Rolls-Royce plc has reported a 26% increase in pretax profits in the first half of this year to about $292 million on a 33% jump in sales to around $4.2 billion. Earnings per share rose by 24%. Chairman Sir Ralph Robins last week said the company is on track to deliver double-digit earnings growth for 2000, but earnings probably would be flat next year due to several factors. These include ongoing restructuring charges, a shift in sales in favor of original equipment over spare parts and a delay on sales of the industrial Trent engine.
France and the U.K. are working to devise technical and operational changes that could lead to reinstatement of the Concorde's airworthiness certificate and resumption of supersonic transport service. Following a Franco-British meeting in London, the two countries' transport ministers stressed their ``determination to find a solution that will allow Concorde to return to service in safe conditions.'' The initiative results from the grounding of Air France's and British Airways' supersonic fleets (AW&ST Aug. 21, p. 28).
The $230-million Hughes-built Orion 3 spacecraft that was stranded in a useless orbit by the second Delta III failure last year could be fired around the Moon by future shuttle astronauts so lunar gravity could help return it to a commercial mission in Earth orbit. Insurance investors, NASA and Hughes continue to investigate the possibility of launching a space shuttle mission that could attach a lunar science package and a solid rocket motor to the payload to carry out the mission.
As a consultant who meets regularly with aerospace and defense companies, I have found that common e-business themes are surfacing among these organizations. Everyone is talking about e-business and many have fancy charts describing their ideas and have started initiatives, but very few aerospace and defense (A&D) organizations have implemented integrated solutions that address their e-business needs. Even fewer have e-business management systems that could help maximize the benefits of these initiatives for their customers, suppliers and employees.
Richard L. Gage (see photo) has become president/CEO of the Ottawa-based Canadian Business Aircraft Assn. He was vice president-operations/general manager of Execair Inc. of Montreal.
The Civil Air Patrol will begin integrating 3D software developed specifically for it by Analytical Graphics Inc. of Malvern, Pa., for use in search-and-rescue (SAR) operations. The CAP-Satellite Tool Kit (STK) is an analysis and visualization program for use in preflight SAR planning. Using satellite imagery, the tool allows pilots and observers to ``see'' what the terrain they are to search actually looks like before taking off on a mission (see image).
Thais have described the design for Bangkok's new international airport as too Western and not reflective of Thailand's culture. The design, by an unnamed U.S. firm, was six years in the making and would exceed the $5-billion budget to execute. A management reshuffle of the New Bangkok International Airport Co. is seeking a competing design from a Japanese consortium within about 10 weeks so a 2004 opening date can be met.
The European Space Agency has installed four Cluster II science spacecraft in tetrahedral formation, on highly elliptical orbits, in preparation for their two-year-long mission to scrutinize Sun-Earth interaction. The second pair of Cluster IIs was launched earlier this month from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by a Soyuz-Fregat booster provided by the Russian-French Starsem consortium.
Airline leaders pledged to notify the FAA sooner about planned flight cancellations and to work with the U.S. Transportation Dept. to improve the flow of information as well as overall passenger service.
Florida-based Spirit Airlines, a low-fare carrier serving 14 cities in the U.S., reported traffic grew faster than capacity in July with a 12.9% increase in revenue passenger miles (RPM) compared with the same month last year, while RPM to date this year have risen 28.4%, according to the airline. Load factor for the month reached 79.7%. Spirit officials said smaller DC-9s are being replaced with larger, 164-seat MD-80s. The airline has a fleet of 22 aircraft, including seven DC-9s and 15 MD-80s. Plans call for eventually adding another six -80s.
The space shuttle program has hired several hundred additional personnel and conducted practice shuttle vehicle flows to find any deficiencies that could hamper the coming resurgence in shuttle launch operations for station assembly. ``We are embarking on a set of activities as complex as anything we have ever done in the space business, including landing on the Moon,'' says Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore.
Pilots of two Delta Connection carriers are reviewing options now that the executive council of the Air Line Pilots Assn. has rejected their petition calling for merger of the regional pilot unions with that of mainline Delta Air Lines. The Master Executive Councils (MEC) of Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines can take the issue to court. Another option is placing the merger issue as an agenda item at the Oct. 16 biennial meeting of the local councils in Miami.
The U.S. remained a major supplier in international weapons transfer agreements in 1999. According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, U.S. companies made $18.4 billion in weapons deliveries, compared with $17.1 billion in 1998. Weapons systems sold included 50 F-16s for Israel and 24 F-16 C/Ds for Egypt, eight AH-64D Apache attack helicopters for Singapore, and an unspecified number of CH-47D helicopters and two E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft for Taiwan. The U.K.
Sogerma, a maintenance and overhaul subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co.'s French arm, will maintain the landing gears for Japan Air System's fleet of 35 Airbus A300B2/B4/-600R twinjets under a five-year $10-million work order.
Its decision to pull out of southern Lebanon has increased Israel's desire to obtain the Tactical High-Energy Laser, U.S. officials say. Israel wants Thel to shoot down Katyusha rockets that Hizbollah has been firing into northern Israel. However, the Pentagon is still considering keeping the Thel prototype that was slated to go to Israel after initial testing and use it as a laser testbed. Regardless of the final decision, Israel won't get Thel for at least another year, says Richard Bradshaw, the Army's directed-energy program manager.
M. Michele Burns has been named executive vice president/chief financial officer of Delta Air Lines. She has been senior vice president-finance/treasurer. Burns succeeds Edward H. West, who has been named chief financial officer for the Internet Capital Group. Paulette Corbin, Richard Cordell and Joseph Licitra have become vice presidents-airport customer service for the Western, Central and Eastern U.S., respectively. Corbin was managing director of Delta Express. Cordell and Licitra were directors of airport customer service. Anthony N.
As the investigation of the July 25 Air France Concorde crash continues, the record shows that fuel tank penetrations had occurred about twice as frequently as was generally thought at the outset of the accident.
Trouble with the AUD$43-million ($25-million), automated baggage system at the Sydney airport is prompting authorities of the Sydney Airports Corp. to spend another $2 million to resolve glitches before the upcoming Olympic Games next month. Problems with the system in the past few months have caused a multitude of delays for both domestic and international flights, with the most serious occurring in July when the system was inoperative for 11 hr. During one failure, United Airlines resorted to renting a truck to take baggage directly to the airplane.
China Southern Airlines reported its profits for the first half of this year had risen by 46.1% to 348 million yuan ($42 million) from a year ago despite higher fuel prices. The Guangzhou-based carrier, China's largest, said better passenger loads and stricter controls on discount fares were behind the improvement. China Southern recently took over regional carrier Zhongyuan Airlines and is expected to absorb China Southwest and Yunnan airlines as part of the restructuring of China's carriers.
Loral Space&Communications will expand its fixed satellite services fleet with the new Estrela do Sul satellite, scheduled to be launched in mid-2002. The spacecraft, in development at Space Systems/Loral, is a version of the three-axis, body-stabilized 1300 bus with 36 Ku-band transponders. Loral Skynet do Brasil will offer customers coverage throughout Latin America from its orbital slot at 63 deg. W. Long.
The Boeing Delta III has scored its first successful mission after back-to-back failures and two years of exhaustive reviews, but it remains to be seen whether the heavy booster will be a commercial success. Boeing was forced to absorb the $85-million cost of the Aug. 23 test flight with no paying customer to demonstrate that the 128-ft. Delta III is now safe to fly. The 331-ton vehicle lifted off from Launch Complex 17B here at 7:05 a.m. EDT carrying a 9,586-lb. simulated payload.
The 9,586-lb. spindle-shaped structure launched by the Delta III as a simulated payload will be used as a calibrated optical target for space imaging studies by the U.S. Air Force and the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR). Those studies, expected to last many years, will support materials and spacecraft dynamics research involved in operating U.S. spacecraft. The studies will also support the science of gathering intelligence by observing foreign spacecraft with ground-based lasers, radars and imaging systems.
Dassault Aviation, Snecma Moteurs, Thomson-CSF Detexis and Matra BAe Dynamics on Aug. 21 jointly signed contracts covering the supply to Greece of 15 Mirage 2000-5 Mk.2 combat aircraft and Mica and Scalp missiles. In addition, the French contractors and Hellenic Aerospace Industry will upgrade to the Mk.2 Standard 10 in-service Mirage 2000s.
Compressor test results for the 16,000-24,000-lb.-thrust Pratt&Whitney PW6000 engine have buoyed the engine-maker's confidence that the five-stage unit will meet its design efficiencies and performance. Doubts about the PW6000's high-pressure compressor first surfaced about 10 months ago, after it ``badly missed'' its predicted efficiencies during rig and full engine tests at the company's East Hartford, Conn., facilities, Bob Leduc, Pratt's executive vice president, said.
