability of 0.002 mm. The X and Y axes use linear guides, while the Z axis is a boxway design providing the rigidity necessary for fine finishes.
The next leap-ahead technology for military intelligence will be the ability to predict human action. ``The purpose of any joint intelligence operation is the fusion of information with the best exploitation capability so decision makers can be provided with the most current information about any subject,'' said Gen. Gregory Martin, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
Kevin Conlon (see photo) has been promoted to chief operating officer from vice president-sales and marketing for Palomar Technologies Inc., Vista, Calif.
The Star Alliance is set to become firmly established as the second strong force at London Heathrow Airport now that the European Commission has cleared the trilateral alliance among BMI British Midland Airways, Lufthansa German Airlines and SAS Scandinavian Airlines. The decision weakens British Airways' dominant position at Heathrow and is interpreted as a further sign that the EC is firmly committed to increased competition at the world's most important international airport.
Thomas Imrich (see photo) has been named chief pilot for research for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle. He was the FAA's national resource specialist for air carrier operations.
BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON OFFICIALS SAY construction of a facility to train pilots and mechanics to fly and maintain the Bell/Agusta BA609 civil tiltrotor is tentatively set to start early next year and projected to be completed before initial deliveries of the aircraft begin in 2004. The building will be located at Alliance Airport north of Fort Worth and house classrooms as well as a full flight simulator qualified to FAA Level D standards, according to the company. Plans call for the Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co. to assemble and flight-test the BA609 in Amarillo, Tex.
Passengers seeking information about Lehigh Valley (Pa.) International Airport operations may now do so through its ``wireless Web site.'' Using cell phones or personal digital assistants, travelers at any location may obtain directions to the airport, confirm travel plans or check arrivals/departures. Imirage developed the Liberator platform, which allows easy conversion of online information to mobile devices. The facility claims it is one of the first commercial airports in the U.S. to offer such information via wireless Web site.
Airbus is acquiring a 30% stake in Tenzing Communications as well as entering into a strategic partnership with the Seattle-based communications company to offer inflight e-mail and Internet access to airline passengers. The deal, which also makes Tenzing Airbus' ``preferred supplier'' for interactive services, values the company at $148 million. Tenzing's system is to be installed on an Airbus Corporate Jetliner and an A340-600 in the coming months. Retrofits on A330s and A340s are due to begin in the autumn.
USAF Col. Joel Maynard has assumed command of Operation Deep Freeze, the Defense Dept.'s support of the National Science Foundation's U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP). He succeeds Col. Richard Saburro, who received the Legion of Merit and the National Science Board's USAP medallion. Maynard was vice commander of Operation Deep Freeze and Air National Guard Detachment 13 in Christ- church, New Zealand.
