What's a major hub worth? Continental Airlines' hub operations at Newark (N.J.) International Airport contributed about 110,000 jobs and $3.53 billion in personal income to the surrounding region in 1999, according to a detailed study by Cambridge, Mass.-based National Economic Research Associates. The airline contributed almost $4 billion in gross regional product, defined as the value of output of goods and services, including multiplier effects, NERA said.
Boeing may cut up to 5,000 more jobs than planned this year, according to its annual 10K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will end the year with 180,000-190,000 workers across the company, about 5,000 fewer than previously forecast. Boeing now has about 194,000 workers worldwide. Employment peaked at 238,000 in 1998.
Robert Stone has become chief financial officer and Dean F. Kennedy vice president/controller of Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group Inc. Stone was vice president-financial planning and analysis for the Boeing Co. Kennedy was controller of Campus Health Care Group. Mike Lotz, who has been acting CFO, will return to his position as chief operating officer. Kay Chisholm has been promoted to vice president-customer service/airport operations from East Coast customer service manager. She succeeds Greg Stephens, who has been appointed president of subsidiary Air Midwest.
Privatization of air traffic services could be the trigger needed to jump-start European airspace consolidation. Most experts agree that combining airspace would streamline air traffic control and travel in Europe. However, despite the efforts of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), such proposals have stalled since the 1960s, largely because of national sovereignty issues.
In contrast with more conventional strategies pursued by other major airlines, the SAirGroup, Swissair's parent company, seeks to evolve into a highly diversified ``aviation group.'' The long-term goal is expected to boost revenues and smooth the impact of air transportation's weak profitability and recurrent downturns. Swissair nevertheless expects that the Qualiflyer Group, an 11-member global alliance, will further expand, acquire a stronger market share and generate significant economies of scale.
TRW has completed the integration of the six science instruments for the Aqua spacecraft, the second half of NASA's new Earth Observing System. The first satellite, Terra, was launched last December (AW&ST Jan. 1, p. 38). The spacecraft is on schedule for a December launch from Vandenberg AFB on board a Delta II. Environmental testing is to begin this spring. TRW also is building and integrating a different instrument set for a companion spacecraft, EOS Chemistry, due for launch in 2001.
DAVID A. FULGHUMJOHN D. MORROCCOEDWARD H. PHILLIPS
The first of a type of foreign aircraft sale that has worried U.S. military officials for years has finally been made. The U.S. is selling the United Arab Emirates a better aircraft, the Block 60 F-16, than any similar fighter flown by its own forces.
THE FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION'S (FSF) Approach and Landing Accident Reduction Task Force (ALAR) is developing new procedures aimed at making it easier for pilots to fly nonprecision instrument approaches. The ALAR group plans to recommend the global implementation of certified, constant-angle, stabilized approach procedures using the vertical navigation functions of flight management systems, coupled with use of a decision altitude instead of a minimum descent altitude.
Southwest Airlines, in an effort to reduce turnaround time, last week began evaluation of the dual boarding bridge. Designed for Southwest's Boeing 737 fleet by FMT Sweden, the bridge is being used for the first time with a narrowbody, according to the airline. One is set up at Dallas Love Field and another at Austin, Tex., and airline personnel are now undergoing training in its use.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has imaged in detail a cosmic ``weather system'' generated by the collision of two giant galaxy clusters. The gas clouds are in the core of a cluster known as Abell 2142 that is 6 million light-years across and contains hundreds of galaxies--one of the most massive objects in the universe. The Chandra data provide the first detailed look at the late stages of this cluster merger process, while scientists previously relied on the German-U.S. Roentgen spacecraft for more broad-brush imagery of the object.
Four Bombardier Learjet 45s have entered service with Singapore Airlines for use in training pilots to fly the latest wide-body jets, the Boeing 777 and Airbus A340. The aircraft are equipped with a jump seat in the cockpit to facilitate pilot training, but the business jet's avionics suite is unchanged. The Honeywell Electronic Flight Instrument System includes four large 8 X 7-in. displays including an Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System plus a Honeywell Flight Management System. David M.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China reportedly is expected to consolidate China's airline companies into just four. ``With 34 companies, China's civil aviation market has always been troubled by scattered distribution, low efficiency and unfair competition,'' the CEIS news service said. The surviving airlines are expected to be China Southern of Guangzhou, China Eastern of Shanghai and Air China of Beijing, the nation's three largest. The fourth administrator will be the China Civil Aviation Co., an arm of the CAAC.
Thai Airways International will stay with the United/Lufthansa-led Star Alliance, turning aside overtures made by Air France and Delta to switch to their alliance. President Thamnoon Wanglee, concerned that Thai would be relegated to a secondary status with the impending membership of Singapore Airlines, is said to have wrung concessions in meetings with Lufthansa and SIA officials at the recent Singapore air show.
The FAA is proposing to fine AAR Airframe&Accessories Inc. $1 million for allegedly offering an improperly prepared shipment of hazardous materials by air in 1997. The shipment included more than 800 chemical oxygen generators installed in passenger service units. The generators were transported by Air France on a scheduled passenger flight from Paris to Chicago, and on an Air France cargo flight. Three of the generators later were shipped by AAR on a cargo flight within the U.S. The FAA claims the shipment violated hazardous materials rules stipulated by the U.S.
A strike is the last thing US Airways needs in today's hypercompetitive air travel market, especially in the Eastern U.S. where lower cost Southwest Airlines, Delta Express and AirTran are challenging the carrier daily in many areas. Nonetheless, a strike looks increasingly probable, with the airline and its flight attendants' union far apart on a wide range of issues. Unless they can hammer out a new contract by Mar. 25, operations will be seriously disrupted--if not suspended--just as seasonal demand is starting to pick up.
Sabre Holdings Corp. and Ariba Inc. have joined forces to create Sabre e-Marketplace--a portal specifically designed to provide Internet-based, business-to-business capability to increase the buying power of companies within the transportation and travel industries.
Even before the dust had settled from a U.S. Air Force revelation that it was cutting production funding of three Boeing C-17s from the Fiscal 2001 budget, some planners have begun looking at slicing yet another three of the large-body airlifters in 2002 and again sliding payment into later years.
Eclipse Aviation Corp., in an ambitious undertaking, will attempt to bring to market during the next three years an entry-level business jet selling for about $775,000.
John Rhodes has been appointed senior vice president/chief financial officer of Pegasus Aviation of San Francisco. He was executive vice president/CFO of Textrainer Group Holdings Ltd.
Milwaukee-based Derco Aerospace Inc. has been awarded a contract valued at more than $10 million to upgrade avionics for three C-130Bs for the Botswana Defense Force.
A war of words has broken out over New Zealand's efforts to cancel a $131-million lease of 28 F-16 fighters. Carol Moseley-Braun, the new U.S. ambassador, told Prime Minister Helen Clark that the U.S. expects New Zealand's Labor government, which the newly elected Clark heads, to honor a commitment for the jets made by the previous conservative National government. ``Promises are made and promises are kept, I hope,'' Moseley-Braun said. ``We have acted in good faith here.'' A New Zealand government report on the 10-year lease, with an option to buy, is pending.
The board of directors of Malaysia Airlines is expected to decide this week to commit $3.5 billion for 60 aircraft as Asian travelers return to the air, bouncing the airline back into profit. The carrier has been mulling offers from both Airbus and Boeing. It is expected to buy 40, 144-seat Airbus A320s for domestic and regional routes to replace Boeing 737-300s/400s and 20 of Boeing's new longer range 777-200LRs and -300ERs.
If there were any doubts about the value of the Internet to an air carrier, Southwest Airlines has banished them. Online ticket sales in January at the Dallas-based discount airline reached 27% of total sales and raised prospects for online sales in 2000 to $1 billion.
Greg Canavan, a researcher at the Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory, has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society for contributions leading to the improvement of military science and technology and leadership in the transfer of remote sensing and communications technologies to the scientific, civilian and commercial sectors.
