Despite a solid credit history, major U.S. airports will be challenged to find creative new ways to finance up to $88 billion in upgrades over the next four years. The finding is part of a new study released by Fitch, an international bond rating company that evaluates 51 U.S. airports handling 90% of the country's passengers.
Taiwan's market for maintenance is forecast to be worth about $500 million by 2005, and the Asia-Pacific area, including China, could reach $800 million by 2025, according to Lockheed Martin Aircraft&Logistics (LMAL). The company has opened an office in Taipei and joined with China Airlines, Far Eastern Transport and other companies to operate a maintenance-based aerospace alliance on the island.
Struggling Sabena faces fresh competition in its own backyard with Ryanair's decision to establish its first hub operation in continental Europe at Brussels South (Charleroi) airport. As of Apr. 26, the Irish low-cost carrier will operate flights from the airport 37 mi. south of Brussels to London Stansted, Glasgow, Dublin, Shannon, Pisa, Venice and Carcassonne, France.
The U.S.-German X-31 demonstrator has returned to flight, kicking off a two-year program aimed at demonstrating an extremely short-landing capability. The investigation into ESTOL, or extremely short takeoff and landing, is being performed under the $57-million Vector, or vectoring ESTOL control tailless operation research effort. Participants in the project include the U.S. Navy, Germany's federal defense procurement agency, EADS and Boeing, which, through its Phantom Works, has the role of project prime contractor and prime systems integrator.
South Africa's CSIR has won a contract to supply a full-motion 13-meter Ka-band antenna system as part of the ground-support infrastructure for Boeing Satellite System's planned Spaceway broadband constellation. The unit is due to be completed in April 2002, in time for launch of the first Spaceway satellite later that year. CSIR has already built a Ku-band antenna facility, which it offers for DBS applications, and has retrofitted an antenna to control and track the two XM Radio satellites, named Rock and Roll.
EDITED BY BRUCE D. NORDWALLEDITED BY EDWARD H. PHILLIPS
LOCKHEED MARTIN ENTERED THE CIVIL ATC radar field with its first sale to Colombia of three terminal airport surveillance primary and secondary radars and a fourth secondary surveillance radar. In the three installations that combine primary and secondary systems, a dual-band feed allows both functions to share the primary antenna. Customers can equip the solid-state transmitter with up to 25 modules to get the power and range they need.
Comair and the Air Line Pilots Assn. have entered a 30-day cooling-off period after being released from mediation, but the threat of a strike remains. The union, which plans to circulate copies of a proposed contract to the airline's 1,300 pilots for a possible vote later this month, also could call for a strike as early as Mar. 26. Results of balloting would not be known until Mar. 19, leaving about one week before a strike could begin. Negotiations may resume during the 30-day period, and the pilots are not obligated to strike when the 30 days expire.
Thales plans to sell its test instrument business, acquired when the company purchased Racal Electronics, as part of a plan to divest noncore activities. The business, which serves radio, broadband and electronics markets, had sales of about 91 million euros in 2000 and a workforce of 600 located primarily in the U.S. and the U.K. The Racal acquisition helped boost sales at Thales last year by 25% to 8.6 billion euros.
Operators of Rolls-Royce-powered Boeing 777s are being advised to conduct a one-time inspection of hollow titanium fan blades used in Trent engines. The inspection stems from the contained failure of a blade early this year on an Emirates 777 at Melbourne, Australia. The blade failed during the initial takeoff run and caused the loss of a second blade, according to Rolls-Royce. There were no injuries, but low-energy debris damaged the fuselage and wing fairings. The Trent 892 engine is undergoing inspection at the company's Derby, U.K., facility.
In a rearguard action, House Democrats are pushing for a one-year moratorium on airline mergers. Under a bill introduced last week, the proposed mergers of United Airlines with US Airways and American with TWA would be blocked for one year from the date of legislative enactment. The moratorium would permit further investigation of US Airways' financial condition, and of slot control at Reagan Washington National Airport.
Europe is contemplating a plan that would significantly boost future research and development spending and accelerate the integration of its R&D effort. In a proposal for the next multiyear R&D program covering 2003-06, the European Commission (EC) is offering to increase spending by 17%, to 17.5 billion euros ($16 billion), and to further tighten the focus on priority research tasks. Called the Sixth Framework program, the new plan would concentrate funding in seven high-priority areas, compared with 23 in the current Fifth Framework program.
Researchers at NASA Ames Research Center have successfully ``landed'' a 757 at San Francisco International Airport using muscle nerve signals transmitted through a pilot's forearm.
Alexander Medvedev has been appointed general director of Russia's Krunichev State Research and Production Space Center. He was deputy director, succeeeding Anatoly Kisilev, who has resigned.
The X-35C, Lockheed Martin's demonstrator for its Navy Joint Strike Fighter design, is racing through its flight program with only the non-availability of tanker support presenting a potential for test delays. As predicted, the X-35C flies farther and lands slower than the Air Force version of the stealth strike aircraft. And with a larger wing--that provides more lift and additional fuel--it rolls and accelerates more slowly.
BFGoodrich Co. will announce a name change and new corporate identity on Mar. 5, capping a dramatic transformation that began in the mid-1980s. The 130-year-old company now derives 84% of its revenues from aerospace-related sales, compared with 7% in 1985. The remaining portion comes from sealing products and compressor systems and other highly engineered products. For more information go to www.AviationNow.com/BFG.
Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) is gearing up to train astronauts and cosmonauts to operate the systems on board its contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), the ``Kibo'' (``Hope'') Experiment Module. Full-scale mockups at NASDA's Tsukuba Space Center near Tokyo have already been tested by Japanese and U.S. astronauts in a ``rehearsal'' that also qualified NASDA instructors on the equipment.
The European Commission intends to open a full investigation into the proposed acquisition of Honeywell by General Electric Co. because of concerns that the merged company could dominate the market for avionics, on-board systems and engines.
Rand's closely held report on the Joint Strike Fighter recommends that the Pentagon delay making choices on the mission avionics and, possibly, the sensor selection.
Following a favorable court ruling, work has begun at EADS Airbus in Hamburg in preparation for expanding the facility to accommodate A380 work. Plans are also complete for a third assembly line at the factory for the 107-seat A318 program. The first A318 is set to be rolled out at the end of the year with a first flight in January 2002.
Matthew Abbott is among the 10 new flight directors named recently by the Mission Operations Directorate at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The others are: Anthony J. Ceccacci, Annette P. Hasbrook, Derek Hassmann, Norman D. Knight, Catherine A. Koerner, Bryan Lunney, John A. McCullough, Joel R. Montalbano and Steven Stich.
The Air Line Pilots Assn. (ALPA) has filed a Petition to Review in the U.S. Court of Appeals on certain revisions to the Transportation Dept.'s rules governing drug testing for transportation workers in safety-sensitive positions. ALPA questions the revision of ``validity testing'' of urine specimens, ordered to determine the diluteness of the sample and the presence of exogenous substances. Workers with diluted urine are deemed to have ``substituted'' their samples and treated as rule violators.
Northrop Grumman Corp. voluntarily withdrew and refiled its Hart-Scott-Rodino notification last week with various government agencies to provide them with added time to complete the review of the company's pending acquisition of Litton Industries Inc. Northrop Grumman still expects, however, to complete its tender offer for Litton shares by late March.
