Charles Seliga has been appointed managing director of Stewart International Airport, New Windsor, N.Y., by its operator, the National Express Corp. He was general manager of New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. Seliga succeeds John Edney, who had been acting managing director and will remain as a business development executive.
International Launch Services (ILS) will loft two geostationary direct broadcast satellites for EchoStar Communications Corp. under a recent agreement, which includes options for placing additional spacecraft in orbit. EchoStar VII is scheduled to be launched during the fourth quarter of this year from Cape Canaveral on a Lockheed Martin Atlas III, while EchoStar VIII is set to be orbited during the first quarter of 2002 on a Russian Proton K booster from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Air France's traffic is growing fast thanks to a record load factor that is reflected in high yields and robust profits. However, the competition mounted by efficient high-speed trains coupled with the still-in-flux SkyTeam alliance is tarnishing an otherwise rosy future.
Textron Systems, perhaps best known for development of air-delivered sensor-fuzed weapons, is stepping up its efforts to commercialize military technologies. Telecommunications is of special interest. Management is convinced the company's core competencies--especially sensors, solid-state lasers, electro-optics, imbedded computers and pattern recognition software--can be applied directly to that rapidly growing business. The company's thrust into telecommunications also is aligned with parent company Textron Inc.'s own interest in that area.
U.K.-based Umeco plans to expand its component distribution business into the U.S. market this year, chiefly through an acquisition or a partnership, according to Chief Executive Clive Snowdon. In addition to components, Umeco also provides chemicals and composite materials to the aerospace industry. Snowdon anticipates revenues for the fiscal year ending Mar. 31 will be more than 50% above the 96 million pounds ($140 million) posted last year.
United Airlines employed the Internet recently to seek bids for 5% of its annual aviation fuel requirements, not because it expected great prices--it hoped to save maybe $500,000 on an approximately $125-million buy--but to streamline the time-consuming, paper-intensive process of tendering, buying and paying for jet fuel, and also to find new suppliers.
Boeing Phantom Works, the company's advanced research and development unit, has invested $5 million in Alexander Hutton Venture Partners, a Seattle-based venture capital fund focused on infotech/dot.com businesses such as Internet infrastructure, streaming media, B2B electronic commerce and telecom/data networking software. An official said Boeing wants access to technology that can be applied across the company. Alexander Hutton was capitalized in December 1999 and is managed by former officials from Microsoft, RealNetworks and F5 Networks.
The U.S. Air Force has created a system program office (SPO) to specifically address aging aircraft issues. The SPO will focus on coping with degrading reliability and maintainability, as well as streamlining work and improving repair technologies at maintenance depots.
The Lockheed Martin X-35C Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft has completed a transcontinental trip from Edwards AFB, Calif., to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., to continue testing during its flight demonstration program. The aircraft departed Edwards on Feb. 9, piloted by Joe Sweeney, Lockheed Martin principal test pilot for the X-35C, on the first leg of the trip to Fort Worth covering a distance of slightly more than 1,000 mi. in about 2.9 hr. at 21,000 ft.
The International Space Station is ready for its second long-duration crew and increasingly advanced science and subsystem operations following the integration of the Boeing Destiny module by the Atlantis crew and the station and shuttle control centers at the Johnson Space Center. Addition of the $1.4-billion lab module has expanded the new station's system capabilities beyond both Mir and the earlier U.S. Skylab, a milestone for the $60-billion ISS effort that is the single largest international aerospace project in the world.
The Pentagon plans to pore over the Missile Technology Control Regime to determine whether the voluntary measure among 32 countries governing the export of missile components needs to be updated. One reason: it has limited the export of unmanned aerial vehicles--which are classified as missiles--says Diane Wright, who oversees UAV programs at the Pentagon. The review also is expected to focus on whether the regime needs to be modified to reflect more modern concerns. When it was first crafted in 1987, it was focused mainly on nuclear warhead delivery systems.
Edo Corp. has won a $4.9-million work order from the U.S Air Force to provide 70 AN/PLM-4 radar signal simulator test sets within the next 15 months. The order includes options for up to 890 units to be delivered through 2005.
With its lock on 114 regional jet deliveries and the number of other large regional carriers shrinking, SkyWest Airlines is likely to be one of the fastest growing commercial air transport operators in the next few years. Management is anticipating average growth in available seat miles, or capacity capability, of around 30% annually through 2004. Moreover, SkyWest's cash flow and earnings stream are predictable because about 90% of its flying is on a fee-per-departure basis under long-term contracts with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.
Aerospan.com has set up its first international office, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to offer customer support for clients in the Middle East. The office will be colocated with SITA, the airline infotech company that is its owner.
Joseph Rothenberg, NASA's human spaceflight honcho, is trying to find a way to cover a shortfall that is approaching $4 billion in the budget for the $60-billion International Space Station. The station program office in Houston has been working on the problem since late last year, when it became apparent that slips in the station assembly schedule--and the extra technical work needed to keep the delays from getting worse--would not allow prime contractor Boeing to downsize its station staff as quickly as planned.
National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. officials were ``extremely surprised'' by NTSB's criticism of an FAA-NATCA agreement modifying controller penalties for separation standard violations. Under the Jan. 17 agreement, controllers will be cited for ``technical violations'' rather than ``operational errors,'' when aircraft come too close but still maintain 80% of the required separation distances. NTSB is concerned the agreement might prevent FAA from logging and correcting serious operational incidents.
U.S. Air Force Space Command has taken another big step toward getting futuristic technologies and concepts out of the laboratory and into warfighters' hands. By activating the 76th Space Control Sqdn. at Peterson AFB, Colo., AFSPC gained its first unit dedicated to counterspace technology. The new squadron--officially part of the 21st Space Wing--will test models and prototypes of systems designed to thwart attacks against U.S. space assets and deny an adversary's use of space. Its efforts will focus specifically on future operational issues.
Following a higher court's instructions, a U.S. District Court judge in Atlanta has forbidden Delta Air Lines pilots from engaging in a no-overtime-flying campaign and given the Air Line Pilots Assn. until Feb. 26 to notify members of the order.
In the hope of establishing a leading position in the promising unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) market, Northrop Grumman officials have designed an unorthodox kite- or diamond-shape aircraft as the company's first foray into this mission area.
EADS Military Aircraft has completed flight testing for the Greek air force F-4 upgrade program and expects initial operational clearance later this month.
Mating of the front, center and aft fuselages of the first production Eurofighter for the German air force has been completed at EADS Military Aircraft's final assembly facility in Manching, Germany. EADS Military Aircraft also has delivered center fuselage sections to final assembly lines in Casselle, Italy, and Warton, England. The first center fuselage is expected to be delivered to the facility at Getafe, Spain, shortly.
Guenter Kappler, vice president of engineering at Fairchild Dornier, has been awarded Germany's Karl Heinz Beckurts Prize for contributions to advanced technology. Kappler was honored for work on the BR700 engine family while at BMW Rolls-Royce (now Rolls-Royce Deutschland). Kappler, who designed the core while a professor at the University of Munich, was instrumental in conception, development and certification of the engines.
GKN and Finmecannica have completed the merger of their rotary-wing aircraft subsidiaries, Westland Helicopters and Agusta, to create AgustaWestland. Kevin Smith, director of GKN's aerospace business, is chairman of the board. Amedeo Caporaletti is CEO and Richard Case is managing director.
