The Air Line Pilots Assn., representing about 9,800 pilots at Delta Air Lines, has opened the first of a proposed series of Strike Centers to coordinate a possible walkout against the airline. If a new labor contract with higher wages and improved benefits is not secured by the end of this month, a 30-day cooling-off period begins and a strike could occur next month. Union officials plan to open Strike Centers in nine cities served by Delta. This week, ALPA is scheduled to announce results of a strike authorization vote.
Paul Brotto, who was president/CEO of Canadian Airlines before its merger with Air Canada, has been named executive vice president-planning and cost management of the combined carrier. Peter Donolo has been appointed Toronto-based senior vice president-corporate affairs and government relations, effective Apr. 16. He has been Canadian consul general in Milan, Italy, and was director of communications in the Prime Minister's Office. Donolo will succeed Doug Port, who is now Calgary-based senior vice president-customer service.
Israel's Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. won contracts from Airbus and Boeing in late January for its eMPower manufacturing software. EADS Airbus SA awarded Tecnomatix a $3.5-million follow-on contract to use the software for planning and designing of complex assemblies on the A380 project. Separately, Boeing said it would make eMPower a standard at multiple sites.
NTSB investigators suspect rear-canopy failure may have contributed to the Aero L-39 jet-trainer accident that killed Atlas Air CEO Michael Chowdry last month (AW&ST Jan. 29, p. 22). Jim Struhsaker, an air safety investigator in the NTSB's Denver office, said plexiglass from the aft canopy was found about 2,000 ft. from the aircraft's impact point, but on the same ground track. Witnesses said a headset worn by the rear-seat occupant, Jeff Cole, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was found with the plexiglass debris.
Japan's major carriers are hosting one big discount-fare birthday bash. Japan Airlines, celebrating its 50th, is offering a $43 one-way fare on all its domestics services between May 10-14. The average 81% discount rate applies to all JAL subsidiaries--JAL Express, Japan Transocean Airlines, J-Air and Ryukyu Air Commuter. Japan Air Service, in commemoration of its 30th, is offering a year-long special ``birthday fare'' beginning on May 15. Passengers who fly within 15 days of their own birthdays are eligible for a one-way fare of $86 on all JAS domestic services.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense is conducting a competitive evaluation of two lightweight antitank missile systems to equip its Joint Rapid Reaction Force by mid-2005. Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are offering the Javelin, and Rafael's Gill/Spike system is being supported by Matra BAe Dynamics. Both contenders have been awarded contracts worth about $8.8 million for a year-long assessment phase, which includes field trials. The winner would be considered for the British Army's requirement to replace the Milan antitank missile.
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group has upgraded the functionality of its enterprise resource planning tools by migrating from Baan IV to Baan V software. Software upgrades come and go, but this one was bigger than most. It involved 21 parts plants in the U.S., 31,000 users and about 500 gigabytes of aircraft production data. The goal is to improve process and information systems used to forecast, schedule and build aircraft parts. Boeing's support for Baan, its largest aerospace client, is a vote of confidence.
AirTran Airways and the National Pilots Assn. (NPA), which represents 540 AirTran pilots, have reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract that calls for wage and benefit increases. The pact, reached two months before the amendable date of the current accord, now goes to the union membership for ratification. NPA President Capt. Bob Wittenberg praised the ``good faith effort'' of both sides in reaching a tentative contract. AirTran has relatively good relations with its labor force.
Aerospan.com has completed an e-marketplace collaboration with Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) that opens doors for Aerospan through an affiliation with one of Asia's best-known overhaul centers. The linkage is with ST Aero's JuzClick-Source, the private e-marketplace that it uses to reach suppliers. Shortly after JuzClickSource went live in December, the integration effort began with Aerospan.com, the e-procurement arm of the global air transport telecommunications and infotech provider SITA.
Continental Airlines, the fifth largest U.S. airline, had the best on-time performance of any U.S. major carrier, according to newly released figures from the Transportation Dept. Continental ended the year with a 78.1% on-time arrival rate, nearly 19 points higher than 10th-ranked United Airlines, and a full 5.5% higher than the industry average.
The French transport ministry plans to invest nearly $300 million in the next two years to complete an outsized truck route between Langon harbor, near Bordeaux, and Toulouse. The unusual initiative stems from Airbus Industries' decision to use surface transportation to convey subassemblies for the A380 passenger transport (AW&ST Jan. 22, p. 13). The French government is evaluating the merits of three undisclosed routes and expects to announce a decision soon.
Helicopter manufacturers Agusta/Westland and Eurocopter are putting together a revised joint research proposal that seeks to keep alive plans for a European second-generation convertible aircraft, but pushes the date for possible applications farther into the future. The new proposal, to be submitted in March for the European Commission's Fifth Framework research program (2000-04), focuses on a partial wingtip tiltwing concept envisioned by Agusta/Westland, abandoning, at least for now, the tiltrotor design formerly favored by Eurocopter.
Angelo Messina has been named vice president-corporate strategy and development of the United Technologies Corp., Hartford, Conn. He succeeds Ari Bousbib, who has been named executive vice president/chief operating officer of the Otis Elevator Co. Messina was head of UTC financial planning and analysis.
It's much too soon to predict how the satellite communications industry will perform in 2001 following last year's miserable showing. The Merrill Lynch Satcom Index plummeted 55% in 2000, compared with a 191% gain in 1999, and declines in the Nasdaq Composite and Standard&Poor's 500 of 39% and 10%, respectively, in 2000.
Brian Rowe, a member of the Atlas Air Inc. board of directors, will succeed the late Michael A. Chowdry, as chairman of the all-cargo carrier. Rowe retired as chairman of GE Aircraft Engines in early 1995, and joined the Atlas board in March of that year. Chowdry was killed in the crash of his private L-39 two-seat jet trainer on Jan. 24 (AW&ST Jan. 29, p. 22). Linda Chowdry will fill the board vacancy left by her husband. Richard H. Shuyler has been appointed Atlas' CEO, and James T. Matheny president and chief operating officer.
Legend Airlines is preparing to file for protection under Chapter 7 of the U.S. bankruptcy laws and liquidate its assets, after lessors reclaimed the carrier's seven aircraft and the Transportation Dept. was planning to suspend the airline's economic authority to operate on Feb. 9.
R. Terrence Rendleman has been named president/CEO of Aeroxchange of Dallas. He succeeds Edith Kelly-Green, who was interim CEO and will return to FedEx as vice president-strategic sourcing and supply. Rendleman was chief operations officer of Avexus and senior vice president-operations of Atlas Air Inc.
It's an old yarn. President Lyndon B. Johnson inadvertently misnamed Lockheed's Blackbird the ``SR-71,'' not the presumably proper ``RS-71,'' with a slip of the tongue. Col. Rich Graham, USAF (ret.), commander of the Blackbird's 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing from 1987-88, decided to investigate. From the LBJ Library in Austin, Tex., he obtained the original text of Johnson's July 24, 1964, speech and a tape. He found that ``SR-71'' was in three separate sentences in the text and on the tape. But the official transcript released to the press differed.
Lufthansa German Airlines is boosting its regional network with the addition of Eurowings to its system of partnerships. Eurowings and Lufthansa will operate 1,500 weekly code-sharing flights on 43 domestic and European routes. The deal will allow Lufthansa to protect its home market against European competitors much more effectively, as Eurowings will terminate code-sharing agreements with Alitalia, Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from the start of the summer season at the end of March.
This e-commerce Web site enables airlines worldwide to buy, exchange or lease refurbished flight control, nacelle, actuation and other rotable airframe components online. The Internet site includes components from the company's inventory in its Houston and London facilities, as well as consignment parts from several key original equipment manufacturers. Traditionally, the process of purchasing refurbished components, from requesting a quote to setting up shipment, took as much as 2-3 days.
Don Bolt has been named director of operations for Unison's Jacksonville, Fla., facility. He held the same position at facilities in Fort Worth and Saltillo, Mexico. Dennis Petrie has succeeded Bolt at both sites.
Walter Boyne, former director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, has been named aerospace expert-in-residence for the Discovery Wings Channel.
