American Airlines has petitioned the National Mediation Board (NMB) to intervene in negotiations between the carrier and the Assn. of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA). The union, whose rank and file soundly rejected a tentative agreement in September 1999, has been working without a contract since November 1998. American's latest proposal ``only moves the furniture around'' and is not an improvement over the previous agreement in terms of how much the airline is willing to spend on a new contract, an APFA official said.
Bombardier Aerospace, a leading regional jet manufacturer, will invest around $170 million to build a final assembly plant at Montreal's Mirabel airport for its 70-passenger CRJ700 and the recently launched 90-seat CRJ900. Construction of the new facility will begin in September and be completed in spring 2001. Choosing Dorval as the supplemental facility will keep Bombardier's Regional Jet program concentrated in the Montreal area. Employment at Mirabel is expected to reach 1,700 by 2003.
A report by the U.K. House of Commons Transport Committee on stalled U.S.-U.K. air service agreement negotiations recommends that ``grandfather rights'' held by some airlines for airport slots be reviewed. It calls for slots to be allocated for a ``defined period of time,'' as well as a ``transparent'' system of slot trading to improve access to London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports by new carriers as part of any liberalization pact. In addition, the report stated that any agreement should include a timetable for lifting U.S.
Space Electronics Inc. has added a Nuclear Event Detector product line. NEDs are radiation-hardened devices that detect the onset of ionizing radiation in space and military applications and provide a signal to initiate protection of critical electronics. They can protect an electronic system's memory, stop data processing and drive power supply crowbars and signal clamps. The HSN 3000 is manufactured to Mil-Prf-38534 requirements and is used to sense ionizing radiation pulses generated by a nuclear event.
Two television broadcast satellites, Brasilsat B4 and Nilesat 102, were launched into geosynchronous transfer orbit late Aug. 17 by an Ariane 44LP from Kourou, French Guiana. The 3,865-lb. Hughes Brasilsat is an HS 376W that will be used by Embratel for Brazilian TV and communications services. The 4,019-lb. Nilesat was developed by Astrium for the Nilesat company and will provide TV broadcast services to Egypt and North Africa.
Lufthansa Technik has concluded a multiyear agreement with U.S. carrier, Pro Air, to supply Boeing 737 spare parts and repair and overhaul aircraft flight systems.
France's Hurel-Dubois, Italy's Aero-macchi and BFGoodrich have concluded an agreement to submit a cooperative proposal to develop the Airbus A3XX's engine nacelles. The mega transport's nacelles will have a 120-in. diameter and weigh an estimated 3,650 lb. each.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways' leadership in establishing a dot.com travel site for Japan is a little unusual because it will use technology provided by Travelocity.com, the U.S.-based independent online travel broker that has bitterly opposed airlines establishing their own sites. Travelocity officials say they are joining ANA and JAL because the Japanese market is a special case. The new, as-yet unnamed joint venture is to begin operations by the end of the year and expects to achieve more than 60 billion yen ($550 million) in sales within five years.
Chicago Express Airlines has signed a multiyear agreement with Pan Am International Flight Academy to train flight crews for its fleet of Saab 340B regional aircraft.
United Airlines concluded an order for an additional six 125-seat Airbus A319 and six 150-seat A320 twinjets. Earlier this year, it had ordered 19 A320-series aircraft. They are all scheduled to be delivered in 2002.
Honeywell has miniaturized its enhanced ground-proximity warning systems and cut the price, making the safety benefits available to nearly all general aviation aircraft.
Recently adding Litening II pods to USAF Reserve Command and Air National Guard F-16s not only gave the reserve component a needed precision strike capability, but boosted their fighters to weapon-of-choice status among combat commanders.
After posting net profits of HK$2.2 billion ($280 million) in the first half of 2000, Cathay Pacific is better positioned to expand its fleet. Although profits in the second six months are projected to exceed the first two quarters, Chairman James Hughes-Haillet wants improved margins before signing orders for new aircraft. Cathay officials are considering the Airbus A340-500 and the Boeing 777-300X as potential acquisitions. The airline is also a prime candidate for the Airbus A3XX.
Airline executives listen up. A poll commissioned by inflightonline.com says passengers are ready to go online to do their e-mail, even to shop. Okay, what might you expect from a company that sells inflight services for online shopping, e-mail, hotel and flight reservations. The interesting thing is that the survey of some 300 regular travelers found that almost half (49%) would be willing to pay $9.95 per session to access Internet content, shop online and send or receive e-mail.
Mike Cumnock (see photos) has been appointed vice president-customer service, Dennis DiMarco vice president-fixed wing sales, Ian Cheyne vice president-engineering and quality, Jay Streb program operations director for Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6A and JT15D engines, and Chuck Farthing and Jim Heath directors of Pratt turboprop and turbofan sales, respectively, all for Dallas Airmotive.
Southern Airlines Group Co., corporate parent of China Southern Airlines, has taken operational and managerial control of Zhongyuan Airlines. The smaller carrier, based at Zhengzhou Airport in Henan Province, will retain its name but become part of the overall Southern Airlines Group, according to officials of China Southern. Zhongyuan Airlines operates five Boeing 737s and two Y-7 transports, and employs more than 560 people, including 80 pilots.
The 601-1045 industrial position sensor boasts a long life with more than 5 million operating cycles with a radial load up to 200 grams applied to the shaft. It is a self-contained package which provides an analog electrical output over 360 deg. with no dead band. No external interface electronics are required. The vDC low-current supply and absolute positioning output make this sensor a cost-effective alternative to encoders.
Cathay Pacific Airways has launched services to three new cargo destinations--Penang, Malaysia, San Francisco and New Delhi. They bring to 19 the destinations served by the airline's Boeing 747 freighter fleet. During the first half of this year, cargo operations accounted for 28.6% of Cathay's total revenues.
A long-time marketplace for aircraft rotables and components doesn't expect the new dot.com world to change the way airlines and manufacturers get parts. But it does expect the Internet to make them more efficient. Inventory Locator Service, a wholly owned but separately operated subsidiary of Aviall, has been one of aerospace's pioneers as electronic commerce has evolved from the days of acoustic couplers to today's Internet-based business-to-business sites.
Sandia Aerospace has introduced the Altitude Data System for corporate and general aviation. The SAE5-35 is certified to 3,000 ft. and has multiple altitude outputs including Grey code for Mode C and Mode S transponders and dual RS232 digital outputs for GPS and Terrain Awareness Systems. The Grey code altitude data is provided in standard 100-ft. resolution as required by transponders. The RS232 provides altitude data in 10-ft. increments for the greater resolution required by these systems.
U.S. airlines signed up a record 1,561 new pilots in July as the rate of hiring continued its blistering pace this year. According to AIR Inc., which specializes in helping pilots find jobs within the airline industry, carriers are on target to hire more than 19,000 pilots in 2000. Of these, 5,055 are projected to fly for major airlines, and 6,334 will find jobs with national carriers. The balance are destined for regional airlines.
THE RUSSIAN INSTITUTE OF AIRCRAFT Equipment (NIIAO) has chosen Barco Display Systems to supply control display and management systems (CDMSs) to function as the FMS computers on all Russian civil Tupolev Tu-204, -214 and -234, Beriev 200 and Ilyushin Il-114 aircraft. Deliveries on the first order of 35 are scheduled by year-end. NIIAO committed to an initial order of 100 CDMSs, due before the end of 2003. Since the Barco avionics concept allows users to design their own software, NIIAO will integrate and get the flight management system certified.
North Africa's Air Algerie has taken delivery of the first of four Raisbeck Heavy Gross Weight Stage 3 Systems hush kits purchased for its Boeing 727-200 Advanced aircraft. The kits are being installed to reduce the number of noise penalties being incurred by the carrier's operations at European airports. Air Algerie officials plan to replace their older 727s with 737-800s.
