Managers of Europort Vatry--a new multimodal hub 100 mi. east of Paris--predict that charter airlines and courier operators will quickly be drawn to the all-cargo airport's ample space free of environmental constraints. ``We are not trying to compete against ADP [Paris airports authority] but offer all-cargo carriers a secondary hub as well as a genuine intermodal capability,'' said Marco Mingarelli, president of SEVE, Europort Vatry's management company.
Martin Sweeting, director of the Surrey Space Center and CEO of Surrey Satellite Technology at the University of Surrey, Guildford, England, has been elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
The U.S. Navy has successfully conducted the first engineering and manufacturing development test of the Standard Missile SM-2 Block IVA air and missile defense interceptor. The nonintercept test took place last Thursday at the Army's White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The purpose was to validate the missile's guidance controls, auto-pilot and aerodynamic performance. Seven more shots are planned in the next 18 months, after which the program will proceed to technical and operational evaluation in Hawaii.
Canada now offers access to a variety of travel resources through its full-service Internet portal, canada.com. By clicking on Travel Channel at the site, travelers may check travel specials, research a trip, check currency prices, or book air, hotel and car reservations. In addition, they may shop online, peruse travel literature and check weather reports.
U.S. and British airborne warning and control system aircraft were central elements of the twice-daily simulated ``war'' here at Maple Flag 2000, providing surveillance, warning and a complete picture of the air battle to flight crews and ground commanders. This Aviation Week&Space Technology editor flew on an E-3D AWACS with the Royal Air Force's 8th Sqdn., which served as a ``big eye-in-the-sky'' for an afternoon Maple Flag strike mission.
Paul H. Tate has been appointed senior vice president finance/chief financial officer of Kitty Hawk Inc. of Dallas. He was senior vice president-finance/CFO/ treasurer Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings Inc., Dulles, Va.
An airship designed in the U.S. by former Russian lighter-than-air experts has received type certification from the FAA's Los Angeles Aircraft Office. The Aeros 40B nonrigid lighter-than-air vehicle is designed to carry advertising, surveillance systems or TV broadcasting equipment. With a length of 143 ft. and a gas volume of 88,500 cu. ft., it can carry a pilot and four passengers, according to Fred Edworthy, president of AerosFlightCam, a company subsidiary.
Atlantic Coast Airlines is using an automated job applicant screening process to conduct initial interviews and reduce workload on its human resources department. The capability, provided by Interim Assessment Services, allows applicants for ramp, check-in, flight attendant, mechanic and pilot positions to call a toll-free number for an automated prescreening evaluation. The airline places the 24-hr. number in its advertisements in local newspapers. A first tier of questions checks experience and availability.
The Air Canada Pilots Assn. (ACPA) late last week voted to strike Air Canada July 1 unless modifications sought to wage, pension and crew scheduling issues were met by the airline. According to the union, 92% of Air Canada's 2,200 pilots had voted to walk off the job. Although ACPA preferred to reach a negotiated settlement, ``we are keeping all options open'' and pilots are prepared to go on strike to achieve their goals, said Capt. Raymond Hall, chairman of the union's Master Executive Council. Air Canada has offered a 14.5% pay increase over five years.
Despite funding uncertainty for NASA's future Space Launch Initiative, the agency is exploring ideas that could turn into its next-generation X-vehicles.
Philip M. Condit, chairman and CEO of the Boeing Co., has received an honorary degree from the Cranfield (England) University College of Aeronautics for his lifelong contribution to commercial aviation. Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard also received degrees. They crewed the Breitling Orbiter 3 on the first nonstop flight around the world in a hot air balloon.
NASA late last week was preparing to launch the new Hughes Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-H) spacecraft, the flagship of an $830-million program to upgrade critical U.S. relay satellite capabilities used by NASA, the U.S. intelligence community, the commercial sector and the European and Japanese space agencies. The TDRS project, under development for five years, is managed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Patrick White has been promoted to president from vice president-sales and marketing of the Replacement Aircraft Parts Co., Hartland, Wis. He succeeds Michael R. White, who has retired.
The new $5.6-billion Inchon International Airport, scheduled to open in April 2001, is expected to be Northeast Asia's major international passenger and cargo hub. About 170,000 flight movements, 27 million passengers and 1.7 million tons of cargo per year will pass through the facility during its initial operations. By 2020, when the multiphased project is complete, Inchon will handle 100,000 million passengers a year.
Robert L. Nelson has become chairman of Ballistic Recovery Systems, South St. Paul, Minn. He is president of the aviation consulting firm that bears his name.
U.S. officials of Virginia-based Phoenix International Inc. said a salvage team has recovered the Israel Air Force F-16D piloted by the grandson of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin that crashed into the Mediterranean on Mar. 27. The bodies of the aircrew were recovered from the surface at the time of the accident. The team used a side scan sonar to find the wreckage and a remotely operated vehicle to map the debris field. They recovered specific parts of the aircraft, including the flight recorder, from a depth of more than 3,000 ft.
Qantas has opened a new route from Bangkok to London over the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau, using the Future Air Navigation System, which cuts up to 50 min. off the normal flying time of approximately 13 hr. The route was developed in conjunction with the Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Authority of China. The new route also frees aircraft from flying congested air routes at night over India, Pakistan and the Middle East.
A senior analyst in American Airlines' revenue-management offices breached a secure yield management system for Legend Airlines two weeks before the cross-town rival began flying last April. Her unauthorized entry into an information technology (IT) system that Legend contracts to Sabre Holdings Corp. was discovered only because she made a keystroke error that left a digital trail to her identity.
The U.S. Air Force will ask for increased funding for additional intelligence-gathering resources, airlifters and satellites but not new bombers. Chief of Staff Gen. Mike Ryan said that high on the immediate list of priorities is to get Congress to restore funding for the Discoverer II satellite, a radar-carrying constellation of spacecraft that can track moving targets on the ground. Congress has zeroed funding for the system.
Patrick Strasburger has been appointed president/CEO of LASV Enterprises Inc., Surrey, British Columbia. He was managing director of international operations for Continental Airlines.
The FAA is to be commended for all the preparation and work that its staff put into the Runway Safety National Summit held in Washington last week. Administrator Jane Garvey has made reducing runway incursions and ground accidents among the agency's top priorities for more than a year. And well it should be, with the number of incursions increasing against steady traffic growth. The recent spate of runway incursions and potential accidents has helped motivate much of the discussion on potential fixes.
It was a classic business-school case. Having identified an underserved, fast-growing market--the demand for global communications--the goal was to exploit it by offering a vastly enhanced service for which customers would be willing to pay a premium price. Out of this extraordinary concept grew Iridium, the $5-billion mobile-phone-and-paging service based on a network of 66 low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.
