Ilyushin officials said the U.S. Export-Import Bank and Vneshekonombank of Moscow would provide $143 million in credit and credit guarantees to allow the construction of three Il-96T freighters. Exim Bank will cover purchase of the Pratt&Whitney engines and Rockwell Collins avionics, with the balance provided by the Russian bank to complete the first of three airplanes. Work on the aircraft stopped in 1998 because of Russia's economic troubles (AW&ST July 5, 1999, p. 40).
The Allied Pilots Assn. has rejected a tentative agreement with American Airlines that would have extended their existing labor contract for one year. As a result, negotiations on a new agreement will not begin until next summer. The APA's contract with American becomes amendable on Aug. 31. The pact failed chiefly because pilots did not want to accept American's offer of a 3% pay raise this year and a 2.5% hike in 2001, preferring instead to wait until next year and seek wages equal to or better than those recently won by pilots at United Airlines.
George Seielstad has been named president of the NASA Earth Science Information Partners Federation. He is principal investigator of the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium at the University of North Dakota's John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.
Deutsche Post's move to take control of DHL International continues a trend toward closer integration of postal and parcel express services, while broadening the scope for legal challenges questioning the fairness of this integration process.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), fresh from his tongue-lashing of airline pilots for being greedy and unpatriotic (AW&ST Sept. 18, p. 21), has persuaded members of his Commerce Committee to approve a resolution opposing the proposed merger between United Airlines and US Airways. The resolution has the legal clout of barking at the Moon. But such action does allow members of Congress to let the traveling public know that they are ``out front'' on this issue. Not all pols oppose the merger, however. Sen. John D.
Northrop Grumman Corp. plans to purchase Sterling Software Inc., which provides information technology services to the federal government. Sterling is part of Computer Associates and will cost Northrop Grumman $150 million in cash. The acquisition comes less than a month following an announcement by Northrop Grumman that it plans to acquire Federal Data Corp., another supplier of IT services to the government. If approved, both properties will be integrated into the operations of Logicon Inc., Northrop Grumman's IT sector.
Smiths Industries plc has been one of the aerospace/defense industry's true standouts in recent years, resulting in a strong following among equity analysts and investors who have come to expect virtually flawless execution by the U.K.-based company. As one market professional recently put it, ``Smiths does not disappoint.''
Computer Sciences Corp. has been provisionally awarded a $352-million, five-year contract to provide infrastructure, information technology and communications services to Lackland AFB, Tex.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is drawing fans in the military here, as the Pentagon looks to more actively engage their Moscow counterparts on major issues. There is optimism about Putin's plans to draw down the Russian military. ``They need to get down to the number of people that fit within their resources,'' says a senior official here.
With delays in European air traffic worsening again, the European Commission and industry are fine-tuning a set of measures intended to lead to implementation of a single European sky within the next five years. A high-level working group initiated by EC Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio is scheduled to meet for the last time later this month in an effort to agree on how to proceed with reforming the European ATC system. The most important issue still unresolved is the question of what entity will take on the regulatory role on a European level.
German charter/tour operator Condor&Neckermann is reportedly on the verge of acquiring control of Thomas Cook/JMC, after first considering, then apparently dropping, plans to merge with Airtours, the No. 2 firm in the British travel market. C&N was frustrated earlier this year in an initial attempt to penetrate the U.K. marketplace when it was outbid by German market leader Preussag for control of the Thomson Group, the largest British travel firm. More recently, it was forced to cede its No.
Thomas J. Cooling (see photo) has become chief pilot for the Flight Services Group, Stratford, Conn. He was director of safety and standards. Jim Brown has been named director of corporate communications for AirTran Airways. He held similar positions at Trans World and American airlines.
Teams of specialists working at the cavernous Air Traffic Control System Command Center monitor the nation's navaids and computer systems, track weather and examine streams of real-time data on the state of the National Airspace System. Converting that information into useful action is the daily challenge here.
A pair of Level 5 thunderstorms disrupted travel on Sept. 11 in the U.S. Midwest and caused the cancellation of 370 flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. An estimated 1,500 stranded passengers spent the night of Sept. 11-12 at O'Hare. The City's Aviation Dept. provided cots and blankets for at least that many people, said Monique Bond, a department spokeswoman.
FedEx has concluded a cooperative agreement with the French post office, La Poste, that reinforces the trend toward greater integration of postal and parcel express services. Under the three-year agreement, customers of the La Poste's Chronopost International courier service will gain access to FedEx's worldwide distribution network. FedEx also agreed to assume air transport operations within Europe for the postal service, which earlier this year dismantled a parcel express airline, Aeropostale, owned with Air France.
Thomson-CSF announced a 29% surge in operating earnings, to 202 million euros ($172 million) for the first half, on consolidated revenues of 3.3 billion euros (+15%). Orders rose 26%, to 3.2 billion euros. Net income declined to 120 million euros, from 204 million euros a year before, but this reflected extraordinary capital gains in the first six months of 1999.
U.S. air travel this summer shows more than anything else how complex and fragile the commercial aviation system has become. Demand is taxing capacity as never before. Now and in the near future, it just cannot keep pace. Flight delays and cancellations were greater this summer than ever before, but by consensus they were less than they are likely to be for years to come.
The first sign of trouble came shortly after 5 a.m. (CDT). A maintenance controller reported three DC-10-30s out of service. ``The 10s are always an issue,'' said Robert K. Muhs, Jr., director of System Operations Control (SOC) at Northwest Airlines. ``They carry a lot of people and can have a big impact, and there are only two spares.''
Boeing is expanding its services for airlines, and recently purchased AeroInfo Systems Inc., the Richmond, British Columbia-based provider of maintenance software. AeroInfo's main product is the MaintStream software suite for planning, scheduling and tracking maintenance of aircraft. Under Boeing ownership MaintStream will still be offered for non-Boeing aircraft. MaintStream is Internet-capable and can share data between operators, leasing companies, regulators and maintenance, repair, and overhaul firms.
Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk long-endurance unmanned reconnaissance aircraft has been declared ``militarily useful'' in a key evaluation by the services. More importantly, the design has been recommended for production.
The pioneering spirit is alive and well in Alaska, which can be a mixed blessing. When it comes to making aviation progress, such as the FAA's Capstone program, it's a plus. But when the ``can-do'' spirit clouds judgment, it can be an accident-causing minus.
Thad Sandford (see photo) has been named vice president-engineering of the Boeing Space and Communications Group, Seal Beach, Calif. He succeeds Ron Duncan, who will be retiring. Sandford was general manager for engineering/Phantom Works site leader at the Boeing facility in Long Beach, Calif.
Military recruiters are finding the Web to be a very useful tool. The majority of Air Force leads now come from their Web site, and the Army's redesigned Web site (www.goarmy.com) resulted in correspondence with more than 30,000 chat room users and 7,000 follow-up e-mails. And computer connectivity is also being used as an incentive, by offering an online education while they serve . . . U.K. helicopter operator British International is starting to supply and operate its maintenance system with software from Russell Adams (www.russelladams.com).
The committee's chairman, John McCain (R-Ariz.), opened last week's hearing on delays with a blistering verbal assault on airline pilots for their work stoppages this summer. McCain compared the nearly $342,000 annual salary that top United pilots will make in 2004 to the paltry $20,000 per capita income nation-wide in 1998. Lost vacations that middle Americans plan months in advance, which they literally cannot afford to alter, are ``due to pilot greed,'' McCain fumed.
U.S. Marine Corps officials last week grounded for 24 hr. all aircraft of the third Marine Air Wing to review safety procedures. While the Marines said the decision was not prompted by any one event, it followed the death of two Marines last week in the crash of an F/A-18D during training near Yuma, Ariz.
