Garth Petersen was appointed director of airport services for United Services, the global support division of United Airlines. He was manager of airport and cargo operations in Australia for the airline.
Denver-based Frontier Airlines on May 11 received the first of 29 Airbus aircraft the carrier will purchase or lease as it moves from an all-Boeing 737 fleet to an all-Airbus fleet by 2004. The CFM-56-powered A319, painted in Frontier's new livery and outfitted with a 132-seat single-class cabin, is undergoing post-delivery modifications in Goodyear, Ariz. The aircraft will enter revenue service in June.
Sea Launch and the Boeing Delta space launch managers reaffirmed their interest in a merged sales operation somewhat like the Atlas-Proton linkup within International Launch Services. Sea Launch and Delta already have a new joint backup agreement (AW&ST Apr. 9, p. 38). Sea Launch President Wilbur Trafton and J. David Schweikle, vice president of Delta Launch Services, told the Euroconsult summit on space transportation business in Paris last week that the consolidation was contemplated to strengthen both vehicles' market positions.
INFINITE PHOTONICS WILL USE a $1-million, one-year contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Mice program to develop the company's grating coupled surface emitting laser (GCSEL) diode for Defense Dept. uses. GCSEL employs grating technology created in Russia to control laser emission spectrum (modes and wavelengths). The grating, embedded in the wave guide portion of the laser diode, and an adjacent embedded Fabry-Perot gain volume eliminate the need for external cavities or mirrors.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. has dismissed complaints by FedEx and UPS seeking to ground DHL Airways, marking a major victory in the quest of DHL parent company Deutsche Post to penetrate the American market and heightening the growing competition between traditional parcel express carriers and rapidly privatizing European postal services.
British Airways is combining the operations of recently acquired British Regional Air Lines Group (BRAL) and its Brymon Airways subsidiary, as part of its effort to consolidate its short-haul businesses. The new regional subsidiary will be called British Airways CitiExpress and headed by Rob Hearn, currently chief operating officer of BRAL. It will operate a fleet of 72 regional jets and turboprop aircraft to 59 destinations. The integration process is expected to be fully completed in 12 months.
It's getting less and less likely the FAA will make its target date for putting new ``demand-management'' measures in place at New York's LaGuardia Airport--Sept. 15, the scheduled expiration date for last winter's slot-lottery restrictions. LaGuardia is a bellwether, as Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta wants a ``market-based'' approach to relieving congestion at other airports eventually. The agency considers LGA's slottery a stopgap for controlling demand at the nation's most delay-prone airport.
How's MyBoeingFleet.com doing a year after its launch last May? Five hundred customers are signed up to the airliner products and services portal, and they made an average of 1,450 log-ins per day in April, compared with 550 at the end of 2000 (AW&ST Jan. 1, p. 17). They made 20,000 transactions per day and 1.4 million ``hits'' in the month of April. The 500 customers have 15,000 individual accounts, or an average of 30 each.
General Dynamics Electronic Systems will integrate radar, missile and laser threat-warning data with digital battlefield information for U.S. Army helicopters, under a two-year $7.8-million work order from the Communications-Electronics Command.
Boeing will manufacture reengine kits and modify KC-135 and RC-135 aircraft at Tinker AFB, Okla., to ``R'' configurations, under a $38.7-million contract.
During airliner turnaround at the gate, getting maintenance and operational data quickly onto the Web can help the airline and its contractors do their job more efficiently. Authorized people at each company can rapidly and simultaneously see what they need to do.
Women are battle-ready. So says Australia's Defense Dept., which recently recommended women be able to assume combat roles. There's one stipulation--women are to meet the same rigorous physical requirements as men. The proposal followed a three-year army study of women in combat. Women in Australia's services now are prohibited from participating in full armed conflict or using weapons unless for self-defense.
Iberia and British Airways, both members of the Oneworld alliance, have informed the European Union of plans to deepen their cooperation on South Atlantic routes. The two carriers are seeking to widen code-sharing operations on flights between Europe and Latin America and jointly develop flight schedules. BA and Iberia already code-share on routes between Spain and the U.K. and recently extended their cooperation to long-haul routes to Bangkok and Lima. BA owns a 9% stake in Iberia which recently was fully privatized.
NASA plans to fund two unmanned aircraft projects totaling $8 million over four years--down from the $12 million over a three-year period initially proposed--after receiving pressure from aerospace and government organizations. General Atomics' Altus will be assigned to fly severe weather missions from Cape Canaveral, and Aerovironment's solar-powered Pathfinder Plus UAV will be operated by Clark University to conduct observations of coffee crops in Hawaii.
The June 17-24 Paris air show will provide the European aerospace/defense industry with a timely opportunity to present newly established cross-border companies such as EADS, Airbus' single corporate entity, Astrium and the MBDA missile group.
Sabena has asked Airbus to temporarily suspend deliveries of leased A320s until the Belgian carrier completes a new business plan, expected in early June. Sabena is conducting a major review of its operations, including its flight network, in an effort to restore profitability. Fifteen A320s are still to be delivered by Airbus out of a 34-aircraft order. Swissair, which owns a 49.5% stake in Sabena, is expected to decide on its future role with the Belgian carrier this summer.
Bernard L. Schwartz stepped down as chairman and CEO of Globalstar after the faltering low-Earth-orbit satellite communications venture posted a $145-million loss for the first quarter. Olof Lundberg, former chairman and CEO of ICO Global Communications, was named to succeed him at the Loral spinoff, which also counts Qualcomm Inc., Alenia, China Telecom (HK), Dacom and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace among its partners.
The nearly two-month-old pilots' strike at Comair has relegated the premier regional carrier of Delta Air Lines to a moribund state from which it may not fully recover, for many months, perhaps even years.
Jeremy Llewellyn has been appointed director of materials in the Materials Div. of Total Engine Support Ltd. (U.K.). He was financial director and has been succeeded by Matthew Burris, who was financial controller of Corus plc.
Australia's Virgin Blue and rival Ansett Australia joined in a little two-part harmony in the wake of Impulse Airlines' recent announcement that it would fold under Qantas' wings (AW&ST May 7, p. 26). Officials of Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand-Ansett Group earlier this month began exploring cooperative efforts to combat the feared end result of the proposed Qantas-Impulse deal: Qantas' market dominance. The Virgin Blue-Ansett duo caught the attention of Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which last week inquired about the carriers' objectives.
BAE Systems is examining how best to benefit from a series of U.S. export reforms announced last year and whether they could improve operations between the company's U.S. business units and the rest of the organization.
NASA has handed over formation-keeping control of the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite to software on board the orbital technology demonstrator, achieving for the first time autonomous formation-flying technology that will enable a host of new multi-spacecraft missions in the years to come.
Robert A. Keyes has been named chief financial officer of Airlease Ltd. of San Francisco. He was senior vice president/ senior finance manager of the Bank of America Leasing&Capital Group.
John Myers has been appointed senior vice president of the AeroCentury Corp., Burlingame, Calif. He was vice president of Raytheon Aircraft Credit Corp.
