Jean-Peter Jansen has become chairman of Lufthansa Cargo's executive board, succeeding Stefan H. Lauer, who has joined Deutsche Lufthansa's board. Gabriel Leupold has been named vice president-Western and Southern Europe of Lufthansa German Airlines. He succeeds Thierry Antinori, who is now executive vice president-sales. Leupold was managing director for Spain.
Mary Powers-King (see photo) has been named acting deputy director of the FAA Office of Aviation Research. She was director of the agency's Y2K program.
Financial problems in the middle sector of U.S. airlines known as ``national'' carriers became evident last week as cargo operator Kitty Hawk Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and Tower Air halted international scheduled passenger services. The two airlines until recently have been active in the National Air Carrier Assn. (NACA) of Washington, an industry group which represents eight carriers in the national category. A national airline produces annual revenues of more than $100 million but less than $1 billion.
Despite some high-profile failures to launch 100-seat jetliners--which has led to a reduction in the scope and challenge of joint venture ambitions for airframe production in China--the country holds major opportunities for industrial partnerships. As China's air transport demands grow at an unprecedented rate, the potential for joint ventures is vast for China, say leading analysts and industrialists.
CPU TECH WILL DEVELOP A MODERNIZATION KIT using its system-on-a-chip (SOC) processor modules to improve reliability of a radar processor on the F-16 by dramatically reducing the number of components in the systems' 18 processors. With SOC, the kit will cut the number of circuit boards to four from 43, which should improve reliability and maintainability.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. has rolled out the 100th production Gulfstream V and 400th Gulfstream IV-SP business jets and has a combined order backlog of $3.5 billion for both types of aircraft.
Lockheed Martin and Aerospatiale Matra, which formed the KAI Global Alliance to seek a 30% ownership in Korean Aerospace Industries, have failed to submit a bid to accomplish that task in time to meet KAI's deadline. Lockheed Martin spokesman Lee Whitney acknowledged that the Apr. 21 deadline had passed without his company and Aerospatiale Matra responding. ``We are continuing to work with our European partner and the Korean government to determine an appropriate course of action,'' he said.
COVION ORGANIC SEMICONDUCTORS OF FRANKFURT, and eMagin Corp. of Hopewell Junction, N.Y., are teaming to bring small Organix Light Emitting Diode (OLED) flat panel display technology to market. The OLED microdisplays are optically magnified to produce large virtual images, which have immediate applications for wearable computers, entertainment headsets and hand-held telecommunications devices, and might be used in simulation and command and control roles in the future. An 0.6-in. diagonal microdisplay could produce a virtual image equivalent to a 19-in.
In a Silicon Valley-type raid, Honeywell has lost one of the innovators of MyAircraft.com--the e-marketplace it is forming with UTC--to rival PartsBase.com. Andy Plyler, former director of e-business for Honeywell, has become PartsBase's chief operating officer. He made the switch because he was ``excited'' by the ``functionality'' of the PartsBase marketplace and the fact that the smaller company has a ``very robust'' site ``up-and-running.'' Honeywell officials said it is not company policy to comment on departed employees.
Larry Chapman has been named president of DirecTV Global Digital Media Inc. He was executive vice president-new ventures, advanced products and programming. Steven Cox has been promoted to executive vice president from senior vice president-new ventures and Bradley Beale to senior vice president from senior vice president-advanced products/new media.
Bryan Brady has become corporate vice president/controller of the Computer Sciences Corp., El Segundo, Calif. He succeeds Scott M. Delanty, who is now vice president-finance for the CSC European Group. Brady was vice president-finance and administration for the U.K. Div.
U.S. Air Force planners say they are going after a bigger budget, but not necessarily at the expense of other services. They would prefer across-the-board increases. To avoid being left out of critical planning discussions as happened four years ago, the Air Force has formed a team to vigorously push its views during the 2001 quadrennial defense review. The QDR follows next fall's presidential election. Brig. Gen. David Deptula has been named as its director.
Marine Corps aviation officials are prepared to resume flying the MV-22. Without saying why, service investigators have eliminated ``the aircraft and its systems'' as the cause of the Apr. 8 accident in Arizona. A Pentagon briefing last Thursday to announce resumption of flight was canceled at the last minute. The decision reflected Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones' reluctance to approve return to flight without a more thorough, personal briefing of the evidence that prompted aviation officials to downplay a fault with the aircraft.
Lufthansa Technik plans to acquire Bizjet International Sales and Support, a Tulsa, Okla.-based maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for executive jets. The takeover is part of a strategy aimed at increasing Lufthansa's presence in the business aviation market, and augmenting the share of revenues generated overseas. The company already has a joint business jet MRO venture with Bombardier in Berlin, and is a support and completion center for both the Boeing Business Jet and the Airbus Corporate Jetliner.
The intelligence community continues to struggle with putting in place the ground infrastructure that would allow it to better utilize the next generation of spy satellites, which Congress insists be done to fully exploit the multi-billion-dollar investment in those space-based sensors.
Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette promised to strengthen anti-competitive protections in the airline restructuring bill C-26 in answer to critics of the merger between Air Canada and Canadian Airlines. A lawyer representing British Airways, Air France and Cathay Pacific alleged that Air Canada's near monopoly control of air transport threatened competition in domestic and international arenas. Air Canada rebutted the claim and accused the British carrier with spreading misleading information on interline fares.
China Southern has posted a 213% leap in operating profit to $223 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 1999. Revenue grew 12.2% to $1.6 billion on the back of strong growth in the carrier's international cargo markets and a rebound in Asian economies. The largest carrier in China, China Southern, commands a 25% share of its domestic passenger market and carries 23% of its cargo.
LELAND, A SMITHS INDUSTRIES COMPANY near Dayton, Ohio, was selected by the U.S. Navy and Boeing-Philadelphia, to develop an improved 40-kVA. constant-frequency generator for the V-22. Leland's ``Cycloconverter'' power conversion architecture utilizes a variable frequency direct-drive generator source with silicon-controlled rectifier AC-to-AC frequency conversion. The output will be 400-Hz. power with precise voltage regulation, according to Smiths. Qualification of the system is slated to take less than a year, with production deliveries planned for six months later.
British Royal Navy Lynx helicopters grounded because of monobloc rotor-head fatigue-life problems are expected to be back into service within six months. The results of a Dutch investigation into a Lynx crash in 1998 found aircraft operated beyond original expectations significantly reduced the titanium components' expected service life of 5,000 hr. All but 15 of the Royal Navy's 59 ASW Lynxes were found to be affected.
Emirates' surprise commitment to order 555-seat A3XXs as soon as the program is formally launched provides a strong impetus to the Europeans' resolve to be a major player in the commercial transport market. The Dubai-based carrier plans to order up to 10 A3XX-100s, valued at an estimated $2.1 billion, including two all-cargo aircraft. First delivery would be in 2006.
Airbus Industrie soon plans to replace the A300-600/A310 twinjets, the European consortium's oldest aircraft types, with an A330 derivative. Recently, a plan to rejuvenate the A300-600 with fly-by-wire flight controls and next-generation systems was abandoned. ``We could rapidly produce the [proposed] A330-100 and deliver the first aircraft by the end of 2003,'' Airbus Vice President-for Marketing Colin Stuart said. The investment required to develop the 220-260-seat derivative would cost 50-60% less than an all-new design, he added.
American Trans Air detailed its 47-aircraft planned order with Boeing last week, prior to final contract signing by the end of June. The Indianapolis-based carrier ordered 10 new 757-300s, stretched as well as 20 737-800s. It will lease 12 more 737-800s from ILFC and five from GE Capital Aviation Services. Value of the purchased aircraft is about $2 billion at list prices. Key to the sale was the performance of the 757 and the winglet-equipped 737s out of Chicago's Midway Airport, a growing ATA hub.
After losing a costly, three-year battle to keep startup Legend Airlines from flying long-haul flights from Dallas' Love Field, American Airlines last week filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify whether the Airline Deregulation Act bars local governments from enforcing restrictions on airport use (see p. 43). At the center of the appeal is a decision in February by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which affirmed a 1998 decision by the U.S. Transportation Dept.
The decision of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to pull out of its alliance with Alitalia underscores the fragility of such airline groupings, especially when they are not underpinned by an exchange of equity ownership. The two airlines, both now without a European partner, said they will actively seek alternative alliances. But neither have made any headway as yet. The SAirGroup has already poured cold water on an approach from Alitalia, which was also reportedly seeking to revive talks with Air France.
JSA Research analysts believe the outlook for aerospace equities looks positive. Real growth in Defense Dept. outlays for the first time in 15 years, recovery of Pacific Rim economies--now well underway--and future consolidation of component and subassembly manufacturers, which is still far from over (see p. 22), set the stage for significant appreciation for some stocks during the rest of the year, according to their analysis.
