Russia has revoked the licenses of the pilots of two flights that violated FAA airspace rules near Seattle's Sea-Tac International Airport last year, and the flight crews will not be allowed to fly to the U.S. The action satisfies a sticky legal situation, as the FAA has limited authority to fine or otherwise punish foreign carriers. Any U.S. government decision to restrict Russian carriers' access to the U.S. as punishment could have foreign policy ramifications. The incidents involved two Aeroflot flights, one operated by Khabarovsk Airlines.
The Transportation Dept. is asserting itself and seeking detailed information on the planned American Airlines/US Airways and Delta Air Lines/United Airlines alliances. In letters to the top officials of the four carriers, Asst. Secretary Charles A. Hunnicutt and General Counsel Nancy E. McFadden acknowledge that the first stages of the alliances may not require prior approval by the department. But they say they are concerned about implications for competition on both domestic and international routes. ``This department has a responsibility to ensure that the U.S.
The National Transportation Safety Board is jumping on the bandwagon to focus safety agendas. The board pared down its ``Most Wanted'' list of safety recommendations from 21 items last year to 10 for 1998. The 10 aren't ranked, however. NTSB leaders want to drop the requirement that the annual list include items from each mode of transportation that the board monitors--everything from boats to pipelines--and stick to the most pressing problems.
JoAnn H. Morgan, associate director for advanced development and shuttle upgrades at the Kennedy Space Center, has been named the first woman to receive the annual Kurt S. Debus Award from the National Space Club. The award is named after Kurt Debus, the first KSC director and a pioneer in human spaceflight. Morgan, who has worked at KSC since 1958, was the first women senior executive there.
In a burst of activity, Hindustan Aeronuatics Ltd. has started work on three aircraft programs--a light-attack helicopter, a turboprop version of the HPT-32 primary trainer and a tandem-seat jet trainer to replace the turbojet HJT-16 Kiran basic trainer.
David Miller has been named executive vice president/chief operating officer of Innotech-Execaire Aviation of Montreal. He was vice president/general manager of IMP Aerospace Components.
Alitalia CEO Domenico Cempella is insisting on going ahead with plans for a new hub at Milan's Malpensa airport, despite pressure from politicians from Rome to scuttle the project. Cempella already plans to transfer 10% of operations from Rome Fiumicino airport to Malpensa in October, when refurbishment work at the facility is scheduled to be completed. Alitalia expects Milan to handle half of its connecting flights by the end of the decade, in conjunction with its new partner KLM, and to help confirm the troubled Italian carrier's recent turnaround.
NASA is in a double bind with the Russian government's failure to ante up the money for the space station service module. Every month the module falls behind, the delays cost NASA $120 million, according to a congressional source who closely follows the program. Yet the module is 80% complete, and the Russian contractors say they need just $70 million to finish it. Sound like a no-brainer? Shouldn't NASA just shell out the $70 million and save a ton? It can't. Such a payment would never pass muster on Capitol Hill.
The Internet ticketing service, priceline.com, offers customers a chance to bid on an airline ticket for a designated day of travel. At the same time, the service is testing a new approach to ticket sales.
DAIMLER-BENZ AEROSPACE (DASA) would be part of any new company formed through the proposed merger of its parent company Daimler-Benz with Chrysler, according to senior officials at the German company. There are no plans to sell-off the company's aerospace or other non-automotive businesses, they said. But the presence of U.S. executives from Chrysler on the board of the new company might reinforce the trend at DASA toward a more commercial approach to aerospace restructuring in Europe, as well as the move to transform Airbus Industrie into a single corporate entity.
OPERATORS OF SOME 737S, 747s and 767s must inspect fuel-tank wiring for flaws that could lead to sparking, according to FAA orders issued last week. The orders stemmed from efforts to identify what ignited the center wing tank explosion that led to the destruction of a 747-100, TWA Flight 800, in 1996
James F. Albaugh (see photos) has become president of Boeing Space Systems, Seal Beach, Calif. He succeeds John A. McLuckey, who has retired. Albaugh was president of Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power, and has been succeeded by Russell D. Turner, who was president/general manager for reusable space systems. Succeeding Turner is Richard D. Stephens, vice president/program director for consolidated space operations.
Singapore Airlines has used aggressive pricing, promotion of its in-flight entertainment product and its ``Singapore Girl'' image of quality service to blunt the effects of a 20% drop in passenger traffic over the past year. Figures through February released by the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines indicate that the strategy will provide a base for recovery in 1998, though March was not a strong month: the carrier's load factor dropped 4.5% to 67.9%. A year earlier it was flying with a 73.2% load factor.
Southwest Airlines last week opened nine new gates at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, and plans to open three more in December. Designed to accommodate the Boeing 737-700, which entered service with Southwest in January, the gates are part of the new, 240,000-sq.-ft. East Terminal facility. It also contains a ticket counter, security checkpoint, baggage claim and parking garage. The airline operates 87 nonstop flights daily from St. Louis.
Joanne Smith has become senior vice president-marketing and planning, Dennis Mitchell, vice president-flight operations and Phil Wegescheide director of financial planning and analysis, all for Reno Air. Smith was senior vice president-marketing for Midway Airlines and Mitchell vice president-planning for Reno Air.
David W. Asai has been appointed vice president-financial planning/controller and Charles (Duffy) Mees director of information technology for Atlantic Coast Airlines. Asai was vice president/controller and Mees director of information technology, both for Reno Air.
A NATO AND PARTNERSHIP for Peace (PfP) exercise focusing on close air support, forward air control and combat search and rescue began last week in Arizona, the first of its type in the U.S. The four-phase Cooperative Zenith '98 exercise--which runs through May 14 and involves more than 500 servicemen--includes live-fire and flight events, with PfP participants calling in air strikes. NATO representatives are from Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, the U.K. and the U.S.
Ed Criner has been appointed vice president-flight operations, Michele Valdez vice president-employee relations and Max Griffin manager of recruitment, for American Eagle. Criner has been vice president-flight operations for Flagship Airlines and Valdez a senior attorney for employment counseling for American Airlines. Griffin was director of flight operations for American Eagle.
Boeing last week received simultaneous FAA, European JAA and 180-min. extended twin-engine operations certification of its new 777-300 transport. The -300 program was launched at the June 1995 Paris air show, and orders now total 53 from eight Asian airlines. The stretched 777 can carry 368-550 passengers, depending on configuration, or about 20% more than the 777-200. At 242.3 ft. in length, it is the world's longest commercial transport, about 10.5 ft. longer than the 747-400. It has a range of up to 5,600 naut. mi.
