The European airline industry foresees a healthy 1998 but is worried about a decelerating traffic growth rate and the impact of the Asian regional crisis on the long-haul route system. Despite growing concerns, European carriers have not yet suffered unduly from the Asian downturn, and expect to maintain this position, assuming additional market segments remain unaffected. The Pacific Rim's hardest hit countries, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand, remain relatively small markets for the Europeans.
U.S. Air Force officials have told the General Accounting Office they intend to scrub the planned procurement of three GPS Block 2F satellites in Fiscal 2000 due to a lack of money. The three are among 15 new GPS spacecraft the Air Force had planned to buy between 2000 and 2004 as part of a $369-million multiyear procurement. Air Force officials won't say, however, whether they intend to cancel the spacecraft for good, or simply bump back their procurement plan by one year.
A planned pogo actuator-based universal assembly fixture (UAF) provides a single programmable work-holding tool for aircraft skin riveting operations. Benefits include reduced tooling costs and increased part accuracy and machine utilization, according to Larry R. Cook, president and CEO of CNA Manufacturing Systems of Redmond, Wash.
The Indonesian Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission (AAIC) has revealed more details of the last minutes of SilkAir Flight 185. The crash killed 104 passengers and crew last December 19.
Maj. Gen. Robert S. Dickman (USAF, Ret.) has been named director of the Office of Plans and Analysis and Gil Klinger director of policy of the National Reconnaissance Office, Chantilly, Va. Dickman was the Defense Dept. space architect and Klinger acting deputy under secretary of Defense for space.
AIR CANADA PLANS TO INSTALL LORD CORP.'S NVX active noise cancellation system on 25 of its DC-9 aircraft. The NVX system gets the operating speed from the engines and uses eight microphones to detect cabin noise. Actuators mounted on the engine pylons push on the aircraft structure, generating vibrations out of phase with those of the engine, and with a magnitude determined by cabin noise. The result is a noise reduction in the passenger cabin of as much as 70%, according to the company.
Russell L. Ray has been appointed chairman of World Airways, Dulles, Va. He was president/CEO. Ray succeeds T. Coleman Andrews, who is now CEO of South African Airways.
Steven Crantz has become general manager of commercial development and Sarah Dalton manager of technical services at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
The U.S. Air Force won't be able to field an operational, Mach 8 hypersonic missile--considered a key to destroying mobile missiles and deeply buried targets--by a target date of 2015 unless there are rapid, radical changes to its research and development efforts, says a new National Research Council study.
As many as 75-100 ship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles struck a chemical manufacturing plant in Sudan last week and a guerrilla training complex in Afghanistan said to be backed and perhaps controlled by a Saudi Arabian businessman and sworn foe of the U.S.
American Airlines has embarked on wide-ranging programs to upgrade the interiors of its aircraft and improve airport facilities. As part of a $400-million investment, American will replace about 53,000 seats in its existing aircraft. New first- and business-class seats on domestic aircraft are being produced by BE Aerospace and will include an AT&T telephone at each seat. Seats for the main cabin will be provided by the German company Recaro.
A Chinese Long March 2C/SD successfully launched two Iridium satellites into low-Earth orbit on Aug. 19. The satellites, launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, will replace spacecraft that had failed in Iridium's sixth orbital plane (AW&ST Aug. 3, p. 31). All 16 Iridium launches have been successful. A Delta 2 booster is to launch five more Iridiums from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 31, bringing the constellation to full size with 66 operational spacecraft and six spares.
Russia has proposed modernizing the 44,500-metric-ton aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov for India in a $700-million deal that would include 24 MiG-29K carrier-based fighters and a combination of Kamov Ka-28 antisubmarine and Ka-31 airborne early warning helicopters. The modernization would include converting the Admiral Gorshkov to a short-takeoff but arrested-recovery capability with a ski ramp, according to the Nevskoye project design bureau (PKB) and state arms exporter Rosvoorouzhenie.
British Airways has initiated code-sharing operations with Malev Hungarian Airlines on its Budapest-London Gatwick flights. Malev started a six-flight-per-week service between the two cities on June 1 with Fokker 70s. The carriers are discussing code-sharing on flights between Hungary and Birmingham and Manchester. On Aug. 9, BA resumed nonstop services between London Heathrow and Tehran on a three-times-weekly basis with 777s.
The European-Russian Starsem venture has landed a contract from the European Space Agency to orbit four Cluster 2 scientific satellites. The spacecraft, to be launched in pairs between May and August 2000, are intended to augment a fleet of spacecraft to observe the next solar maximum. They will include the European/NASA Soho spacecraft if it is successfully recovered. The contract is the second for Starsem, which was set up in 1996 by Aerospatiale, the Samara space complex, Russian Space Agency and Arianespace to offer low-Earth-orbit services.
Russia's economic chaos is bad news for the International Space Station. The Moscow government has funded just $20 million of the $340 million needed to meet its station commitments in 1998. NASA continues to press full speed ahead with preparations to launch the first station components in November and December, but those plans hinge on Russia's ability to complete the service module on time. Delays in the crucial module have already slowed the entire project by nearly a year.
Air France's partial privatization, which had been tentatively planned for September by the French government, will be postponed to 1999. The flag carrier's 1998-99 financial results are expected to be seriously impacted by last June's pilot walkout, which slashed revenues by an estimated $266 million.
Brendon Docherty has been appointed director of worldwide sales for Avscat, Durham, N.C. He was manager of avionics sales for Garrett Aviation Services.
Donald T. Brennan, a district sales manager for Aviation Week&Space Technology for 37 years, died Aug. 14 at the age of 75 after a bout with cancer. Brennan, who retired from Aviation Week in 1990, flew combat missions for the Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War 2, and during the Korean conflict received the Distinguished Flying Cross, as well as several air medals for aerial combat. He was a pilot for Pan American World Airways in New York for two years prior to joining Aviation Week in 1953.
Accutac Inc. of Des Moines, Wash., has developed a composite material tack testing machine. The first production version has been shipped to Boeing's Manufacturing, Research&Development Center in Auburn, Wash. The desk-sized unit is the first instrument able to provide a standard, repeatable and quantitative tack test procedure for pre-pregs and film adhesives, according to Accutac President Robert F. McMurtrie.
A coalition of new-entrant carriers, travel groups, medium-sized cities and airports has urged Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater not to approve marketing arrangements among large carriers that allow them to increase their control of markets. They didn't name names, but we will: Northwest and Continental want to code-share, so do United and Delta, and American and US Airways say they will if they have to. The letter to Slater, signed by 25 officials, noted that the big six airlines already control 84% of the U.S. passenger market.
AUSTRALIA WILL RELY ON LONG-RANGE TACTICALLY MOBILE air defense radars built by Lockheed Martin to enhance the surveillance and control of its airspace. The Ministry of Defense is buying four of the dual-use TPS-117 radars and five years of support under a $100-million contract. Two Australian companies are teamed for production--Tenix Defense Systems of Williamtown and RLM Systems of Melbourne. The solid-state radars will increase aircraft detection under adverse-weather conditions, and can be relocated by air or all-wheel-drive vehicles for air defense purposes.
USAF conducted the 209th drop test of the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) in late July when eight weapons were successfully launched from a B-1B Lancer bomber operating from Edwards AFB, Calif. The bombs, dropped in two passes, were directed at eight different targets, four aligned vertically and four horizontally. JDAM, an add-on tail kit for munitions combining Global Positioning System signals and inertial guidance with movable control surfaces, also has been dropped from the Lockheed Martin F-16 and Boeing F/A-18 fighters.
Australia's Qantas Airways has recorded a record net profit of $183 million for the year ending June 30. The profit was up 20.7% on operating revenue of $4.87 billion despite the Asian economic downturn. Chairman Gary Pemberton warned, however, that ``excellent profit would be hard to achieve this financial year.''
The ``Solo Spirit'' balloon Steve Fossett used for his latest attempt to circle the globe was a complex structure relying on helium and hot air to stay aloft and provide altitude control.
