Predicting fuel prices is like predicting the weather, says Paul H. Stebbins--the most anyone can say with absolute certainty is that, over time, prices will go up and prices will go down. Stebbins, the president of World Fuel Services Corp., says many airlines, nevertheless, try to outfox the market for fuel. Only a handful of very large airlines have been successful in using their huge purchases to manage fuel costs with their own trading departments, though.
The Association of Profesional Flight Attendants' board of directors and senior officials plan to meet this week to decide whether to accept a proffer of arbitration from the National Mediation Board and continue negotiations with American Airlines. An APFA official said the union may reject the proffer, ending last-ditch efforts to hammer out a new labor contract and avert a strike that could begin next month against the nation's largest airline.
Fresh on the heels of major takeovers in the U.K. and France, German tour/charter operator Preussag has concluded a deal that will give it a top position in the Italian leisure travel market.
NASA astronaut Patricia Hillard Robertson, 38, was hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns last week after the Wittman Tailwind home-built aircraft she was in crashed during takeoff at an airfield in Manvel, Tex. Robertson, a physician, is a crew support astronaut for the ISS Expedition 2 crew now on the station.
Swissair affiliates Air Liberte and AOM are embarking on a far-reaching rescue plan in a last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy. Air Liberte (the combined carriers' surviving name) plans to slash 1,328 jobs, including 260 pilot and 360 flight attendant positions, and reduce its fleet to a meager 27 aircraft, down from 50. A plan to replace MD-83s and DC-10-30s by an all-Airbus fleet has been abandoned.
The Thiokol division of Alliant Techsystems Inc. and Marshall Space Flight Center were poised late last week for a shuttle solid rocket motor test in Utah to qualify a new insulation design on the booster's nozzle. The firing was set for May 24. There are four major certification objectives on the Flight Support Motor-9 test. One of the more important is a change in the insulation design in the nozzle-to-case J-leg. Previous designs used polysulfide, a putty-like material applied to the joint during assembly.
Broadband satellite service, long heralded as the next big thing for the commercial communications satellite industry, is finally moving into the starting position despite unexpected financial and technical hurdles.
Former German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher has been named as arbitrator in the ongoing pay dispute between Lufthansa and its pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC). Both sides agreed negotiations had failed after a seventh round of inconclusive talks last week. VC has lowered its initial demands from a more than 30% increase to 24% for this year, plus bonuses based on the carrier's financial performance (AW&ST May 21, p. 60). Lufthansa is offering 10.6% plus bonuses. VC said it will not strike during arbitration, which can last several weeks.
Congress is weighing further defense acquisition reform and industry is enthusiastic, saying the paramount need is higher federal investment in the education and training of the government's acquisition workforce.
BE Aerospace this month was granted a STC Supplemental Type Certificate from the FAA for its Boeing 777-200 overhead crew rest compartment. The company, a leading manufacturer of aircraft interiors, says the compartment offers a few advantages: it weighs less than two-thirds as much as crew rest quarters installed in lower cargo areas and provides all aircraft crew access to fire-fighting equipment and exits in the event of an emergency. BE Aerospace says El Al Israel Airlines and Varig have selected the overhead compartment for their -200s.
Airlines and pilot unions held dueling conferences here last week to air issues on how much time transport pilots can spend on the job before getting some sleep. The events--a union-supported Pilot Fatigue conference and the Air Transport Assn.'s Alertness Management in Flight Operations symposium--were mutually exclusive, however, with pilot unions boycotting the ATA event, and ATA members unable to attend the unions' closed meeting.
The launch of the shuttle Atlantis carrying the International Space Station's large Boeing airlock module has been delayed at least a week to June 20 to enable extra drying of the vehicle's reentry tiles soaked by a rainstorm. Canadian station arm software problems also continue to be assessed. In other ISS news, the Russian Progress M1-6 tanker/transport docked with the ISS' aft port May 22, following launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on May 20.
Those FAA workers won't be making extra money, though. The extra 8% pay raise for headquarters workers that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees negotiated with FAA management in February crashed and burned. (Unlike most agencies, the FAA doesn't have to go by the standard federal pay scale.) But the White House Office of Management and Budget gave the deal a thumbs-down, fearing it would have other bureaucrats griping.
International air service led traffic growth in 2000, with revenue passenger miles (RPMs) increasing 7.2% to 184.3 billion, flights up 7.5% to 538,518 and freight revenue ton miles (RTMs) up 9.7% to 13.1 billion, according to figures compiled by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). On scheduled domestic service, RPMs grew 5.8% to 508.1 billion, flights rose 4% to 8,453,163, and freight RTMs grew 9% to 7.9 billion. Transportation Secretary Norman Y.
Israel Farchi has become executive vice president-commercial affairs of Elbit Systems, Haifa, Israel. He was corporate vice president/chief financial officer and has been succeeded by Joseph Gaspar, who was corporate vice president-strategy, technologies and subsidiaries. Jacob Gadot, corporate vice president-mergers and acquisitions, will also be chief technology officer. Marco Rosenthal has been named corporate vice president-manufacturing and purchasing. He was vice president-operations. Gideon Sheffer is now corporate vice president-strategy and policy.
AIR ROUTE TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTER Mode C intruder software should be modified to ensure that all aircraft operating under ARTCC radar control receive full conflict alert and Mode C intruder services, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Its recommendation to the FAA stemmed from an investigation of a near-midair collision between a Boeing 757 on an IFR flight plan and a VFR F-117A over Los Angeles International Airport. Both aircraft had properly operating traffic-alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS) and Mode C transponders.
THE FIRST OF TWO Bombardier Aerospace Global Express business jets configured for special missions has been delivered to Itochu Corp., prime contractor for the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB). The long-range business jets will be operated by JCAB to inspect and calibrate en route and approach navigation aids within Japan's airway system. The airplane was the first Global Express to be completed by Marshall Aerospace, Cambridge, England, and features modifications to the airframe to accommodate an array of automatic flight inspection system antennas.
Officials of the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies (SJAC) are trying to include flying exhibitions at the next Tokyo air show. The event, held at a convention hall in a suburb of the city, has not featured flying because of potential public complaints about noise. But officials want to include helicopter demonstrations at the next show, scheduled for autumn 2004. Manufacturing and assembly of helicopters under license is a major aerospace activity of SJAC members.
Randy Marlar has become vice president-technical operations planning for American Trans Air. He was vice president-maintenance and engineering. Marlar has been succeeded by Terry Kerber, who was vice president-line and base maintenance.
ESA has signed up to buy seats for its astronauts on more Russian Soyuz missions to the International Space Station in an open-ended deal that will give ESA astronauts more flight time on board the ISS. Under the ``framework agreement,'' ESA astronauts will serve as flight engineers on ``taxi flights'' that change out the Soyuz vehicles used as station lifeboats, and on ``increment flights'' that replace crews on board ISS. ESA has astronauts trained as Soyuz flight engineers already.
The U.S. Navy is working to increase the ground attack capability of the F-14 Tomcat by testing new versions of the GBU-24 guided hard target penetrator bomb.
The sleek new $1.4-billion Terminal 4 at New York's JFK International Airport opened for business last week, supplanting the airport's International Arrivals Building that had been in operation since 1957. About 35 international and domestic carriers have already moved into Terminal 4, which will be operated by a private consortium, JFK International Air Terminal LLC (JFK IAT). It includes Schiphol USA, a subsidiary of the Schiphol Group; LCOR, a national real estate developer, and investment bankers Lehman Brothers.
John Carr has been named senior vice president-supply chain management operations and Oliver Evans Amsterdam-based vice president-global sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for BAX Global Inc. Carr was group vice president-business development for North America for the Carr Cos. Evans was vice president-alliances at KLM Cargo.
Boosted by one-time gains from the public listing of two subsidiaries and the sale of aircraft, Singapore Airlines posted a fiscal 2000 pre-tax profit of S$1.61 billion ($904 million).
Fees at Kansai International Airport are in the news again. Objections by the International Air Transport Assn. have prompted the Kansai Airport Corp., the airport's owner, to delay a scheduled 4% fuel service rate hike. The KAC wanted the rates to go into effect in April, expecting to add $3.28 million to its annual revenues. But IATA balked, so the old rates still apply.
