China Southern Airlines says it will be the first in China to use e-ticketing. Tickets will be issued for flights from only three cities, the airline's hometown of Guangzhou, Beijing and Changsha. ``Clearly . . . airline e-ticketing is in its embryonic stages in China but we are making rapid progress,'' Jerry Hu, deputy director of the airline's computer center, said. The evolution includes the fact that credit cards from China Merchants Bank are the only ones accepted, at least for now.
German tour/charter operators Preussag and C&N are reportedly poised to enter the fragmented French travel industry. Preussag is said to be discussing an alliance with Club Med and C&N, a linkup with Havas Voyages. Club Med Chairman/CEO Philippe Bourguignon would not confirm the reports, but acknowledged he was talking with potential partners, and that Preussag was indeed among the top options.
The European Commission has approved and funded two research projects aimed at developing cleaner, more energy-efficient engines for commercial aircraft. The aircraft engine projects, known as Technology Platforms, are planned under the EC Research Directorate's Fifth Framework Program, which runs from 2000 through 2004. They are the first of a series of major R&D initiatives geared toward enhancing the competitiveness of Europe's aerospace industry.
Dutch mail/parcel express firm TNT Post Group (TPG) says it is still in the running to form an alliance with post offices in five Southern European countries. ``We think we can still reach an agreement,'' said TPG's CEO, Ad Scheepbouwer, while simultaneously announcing a 12.6% rise in net earnings, to 419 million euros. Reports last month of an imminent pact between TPG, the world's No. 4 parcel express firm, and the postal services of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece were premature.
Lufthansa reached an agreement with three German labor unions that will ensure labor peace and cost stability over the next 12 months. The agreement gives 55,000 workers a 2.5% pay raise, along with special bonus payments and other benefits.
With all the performance problems NASA's faster, better, cheaper spacecraft have been suffering, the agency appears to have a winner in the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (Image) spacecraft, its first Medium-class Explorer Mission. Launched Mar. 25 on a Delta II from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., the 7-ft.-high octagonal-shaped spacecraft had the last of its six instruments turned on last week. ``It seems to be perfect,'' said Principal Investigator James Burch of the Southwest Research Institute of San Antonio.
Wayne State University in Detroit has developed a quick and economical wide-area nondestructive test technology that combines high-frequency sonic excitation with infrared (IR) detection to image and find surface and subsurface defects in aerospace parts. Licensed to and being commercialized by Indigo Systems of Santa Barbara, Calif., under the ThermoSoniX trade name, the technique uses a pulse of high-frequency sound applied at a convenient point on the surface of an object being inspected. As the 20-40-kHz.
The FAA released a transcript last week of air traffic controllers' futile attempts to get a radio response from the Learjet 35 carrying golfer Payne Stewart and five others for nearly 3 hr. before the aircraft crashed near Aberdeen, S.D., on Oct. 25, 1999. The last transmission from the aircraft was an acknowledgment of the flight's clearance to climb to 39,000 ft. at 11:27 a.m. Attempts 6 and 9 min. later by a controller in the Jacksonville, Fla., en route center got no response.
Peter Hayes has been promoted to president from senior director of training of Farmington, N.M.-based Mesa Pilot Development, a subsidiary of Mesa Airlines. He has been succeeded by Mickey Moman, who has been promoted from chief pilot/director of flight operations.
Edmund F. Ball is the retired president and chairman of Ball Corp., an entrepreneur, philanthropist, rancher, educator, adventurer and aviator. Known as the ``Father of Ball Aerospace,'' Edmund F. Ball is a visionary who saw the unusual synergy of aerospace high technology and household staples such as fruit jars.
Druk Air, also known as Royal Bhutan Airlines, has become the first customer for BAE Systems' newly launched Avro RJX family of aircraft (AW&ST Mar. 27, p. 21). The carrier has placed an order for two RJX-85s for delivery in November 2001 and January 2002. Druk Air currently operates two BAe 146 aircraft, the predecessor to the RJX, from its base at Paro airport in the Himalayas. Upgrading from the 72-seat BAe 146s to the 82-seat RJX-85 will allow the carrier to fly nonstop to Bangkok and Hong Kong.
Russia is pursuing the design and possible development of a medium stealth bomber aircraft that would be larger than the USAF F-117 stealth fighter, but smaller than the USAF B-2 strategic bomber. The work is underway at Sukhoi.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has started to plan for the next generation of Goes weather satellites. The agency is expected to award the initial instrument contract for Goes-R through Goes-U satellites this year, although a satellite contract won't be awarded until 2006. Among the differences between them and current Goes are longer service lives (seven years versus five), increased data processing capacity in space and on the ground, and more sophisticated sensors.
After more than 30 aerospace acquisitions in the last 14 years, including last year's $2.3-billion merger with Coltec Industries, BFGoodrich Co. might appear to have completed its dramatic transformation from a staid tire manufacturer to one of the aerospace industry's dominant suppliers. But don't be fooled. The company, which also derives a third of its $5.5 billion in sales from specialty chemicals and engineered industrial products, remains a work in progress. ``We're still evolving,'' said Chief Financial Officer Laurence Chapman.
Pentagon officials are increasingly worried that the industrial base supporting development of high-power laser weapons is eroding, just as the technology has matured to the point where it can be used in operational systems.
Senior Pentagon officials say there are international trade opportunities in high-energy lasers. TRW and Israel collaborated on the tactical high-energy laser (THEL) program, which is designed to shoot down unguided, short-range Katyusha-type missiles. The first attempt to shoot down a missile with the THEL is set for this month or next at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. But there is more activity afoot as Israeli defense researchers seek more powerful lasers to use on ballistic weapons. U.S.
The Honeywell/United Technologies Corp. e-business site was incorrectly identified in the Apr. 3 issue (p. 26). It is MyAircraft.com. The artist who produced the graphic on the Apr. 3 cover was misidentified. He is Tech Sgt. Paul Wedig.
Thai Airways International has won government approval to sell 23% of its shares to the public, employees and a strategic partner. It is the latter aspect of the deal that will raise the most interest in the aviation community because Qantas, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines are all interested. The airline will sell 300 million new shares and 100 million shares held by the Finance Ministry. President Thamnoon Wanglee has said Thai Airways intends to remain in the Star Alliance, which probably would eliminate Qantas and may put Lufthansa at the top of the list.
The latest development in Lockheed Martin's executive suite hit Wall Street like a bolt out of the blue. But it appears that the appointment last week of General Motors executive Louis R. Hughes as its next president and chief operating officer could go far in restoring sagging investor confidence in the U.S.' largest defense contractor.
President Clinton last week signed the $40 billion, three-year FAA reauthorization act, praising its policy provisions, but voicing concern about the adequacy of the agency's operations account for Fiscal 2001. He pledged to work with Congress to achieve ``more balanced funding'' in that area (AW&ST Mar. 6, p. 36).
In its quest for long-term growth, BFGoodrich is looking beyond new acquisitions to technology innovation and its potential to increase the flow of new ideas and next-generation products.
The planning for the Kosovo air campaign and attacks on Yugoslavia were carried out so successfully--despite shortages of resources and support aircraft and security leaks from the NATO organization early in the conflict--that only two manned aircraft were lost during air operations that totaled almost 40,000 sorties.
CFM International has successfully completed a blade-out fan rig test with a 61-in., swept, wide-chord, solid fan blade that is being investigated under the company's TECH56 program. The tests were performed at Snecma facilities in Villaroche, France. Crosswind, performance and ingestion tests will be run over the next several months using a 68-in. hollow core version of the swept blade. These will be performed at General Electric facilities in Peebles, Ohio. Snecma and GE are partners in CFM International.
