Edelweiss Air has signed a contract for ARINC's Globalink/VHF and satellite air/ground data link and voice services and graphical/text weather service for its A330 aircraft.
Rand has released its recommendations on how to structure the Joint Strike Fighter competition and, as no surprise to our readers (AW&ST Mar. 5, p. 32), said to keep the ``winner-take-all'' strategy alive on the airframe but fund a second avionics developer. But Rand also said it might make sense that once one aircraft design is chosen, to have several companies develop and build later versions of that system.
Joseph R. O'Gorman has been named chairman/CEO of DHL Airways Inc. He held those positions at the former Reno Air and had been executive vice president-operations of United Airlines.
John Cheffins has been promoted to chief operating officer of Rolls-Royce. He will remain in charge of the company's civil aerospace business. Colin Green, who has been director of operations, will head Rolls-Royce's defense aerospace business.
U.S. aviation lobbyists are giving mixed reviews to a bipartisan Senate bill that would lay the groundwork to penalize carriers for over-scheduling at peak hours. The bill would mandate a Transportation Dept. review every five years of large hub airports, with an eye to imposing congestion mitigation fees on carriers. Senior airport executives concede such fees might well deter over-scheduling and might offer the only recourse to airports lacking room to expand.
Northwest Airlines and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. (AMFA), which represents around 9,500 of the airline's pilots, were to have met Apr. 7 in Washington with the National Mediation Board (NMB) to assess the status of negotiations, pending the recommendations of the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) due Apr. 11. President Bush formed a PEB nearly a month ago to prevent a strike by the Northwest mechanics. If the airline and AMFA fail to reach an agreement by May 11, the mechanics will be free to strike unless Congress forces both sides to reach an agreement.
Pratt&Whitney Canada has completed initial test runs of its advanced technology fan integrator, a 12,500-lb.-thrust geared turbofan aimed at demonstrating the technologies needed for advanced engines powering 50-90-passenger transports.
Donald E. Washkewicz has been named CEO, effective July 1, of the Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin Corp. He will continue as president and succeed Duane E. Collins, who will retire but remain chairman.
Should Delta Air Lines pilots decide to strike after a 30-day cooling off period that ends later this month, Standard&Poor's said the airline's BBB- corporate credit rating will be downgraded. Until then, analysts say ratings will likely be placed on S&P's CreditWatch. Moody's had raised similar warning flags back in January, calling for a negative outlook on Delta's Baa3 rating. Stock analysts however are more positive on the potential chaos, with Merrill Lynch putting Delta stock in the ``accumulate'' category.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Alfred G. Hansen has become CEO of Atlanta-based EMS Technologies Inc. He succeeds Thomas E. Sharon, who has resigned to form an independent business. Hansen was president/chief operating officer.
Pratt&Whitney will lease 34 F-16 fighters with engines upgraded to the PW-200E enhanced performance configuration to the Italian air force, under a five-year agreement with an option for another five years. Italy will add 30 single-seat F-16As and four two-seat F-16Bs beginning in 2003. The agreement has a potential value of $140 million.
Some U.S. officials are concerned that several anti-virus software manufacturers provided hundreds of viruses to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security in order to sell their software in China, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. The Chinese ministry said it needed the roughly 300 viruses to test the software to make sure it works, but the companies said this demand was unprecedented.
Rumsfeld must soon wrap up the first phase of the strategic review and craft a budget. Flying hour and health care accounts need funds to stay afloat this summer, says deputy Pentagon comptroller Bruce Dauer. He estimates it could take six weeks to turn the strategy into a budget request.
V-22 engineers are being told to reexamine, improve and de-bug the tiltrotor's hydraulic systems and flight control software as a result of findings on the Dec. 11 crash of an MV-22B near Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., in which four service members died.
Alarmed by the unchecked growth of runway incursions, an independent FAA watchdog group has joined with other safety advocates in urging the agency to require air traffic controllers to issue explicit clearances to aircraft before crossing active runways. The recommendation by the 23-member Air Traffic Procedures Advisory Committee echoes prior requests by both the National Transportation Safety Board and a separate FAA research and engineering panel.
NASA's estimated cost to complete the International Space Station could continue to grow as managers struggle to replace crew support capability they eliminated to cover the $4-billion shortfall already identified.
AAR Aircraft Services has received a work order from Dyncorp and Lear Siegler to provide repair and overhaul for 400 propellers installed on U.S. Army C-12 and Navy C-26 aircraft.
The government's selloff of its 51% stake in Turkish Airlines has been canceled because of insufficient interest. Analysts imputed the low level of interest to overvaluation of the airline's equity base, which had been pegged at $3 billion. A new tender under different conditions is planned.
A total of 14 Black Hawk UH-60 helicopters is slated for delivery to Colombia between July and December, says Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, commander-in-chief of Southern Command. Deliveries of Super Huey UH-1s probably will commence in November and finish up in July, although the contract for them is in the process of being written, Pace said in an interview. The total number of UH-1s is undetermined, pending airframe configuration decisions, but the Colombians expect they will be able to buy about 25 with the money available, the general added.
The U.S. Army has identified four potential competitors eligible to bid for the first round of contracts to develop a Common Missile, a program that could lead to a production run of 73,000 missiles. BAE Systems, a Boeing-Northrop Grumman team, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have been cleared as potential participants in the 30-month system definition and risk-reduction phase. The Army also plans to award multiple seeker, warhead and rocket motor technology development contracts.
President Bush, who never visited Houston's Johnson Space Center when he was Texas governor, has ``a passion for space,'' even if his spending policies don't necessarily show it, insists NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. He ran into sharp sniping from the Texas congressional delegation last week when he suggested to the House Science Committee that, based on his careful reading of candidate Bush's promises in the 2000 presidential campaign, there is no public mandate for extra funding to cover cost growth on the International Space Station.
Lufthansa is using novel marketing with a Web site in Italy. It is running mystery stories about a family in Milan on www.giallolufthansa.it, which has a few links to a more normal airline site. Surfers who can solve the mystery at the end of the month may win a free flight. . . . Thales Computers is ruggedizing commercial computer circuit boards by fitting a milled block of heat-conductive material over the components. The new version of the ``Ruggedizer'' has better heat transfer and a shorter manufacturing lead time, as well as less weight. . . .
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may restructure the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, to boost its clout. The agency might report directly to the secretary, rather than the Pentagon acquisition chief. Or BMDO's boss, Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, might get a fourth star, with the post retaining senior rank. Real clout is money and one official says BMDO's budget will be doubled.
