The military services say combat readiness shows signs of improvement after years of decline, but the recovery has a long way to go. With two years of funding increases for spares and training in their pockets, the military's vice chiefs of staff, who are responsible for the services' day-to-day operations, say the key now is to sustain the spending hikes well into the future. Readiness pressures are expected to persist because a slew of old aircraft and other aging weapons require ever more spares as their service lives are extended.
The U.K. is set to decide as early as the end of the month on how to meet a short-term airlift requirement which could have major implications for a long-term solution.
To help offset the high cost of fuel, Federal Express Corp. will boost its fuel surcharge to 4% from 3% on most domestic and international services. The increase is effective Apr. 1.
U.S. Air Force officials worried about having enough money for additional new Boeing C-17s may receive some unexpected congressional help when the retirement of C-141 airlifters starts threatening the existence of Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units. Right now, only the ANG airlift unit in Jackson, Miss.--which retired Rep. G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery (D-Miss.) protected for many years--is slated to get C-17s to replace its C-141s.
The job of top FAA managers is to deal with an endless stream of crises, some of their own making, but most not. Transportation Dept. Inspector General Kenneth E. Mead's description of the administrator's job fits other posts at the FAA as well: ``It's one perpetual treadmill of hot-button issues that call for reaction quickly.'' Mead has dealt with the agency in various posts for 15 years.
The liftoff of Atlantis in April on a logistics flight to the International Space Station will debut the shuttle's new glass cockpit, one of the most significant program upgrades since first launch 19 years ago. The new system will give shuttle commanders and pilots a major increase in situational awareness. This would be especially important for any launch abort cases, where additional unambiguous information, displayed more clearly, could mean the difference between life or death to a crew.
American aviation industry leaders are spurning a proposed compromise between the U.S. and European Union that would permit transports with hushkitted engines to continue serving Europe provided a more stringent noise-emissions standard is developed. U.S. and EU officials were optimistic early last week that the compromise, initial terms of which were proposed by the EU, could form the basis for a pact that would end a months-long standoff over how aircraft noise emissions are to be regulated.
Marwan Kashkoush has been promoted to president of the Hydraulics Group of the Parker Hannifin Corp. of Cleveland from president of Parker's hydraulics business in Europe. He succeeds Don Washkewicz, who is now corporate president/chief operating officer. E.R. (Jerry) Hall has become vice president-operations for the Hydraulics Group. He was president of the Latin America Group. Hall has been succeeded by A. Ricardo Machado, who was general manager of the Automation Div. in Brazil. John Oelslager has been named president of the Filtration Group.
Lufthansa has rejected a predatory pricing claim lodged with the European Commission by Go, British Airways' low-cost subsidiary. Go Chief Executive Barbara Cassani said Lufthansa ``systematically engaged in anticompetitive behavior'' to push it off the London Stansted-Munich route. Go plans to temporarily halt services on the route on Mar. 25 and claims Lufthansa planned to hike its fares on the route soon after. Lufthansa denied the charge, saying current prices will be retained until May.
The fifth drop test of NASA's X-38 series was canceled on Feb. 26 due to avionics problems while being carried by the B-52A mother ship. The test is tentatively rescheduled for Mar. 29.
Raytheon Co. has begun selling $2 billion worth of newly issued bonds in privately-negotiated transactions. Proceeds will be used to reduce short-term debt and improve the company's capital structure. Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Baaa2 rating to the debt offering, with a negative outlook. The latter reflects uncertainty about how well management has addressed problems with the company's overall performance as well as its weakened balance sheet.
There may be ways to accelerate the fielding of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile defense program if the early test phase is successful, said Lt. Gen. Robert Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Office. The Army and BMDO have just begun engineering and manufacturing development of Thaad, with the goal of fielding a system around 2007. But if the initial EMD flight tests are successful, Thaad could reach the field as much as 18 months sooner, he said. Two paths are being looked at.
Honeywell has established a Web site specifically to sell new and used avionics. Benefits include lower transaction costs, quicker deliveries, lower search time and reduced inventory costs for airlines. The site can be found at www.AvionicsZone.com. New avionics carry the normal Honeywell warranty, while used avionics--which can be any make--are sold with a Honeywell warranty of up to 12 months, according to Stephen Barkley, director of business operations.
The FAA's accounting for $10.8 billion in property, facilities and equipment for Fiscal 1999 is ``fair and reasonable,'' the Transportation Dept.'s Inspector General has concluded. With that mundane language proferred last week, the IG handed the FAA a victory in one of the agency's highest-priority efforts of the past year. From June-November 1999, employees, managers and contractors worked overtime to get the agency's financial books in order for the first time in the FAA's 41-year history.
In a joint venture with the Center for Aviation and Space Technology/Industrial Research Institute, Honeywell has sold a SCAT 1 Satellite Landing System ground station to the Taiwan Civil Aeronautics Administration.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) could use a backdoor investment to acquire a major share in Air New Zealand (ANZ) and Ansett Australia. The deal would involve SIA's majority shareholder, government-owned Tamasek Holdings, acquiring a majority, and possibly controlling, interest in Singapore-based Brierley Investments. Brierley owns 47% of ANZ. Tamasek already holds 6% and one board seat of ANZ. The move is expected to begin by Tamasek buying the 20% share of Brierley held by Malaysia-based Camerlin Holdings.
The U.S. Army has grounded a large number of UH-1H and AH-1F helicopters because of safety concerns surrounding the T53 engine's impeller and other high-stress, life-limited rotating parts.
Paula J. Patineau has become vice president/senior financial officer of Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis. She was vice president/controller. Patineau has been succeeded by John S. Picek, who was director of corporate finance. Frances D. Cook, a former U.S. ambassador to Oman, Cameroon and Burundi, has been named a director.
As part of its e-business plans (AW&ST Feb. 7, p. 17), United Airlines has bought part of On2.com Inc., which is working to deliver TV-quality video over broadband Internet connections and offer programming on its ``On2Network.'' On2.com and United will develop and comarket travel e-commerce and content, such as travel videos.
Douglas Products Div. of Boeing A story in the Feb. 28 issue (p. 35) should have said the Douglas Products Div. of Boeing has a goal of reducing production costs of the entire 717 program by 30% by the 300th aircraft produced.
General Dynamics Corp. has chosen DRS Technologies to provide additional Explorer MP rugged portable multiplatform computers, under a $13-million agreement.
U.K. Science Minister Lord Sainsbury has launched a three-year, 9 million-pound ($14 million) program to help British companies exploit opportunities in the satellite communications industry. The program is designed to assist U.K. companies to develop strategic partnerships with satellite manufacturers, operators and users to explore opportunities in satellite communications and navigation, multimedia and broadband technology and other applications.
Like administrators before her, Jane F. Garvey must deal with a host of long-term problems and non-stop daily crises. From the moment she was sworn in on Aug. 4, 1997, as the first FAA head with a fixed, five-year term, however, Garvey has faced one basic problem. How can she regain the credibility the FAA needs to win congressional and industry support for efforts to reform the agency.
British Midland plans to launch four-times-a-day services from London Heathrow Airport to Rome, Milan and Madrid starting May 2. The move is seen as a stepping-stone for British Midland's aspirations to use Heathrow, where it is the second largest operator, as a feeder airport for transatlantic services to the U.S. for which it is seeking approval. At the same time, British Midland plans to drop services to Frankfurt, Prague and Warsaw.
