Under a strategic alliance between the companies, Deloitte Consulting will add a practice devoted to Parametric Technology's Windchill software that is used to help organizations collaboratively create products by passing information over the Internet. The firms will combine marketing of their collaborative product commerce systems, and Windchill demonstrations, training, and testing will be supported at Deloitte's Competency Centers. The effort will be focused in the Americas initially, but is to expand further in the next year.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a $10.4-million contract to begin low-rate initial production of the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System for F/A-18E/F aircraft.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense signed a contract with Raytheon worth 42 million pounds ($59 million) last week for infrared-guided AGM-65G2 Maverick missiles, following successful integration trials on Royal Air Force GR7 Harriers. An initial operating capability is scheduled for the end of the year, under the accelerated evaluation and procurement program.
Despite recent decisions to privatize several international satellite telecommunications organizations, free market competitors remain wary of favors and privileges that they think may remain in place after privatization. Intelsat, headquartered in Washington, and Paris-based Eutelsat are leading the list of international governmental organizations (IGOs) that are to be turned into companies in which signatories will become shareholders. Inmarsat was the first, in April 1999, and others, such as Arabsat, are planning to follow.
Virgin Express is planning to increase scheduled frequencies to European destinations from its Brussels hub in the next few weeks as it pulls out of the charter market. The low-cost carrier plans to reduce charter flights to 3-4% of its total operations from the current level of 23%. Virgin Express will also halt operations at London Stansted Airport this winter season and consolidate its U.K. operations at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
Israel's Arrow weapon system successfully intercepted a ballistic missile target on Sept. 14. The target, including the simulated warhead, was destroyed by the Arrow 2 antitactical ballistic missile interceptor.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. went to bat for 550 of its members whose medical certificates were stuck in a bureaucratic logjam at the FAA. The agency's backlog were for special issuance certificates that Aviation Medical Examiners must refer to the FAA's Aeromedical Certification Div. in Oklahoma City for adjudication. Potentially disqualifying conditions such as previous heart attacks, coronary artery disease, diabetes requiring medication or shots, and certain types of cancer are sent there for resolution.
Boeing is planning to modernize its St. Louis facilities with an investment of up to $250 million for new construction and the sale of about 1.8 million sq. ft. of office and production space. Net result of the plan would be about 20% less space than Boeing currently occupies. First phase includes a 210,000-sq.-ft. hangar and ramp facility and a 140,000-sq.-ft. addition to a building where C-17, T-45 and AV-8B work will be consolidated.
British Midland's decision to launch scheduled services to Chicago and Washington from Manchester next spring is a stepping-stone toward the carrier's ultimate goal of opening transatlantic services from London Heathrow. The U.K.'s second largest airline said last week it will start daily services to Washington Dulles on Apr. 30 and to Chicago O'Hare on May 21 with new Airbus A330-200s. The services will be operated on a code share basis with Star Alliance partner United Airlines.
West Jet Airlines has fired its president and CEO, Stephen Smith, over a clash of management styles with other executives, but his departure is not expected to affect the future of the Calgary-based Boeing 737 operator. Chairman Clive Beddoe, who founded the airline four years ago, believed a change was necessary. Beddoe has assumed the presidency and will remain there indefinitely.
Like the ubiquitous Boeing 737, the regional jet (RJ) is having a tremendous impact on commercial aviation. While most of this has been positive, some critics charge that the aircraft is slower than mainline jets and, as a result, affects the air traffic control system adversely. RJ proponents say the popular small jet is being used as a scapegoat for the ills of the ATC system and that some of the information coming out is, at the very least, incomplete and somewhat misleading.
The Chinese are advancing toward a second test of their Project 921 Shenzhou manned spacecraft atop a Long March 2F booster. The effort illustrates growing Chinese maturity for space system development. The flight could be flown as early as October and, like the first mission last November, is likely to be unmanned (AW&ST Nov. 29, 1999, p. 28). Hardware from the first flight illustrates the scale of the new multibillion-dollar Chinese effort.
In a somewhat puzzling move, Star Alliance members Lufthansa and United Airlines will both start daily ``joint'' nonstop service between Denver and Frankfurt, next year, code-sharing under the alliance's network. Beginning Mar. 25, Lufthansa will operate a three-class Airbus A340 from Frankfurt to Denver, with a return flight later the same day. United's Denver-Frankfurt schedule will begin in June and run through October, providing a second daily nonstop flight on the same transatlantic route only during the busiest travel season.
Delta Shuttle last week inaugurated Boeing 737-800 service with three aircraft on its regular flights between New York LaGuardia, Boston Logan and Washington Reagan National airports. The -800, in new Delta livery, offers seats with 36-in. pitch, 6-in. recline and four-way adjustable headrests; Empower system for laptops and a new in-flight entertainment system. Delta Shuttle expects to take delivery of at least three -800s per month until it has 16 in January.
As the old saw goes, everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it. But as far as aviation is concerned, there has been considerable progress in doing something about thunderstorms, wind shear and other such hazards to flying that together are blamed for the majority of airline delays.
The NOAA-L spacecraft undergoes preparations for a launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., that is scheduled for 3:22 a.m. PDT Sept. 20. The advanced weather satellite, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif., is to be boosted into orbit by a Titan II launch vehicle. NOAA-L will operate in a circular, near-polar, 470-naut.-mi. orbit with an inclination of 98.744 deg., primarily to provide long-range weather forecasting. The planned Sun-synchronous orbit is scheduled to last about 102 min.
Provisions under Air-21 legislation are highlighting the stark disparity between airline marketing promises and the reality of flight operations. Airlines say they will add more than 600 flights a day in the U.S. air traffic control system under Air-21, which allows new entrants up to 20 slots each and regional jet operators unlimited flights to underserved markets.
With GPS navigation as the enabling technology, an avionics suite is being tested in Alaska that offers bush pilots many of the safety benefits that have long been standard in commercial jet transports. Combining those capabilities in a system affordable for general aviation aircraft would not have been possible without the proliferation of GPS for commercial use, which drove receiver prices down so that a handheld receiver can be purchased for less than $100.
With the price of jet fuel up about 30% in the last five weeks--and fuel representing about 12% of the airline industry's total costs--it's easy to understand why most mainline U.S. carriers have felt compelled in recent days to implement a fuel surcharge of $20 on round-trip tickets. Continental Airlines initiated the move, and it was matched by AMR Corp., parent company of American Airlines; United Airlines parent UAL Corp.; as well as Delta Air Lines, America West Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Trans World Airlines and US Airways Group.
It has been almost a year since we published our ``Action Plan for Air Travel'' (AW&ST Oct. 25, 1999, p. 86), and some progress has been made. However, in light of the record number of airline flight cancellations and delays this summer, it is apparent that not enough has changed to make much difference, as evidenced in the frustration faced by passengers during the past four months.
Continental Airlines has been benefiting from changes to its Systems Operations Control Center (SOCC) and Flight Profitability System. In the early 1990s a blizzard closed Newark, the airline's second-largest hub, for two days. The effects were nationwide and it took an additional three days to resume full service. With the old mainframe computers, SOCC planners had to go into terminal emulation mode for each of five different systems to gather data.
Space Systems/Loral has signed an agreement to launch its 12,125-lb. Telstar-8 satellite on the Sea Launch system in 2002. Telstar is the heaviest payload on the Sea Launch manifest. The satellite, built for Loral Skynet, is the first to be based on Space Systems/Loral's extended 1300 bus and will include Ku-band, C-band, and Ka-band transponders for coverage over North and South America.
MDTSC is a large provider of contract engineers and other technical professionals, and it is making a major expansion onto the Internet. The company has partnered with itiliti which makes Global Resource Interchange (GRI) software to connect employers to staffing agencies through the Internet. The partnership has started building a staffing exchange for aerospace using GRI. It will begin with recruitment for full-time and contract engineers and infotech professionals, career development training and a means of connection staffing agencies worldwide via the Web.
